• Assignments (30% of overall course grade)
• Midterm exam (20%)
• Final exam (35%)
• Class participation, balanced across classroom, section, and online by student preference (15%)

You are expected to be seated in the classroom before the class starts promptly at 9:10am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Arriving late demonstrates a lack of respect for your classmates and the instructor, and you might not be allowed into the classroom.

You are expected to have read the assigned readings before the class meets and be prepared to participate in class, in section, and in online contexts to demonstrate your reading and reflection.

Your computer and other devices you might use for reading and writing are essential tools and you can use them in the classroom. But if you decide you want to use Facebook or other applications rather than paying attention in class, you should leave… and you might even be asked to leave by the instructor. Likewise, if your phone rings during class you will be asked to leave the classroom to answer it and will not be invited back.

Reviewing lecture and reading materials and studying for exams can be enjoyable and enriching things to do with fellow students. This is recommended. However, unless otherwise instructed, homework assignments are to be completed independently and materials submitted as homework should be the result of one’s own independent work.

The midterm and final exams are “open book,” meaning that you can refer during the exam to the instructor’s lecture notes, your own notes, and anything in the course syllabus. But this is because you will be never be tested on simple facts, definitions, or anything else you can locate in a text somehwere. To copy text or ideas from another source without appropriate reference is plagiarism and will result in a failing grade for your assignment and usually further disciplinary action. For additional information on plagiarism and how to avoid it, see, for example: http://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide/misconduct/prevent-plag.html