Course Policies

attendance
Classes like this are most successful when we build intellectual community. Undertaking a field research project involves several stages, which we will negotiate together as a class. For that reason, attendance is required. Although I would prefer that you not miss any class, I do acknowledge that your life is like a complex puzzle, of which ENG W240 is only one piece. Thus, you are permitted three absences for illnesses, emergencies, and family or university business. Each additional absence will lower your final participation grade by one-third of a letter grade and may cause you to miss out on a vital discussion or workshop. If military duty, religious holidays, or extended hospitalization will call you away for a much longer period of time, you may be advised to drop the course. If you do miss class, it is your responsibility to diligently find out what you missed and to turn in what is due.

late work
All assignments are posted well in advance so that you can plan ahead to get them done. If you already know that you will have a conflict with mid-term exams, or if a severe illness or emergency prevents you from completing an assignment on time, you must contact me in advance of the due date to discuss your options. Otherwise, I will not accept late work. If hard copies are due in class, please print them in advance so that “technological difficulties” do not affect your ability to hand them in on time.

intellectual participation and citizenship
Class sessions will be spent discussing and debating our readings, and analyzing or revising writing in various forms. You will often work in groups, compose collective responses, and be expected to talk in class. To be fully prepared, bring everything to class every day. All reading assignments must be completed by the date for which they are assigned and brought to class in some form on the day we are scheduled to discuss them. While you are in class I hold you to professional forms of conduct, including arriving on time, being prepared, and staying engaged. Consider what you can offer to keep our discussions relevant. Cell phones must be turned completely off while class is in session.

keeping up with the reading
This semester, we will read in various genres – including memoir, autoethnography, popular history, and critical essay. On our heaviest reading days, we are completing about 30 pages of reading per class. However, we do not read for every class, and in some weeks, we do not read at all because you are focusing on some aspect of your research project. It may help you to keep up if you think of our readings as two general types – theory and craft – with some overlap between them. For the first three weeks, our readings will mainly provide theoretical lenses onto the issues that face the community agencies we serve. During weeks four through six, we will focus on craft, especially on less common research methodologies that use people, spaces, and web communities as sources of information. In weeks seven through nine, you will think academically about your civic inquiries. And in weeks eleven through fifteen, theory and craft will converge as you shape your final projects.

evaluation
Much of the semester will be devoted to writing your ethnographic portfolio and working on your collaborative public document project. Here is how the points are distributed:

• Ethnographic Portfolio (4 components) 650 points
• Public Document Project w/Presentation 150 points
• Blog Assignments 100 points
• Intellectual Participation/Citizenship 100 points

Each assignment has specific evaluation criteria that we will go over in class, with the exception of blog assignments, which I will grade on the “plus” system. If your work shows considerable thought and exploration of the topic and satisfies length and quality requirements, I assign it a (plus). If it demonstrates some thought and exploration of the topic but lacks in a certain area, I assign it a (check). If it is lacking in several areas or seems incomplete, I assign it a (minus). Near the end of the semester, I’ll convert those to points. The final grade distribution is as follows:

1000-900 (A range) · 899-800 (B range) · 799-700 (C range) · 699-600 (D range) · 599 and below (F)

I treat grading as a conversation where I comment on your work. My comments are typically questions intended to make you think about purpose and audience; suggestions for improving some aspect of the writing (e.g., focus, development, organization, language, visual clarity, or “voice”); and reactions to particular passages or prose. You should always feel free to meet with me if an assignment is unclear, if you get stuck, or if my first response on an assignment is unhelpful. You should also feel free to meet with me at any time if you are unsure of where you stand in the course.

revision
You may decide to revise one of the project components early in the semester – the Positioning Essay, the Verbal/Visual Portrait, or the Critical Bibliographic Essay – especially if a revision would improve your project’s focus. If you choose to revise one of these essays, I will ask you to meet with me to discuss your ideas for revision within one week of my returning it to you. You must then submit the revised project within one week of this meeting. Revisions should be substantial and of good quality in order to improve the grade.

ACADEMIC honesty
At IUB, we take academic honesty very seriously, and violations of it – in any form – come with vital consequences. Cheating and all forms of misrepresentation, including plagiarism, can result in automatic failure of the course. Plagiarism literally means “the act of kidnapping” and occurs when you represent someone else’s work as your own work in the following ways:

• having someone write your paper for you or turning in someone else’s work
• purchasing someone else’s work and using it as your own
• simply copying and pasting published information into your paper
• deliberately using sources without attributing them.

Doing so “accidentally” is as problematic as doing so deliberately. As you get into more advanced writing, it becomes important that you read, take notes on, and incorporate sources productively and fairly. We will spend some class time discussing good source use, but you should always ask me if you are unsure about how to use a source fairly. See the Code of Student Conduct for more information.

writing tutorial services
This class isn’t the only place at IU where you can develop as a writer. In addition to meeting with me in conferences, I highly recommend that you visit WTS (located in BH 206). The WTS consultants can offer you one-on-one feedback and a number of excellent do-it-yourself resources. Talking and thinking with others is extremely helpful at any stage of your writing, whether you are planning the project or editing the final draft. I still get feedback on much of what I do.

support services
Disability Services and the Adaptive Technologies divisions of the Office of Student Affairs can arrange for assistance, auxiliary aids, or related services if you think a temporary or permanent disability might prevent you from being a full participant in the class. Contact them via web or call 855-7578 with any individual concerns. Students with special needs must be registered with Disability Services before classroom accommodations can be provided.