Course Policies

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College Writing and Rhetoric
Fall 2018, TR 3:30-4:45, TLC 247
Instructor: Zachary Williamson
Email: zwilliamson@uidaho.edu
Office: Brink Hall 127
Hours: M&W 10:30-12:30; Tuesday 1:00-2:30 or by appointment*
Deadlines
Administrative Deadlines
The university has certain deadlines of which you need to be aware if you want to drop the course at some
point during the term.
Monday, August 27th – Last day to add the course WITH a late fee.
Friday, August 31st– Last day to drop the course without a grade of W.
Friday, October 26th– Last day to drop the course with a grade of W.
Class Deadlines
As the term progresses, you will be given 3 major writing assignments along with your daily writing and
reading work. All of these assignments have a firm deadline. All late assignments will receive a point
deduction of 10% per day late. If you find yourself needing extra time to work on a major assignment
because of a legitimate circumstance, you may request a single extension during the semester for a major
assignment. The extension will be agreed upon by both the student and the instructor, but the request
MUST be placed with me 24 hours before the deadline of the assignment.
Attendance
Attendance in English 102 is mandatory. You can miss up to four class meetings unexcused in this course
without a penalty. More than four unexcused absences for the semester is grounds for failing the
course. An excused absence is an official note specifying the days and reasons you were required to miss
class. Excused absences must be in writing from an official such as a doctor or a university instructor or
administrator (in the event of athletic events or field trips). You are responsible for making up all work you
miss due to absences.
Being in attendance means being physically present, awake, coherent, and fully prepared for class, with
the day’s assignments completed. If you do not meet all of these conditions, you will be marked absent for
the day.
Conferences
Throughout the semester, we will hold conferences in place of meeting in the classroom that week. If you
miss your conference time without rescheduling ahead of time, you will be marked absent for the entire
week, which will equal 2 absences. If the time you signed up for cannot work, please get in contact with
me before the meeting in order to reschedule.
Course Requirements
Major Writing Assignments
There will be three major writing assignments:
• Rhetorical Environments: Rhetorical and Narrative Research Project
• Identity Through Genre: Multi-Genre Project
• Exploratory Research: Research Documentary Project

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Daily Assignments/Homework
Free-writes: In this course, we will usually begin the day with a free-write in which you will choose a topic
to write about for about 7-10 minutes. There will also be opportunities to create your own free-write
prompts, which will be put up on the board throughout the semester.
Reading Responses: As a part of the prep work that you will be doing in each unit, there will be short
reading responses that correspond to our textbook and external texts. These responses will be graded
solely on completion, and will be due before class the day the readings are due. Late responses will not be
accepted.
For all major writing assignments, we will have smaller writing assignments that will help you generate
material for your major assignments in class. These assignments will be graded throughout the semester as
a part of your total grade.
Please note that the points that you lose for missing assignments add up quickly; i.e. you cannot pass the
course if you don’t do the homework assignments. These assignments are designed to help you complete
the major writing assignments and are in your best interests to develop better writing and projects. Please
be sure to take them seriously.
Grading
In this course, your work will be evaluated by providing evidence of meeting the course outcomes and
personal growth as a writer. Traditional assessments and evaluations of writing are incredibly problematic
due to the subjective and unscientific nature of assigning holistic scores to an individual’s writing. In order
to have more fair and just assessments, we will rely on outcome and growth based self-assessment and
negotiated contracts in place of traditional assessments.
In this course, passing grades will be assigned based on meeting the course objectives through completing
each major assignment, in addition to completing all of the required prep work (process points) in each
unit. 70% of the points for each major assignment will be based on providing evidence through your work
in meeting the required objectives for each assignment.
The remaining 30% of points for your major assignments will be based on meeting three categories:
Outcome-focused goals, Process-focused goals, and Product-focused goals. To receive credit for these
points, you will need to provide evidence and justify the ways you have grown within specified criteria you
have assigned for yourself beyond meeting the course outcomes. In this case, the goals you set for yourself
will be individualized in order to fit the unique needs of each student. In each unit, we will work as a class
to define and specify the possible individual criteria you will use in assessing your personalized growth and
goals.
At the end of each unit, you will complete a Rhetorical Reflection in which you will justify and explain
how your completed work provides evidence that you have met the course outcomes and your personal
goals within each assignment. Throughout each unit, I will provide constructive feedback to you in order
to guide you towards meeting both the outcomes of the course and the individual goals you have set for
yourself.
You will receive scores on all three of your major assignments and on all your daily assignments. All of
these scores will be posted on Blackboard under the My Grades link (on the left side).
I will recommend a F in the course if you fail to submit any major assignments.

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Revisions
In order to have as many opportunities for revision as possible, you may revise one of your major projects
at your discretion. Revisions will be due one week after the graded project is returned to you.
To submit a revision, you must complete the following steps:
1. Review the grade and feedback on your Rhetorical Reflection for the project you want to
revise. Using the feedback from me, create a plan for revision. Meet with me in my office during
office hours to discuss your revision plan. You must consult with me about a revision plan before
submitting any revisions of a major writing project.
2. Revise your project.
3. Update your Rhetorical Reflection by explaining how the revisions you have made meet the
outcomes relevant to the unit, in addition to the criteria for assessing your growth and goals as a
writer.
4. Attach a copy of the original Rhetorical Reflection (with my comments on it) to the end of your
revised project.
5. Submit your revised project to the appropriate assignment drop box on BbLearn.
Please note that revision grades will replace the original score completely; the final project (Unit 3:
Exploratory Research) cannot be revised due to time constraints.
Rhetorical
Environments
Process Points –
100
Rough Draft - 25 Final Project - 100 Points Possible:
225
Identity
through Genre
Process Points –
125
N/A Final Project - 100 Points Possible:
225
Exploratory
Research
Process Points –
100
Annotated
Bibliography – 50
Final Project - 100 Points Possible:
250
TOTAL POINTS: 700
If you withdraw from this course on or before Friday, August 31st, nothing will appear on your
transcript. If you stay registered for the course after that date, you will receive one of the following grades.
Only the first three are passing grades.
A
Represents achievement that is outstanding or superior relative to the level necessary to meet the
requirements of the course.
B
Represents achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to meet the requirements of the
course.
C
Represents achievement that meets the basic requirements in every respect. It signifies that the work meets
all of the outcomes for the course, but nothing more.
W
Stands for Withdrawal. This is the grade you will receive if you withdraw from the course after
Friday, August 31st but on or before Friday, October 26th. A W has no effect on your GPA,
but you can have only 20 W credits during your time as an undergraduate at UI (about six courses.
After Friday, October 26th, you can no longer withdraw from the course.
N Stands for No Credit. A grade of N has no effect on your GPA, but it does mean that you need to take
the course again. You will earn a grade of N if you do not meet all of the required outcomes, but you

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have done all the work for the course. You also must have made a good faith effort to complete all
the assignments. Handing in just any piece of writing just to avoid getting an F will not work.
F
Stands for Failure. A grade of F has a negative effect on your GPA. If you fail to hand in any major
writing assignment or do not make a good-faith effort to succeed at a major assignment, you will
automatically earn an F. If your average grade is an N but you did not complete one of the major
components of the course (one of the major papers of all of the homework assignments or drafts),
you will automatically earn an F in the course. There is no reason for receiving an F in this course,
unless you simply fail to submit the required work.
I
Stands for incomplete. Under very unusual circumstances you could be assigned an Incomplete in
the course if something happened to you within the last two weeks of the semester that made it
impossible to complete the course (a serious accident or illness that left you hospitalized and very
significant personal tragedy, etc.)
Course Etiquette
Classroom citizenship
The classroom is a learning community. Any behavior that disrupts this community will not be tolerated.
This includes speaking to other students while the instructor is talking, obvious sleeping, passing notes,
being rude or belligerent to the instructor or other students, etc. If you have a problem with anything in
the course, whether it is the course materials or the other members of the class, you may speak to me
about it privately after class or in my office hours.
Because of the personal nature of writing, I ask that you not only be respectful of other’s writing, but that
you contribute your voice in a positive and constructive manner to their work. Our goal as writers is to
grow, and each student has individualized needs as writers. We will be working frequently with other’s
work, so it is essential that you maintain a positive and constructive relationship with you peers and their
writing.
Technology
During class free-writes, any cell phone usage other than listening to music during the first 10 minutes of
class will result in an absence. There will be other times where cell phones, tablets, and laptops will be
allowed, but accessing devices during those times will be determined by the instructor.
Email etiquette
If you have questions about the course, your work, meeting times, etc., please don’t hesitate to contact me
at the address listed on the Blackboard home page. However, you should treat this as professional
correspondence: that is, it should have a greeting, complete sentences, and your name at the bottom. If
not, I may choose not to respond.
University of Idaho Classroom Learning Civility Clause
In any environment in which people gather to learn, it is essential that all members feel as free and safe as
possible in their participation. To this end, it is expected that everyone in this course will be treated with
mutual respect and civility, with an understanding that all of us (students, instructors, professors, guests,
and teaching assistants) will be respectful and civil to one another in discussion, in action, in teaching, and
in learning.
Should you feel our classroom interactions do not reflect an environment of civility and respect, you are
encouraged to meet with your instructor during office hours to discuss your concern. Additional resources
for expression of concern or requesting support include the Dean of Students office and staff (208-885-

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6757), the UI Counseling & Testing Center’s confidential services (208-885-6716), or the UI Office of
Human Rights, Access, & Inclusion (208-885-4285).
Center for Disability Access and Resources Reasonable Accommodations
Statement:
Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have documented temporary or
permanent disabilities. All accommodations must be approved through the Center for Disability
Access and Resources located in the Bruce M. Pitman Center, Suite 127 in order to notify your
instructor(s) as soon as possible regarding accommodation(s) needed for the course.
• Phone: 208-885‐6307
• Email: cdar@uidaho.edu
• Website: www.uidaho.edu/current-students/cdar
Policy on Plagiarism
At the University of Idaho, we assume you will do your own work and that you will work with your
instructor on improving writing that is your own. Plagiarism—using someone else’s ideas or words as
yours own without proper attribution--is a serious matter. The Council of Writing Program
Administrators defines plagiarism in the following way: “In an instructional setting, plagiarism occurs when a
writer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without
acknowledging its source. This definition applies to texts published in print or on-line, to manuscripts, and to
the work of other student writers.” (From “Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on
Best Practices,” http://wpacouncil.org/node/9).
Self Plagiarism:
Turning in work you have previously completed for another course—either an entire paper or significant
portions of it—can also be considered an unethical use of your own work and can be considered a form of
plagiarism worthy of reporting as an instance of academic dishonesty. When you need to use words or
ideas from another person—whether an idea, a song, a video, a picture, a powerful statement, a set of
facts, or an explanation—cite your source!