Requirements: Introduction to Gender and Women’s Studies
Grade:
Participation in Class Discussion: 20%
Two papers (5-6 pages each, 20% each): 40%
Oral Presentation: 10%
Pop-up quizzes: 10%
Final Exam: 20%
Participation:
•This is a discussion-based seminar. Discussion-based seminars emphasize student participation and engaged learning, and depend upon students coming to class having already read and thought about the texts we will be discussing each day.
•Your ability to participate is a reflection of your preparation for the class and counts as 20% of your final grade. You should aim to contribute something to our conversation every day that we discuss a reading selection.
•How Participation is Graded: Since discussion-based seminars can only succeed with the participation of its members, your preparation and engagement in our conversation about the texts we read is essential.
oExcellent (A level): Excellent participation reveals excellent preparation for class. Your contributions show that you have read and thought carefully about the material, and your comments provide depth of insight to the rest of the class. You are able to dig beneath the surface of the text, make connections to previous ideas we have studied, and think critically about what we are reading. You participate every day. Our conversation would suffer without you.
oGood (B level): Good participation shows that you have done the work of reading and defining relevant concepts for yourself before class. You are able to come up with thoughtful questions that show you have a basic understanding of the ideas we are reading, but want to dig into their deeper meaning. You participate most days. Our conversation is better because of you.
oFair (C level): Fair participation shows that you have read the material, though perhaps not very closely. Your comments show you are thinking about our class discussion, but they are not grounded in your own reading of the text. Your questions lead us to review basic concepts and definitions. Our conversation stays on task with your input.
oBarely There (D level): You avoid participating, so it is very difficult to know if you have engaged the reading, or if you are engaged in our class-time work. You seem alert enough to be listening, but our discussion would not lose anything if you were absent.
oNon-Participant (F level): You are basically silent and do not participate. You seem to have your mind elsewhere, and it is not totally clear that you are awake. This, in itself, can be a real distraction and bring down the level of the class. Our discussion would be more focused if you were not there.
Two (5-6 pages double-spaced) papers, on assigned topics:
•Over the course of the semester, students will write two short papers
•For the papers, students will be offered a handful of questions relating to the previous weeks of class and will be asked to choose one of these questions to answer in depth by way of a close analysis of the text.
•What is expected in each paper will be discussed in class ahead of time.
•Papers that are turned in late will drop one step of a grade (i.e., from an A to an A-) each day that it is late (this means each calendar day, not each class day). If you are absent on the day your paper is due, email it to me.
The Writing Center is Your Friend!
The Writing Center @ Roanoke College is located in the Goode-Pasfield Center for Learning and Teaching in Fintel Library. Student writers working in any field of study at any level of competence meet with trained peer writing tutors in informal, one-on-one sessions. Writers may meet with tutors at any point in the writing process, from brainstorming to drafting to editing. The Writing Center is open Sunday through Thursday from 4 to 9 pm starting Sunday, September 12th.. Simply stop in or schedule an appointment ahead of time by going to www.roanoke.edu/writingcener. Questions? Email the writing center at writingcenter@roanoke.edu or call 375-4949. The Writing Center also sponsors writing workshops, grammar crammers, and creative writing playshops. The Spring 2010 schedule will be posted on our website at www.roanoke.edu/writingcenter
Oral Presentation:
Each student will be responsible for presenting (maximum 10 minutes) the main ideas/arguments and a critical evaluation of the arguments found in the assigned text for one session. The student will also distribute an outline of her/his presentation for all members of the class at the time of presentation
Missed Presentations: A make-up presentation will be granted only if you have made arrangements with me at least 24 hours in advance of the due date and ONLY in exceptional circumstances.
Pop-up quizzes:
The points of all of your pop-up exams will be averaged by the number of pop-up exams you have
Final Exams:
There will be final exams involving short essay components. Only in the event of a real emergency can a student take the exam at a different time than is allotted for the class. The student should talk to me or email me immediately if this is their situation.
Special Services:
If you are on record with the College’s Special Services as having a special academic or physical needs requiring accommodations, please let me know immediately. We need to discuss your accommodations before they can be implemented. Also, arrangements for extended time on exams and testing in a semi-private setting must be made at least one week before every exam. If you believe you are eligible for accommodations but have not yet formally contacted Special Services, please call 375-2248 or go to the Center for Learning and Teaching in Fintel Library.
Course Policies:
Attendance:
•One of the reasons you and I have come to a small liberal arts school like Roanoke College is that we believe that genuine education is an interactive endeavor. If you are not in class, you are not actively engaging in your education.
•For a class that meets twice a week, I will allow a student 4 absences (regardless of reason) before dropping him/her from the course. This means you should THINK AHEAD! Everyone will likely have something happen during the semester which will cause them to miss class (flu, funeral, etc.). You should save your absences for such emergencies!
•If you must miss a class due to some emergency or other pressing reason, please talk to me about it or email me (preferably ahead of time). If you are absent, you are responsible for asking a classmate about the contents of our class discussion.
•When you have reached your maximum absences in the class, you will receive an email officially notifying you of this fact.
Lateness:
•If you are more than a couple of minutes late to class, it is a problem. Three times late will equal one absence.
Academic Integrity:
•This course will uphold all academic integrity policies as laid out in the pamphlet “Academic Integrity at Roanoke College.” Students are responsible for knowing these rules, and professors are obliged to report any violation of these rules when they find evidence for it.
Plagiarism:
•Philosophy, in particular, is about learning to think, reason, articulate and know for oneself. Nothing is learned by copying someone else’s work.
•Borrowing another’s ideas or words without giving the author their due credit, and presenting them as one’s own, is a deception and contrary to academic and social/moral values.
•Plagiarism is met with serious consequences at Roanoke College (the usual minimum penalty being an F in the course, and the maximum penalty being expulsion). It is the student’s responsibility to familiarize himself/herself with the school’s policy as laid out in “Academic Integrity at Roanoke College” (esp. p. 16-19).
•To avoid inadvertent plagiarism, remember the following:
•All direct quotes should be placed in quotation marks, followed by the author’s name and page number.
•All ideas, interpretations, or arguments learned from another source should be credited with an introduction such as “Taylor argues that . . . .” or “Sallis believes that . . . .”.
•Your summary of another’s ideas should be put in your own words, and organized in your own way – that is, in such a way that it supports your point or argument – as well as accompanied by a citation.
Professionalism:
•All students are expected to behave in their courses as young professionals. This involves treating your classmates, your professor, and the privilege of attending college with respect. To be clear, this involves:
•coming to class on time
•coming to class prepared
•contributing to the group work of the class
•taking notes in class
•listening to others while they speak
•showing up on time to appointments you make with your teacher
•silencing cell phones or pagers before entering the classroom
•never text-messaging in class
•never sleeping in class
•not leaving the room during class, except in the event of an “emergency” (such “emergencies” should be rare for any given student)
•using your laptop for note-taking only, not web surfing, emailing, or instant messaging
•embracing the challenges of your classes as laid out in this syllabus, and not complaining about them, avoiding them, or trying to find ways to get out of them