Attendance

Students are expected to be in class ON TIME and remain for the duration of class.  At the start of every period, I will read the roll on Zoom and require a verbal response designating presence. Students that arrive late to zoom class must put their names in the chat (no need to announce your name and disrupt class) or else they will be marked absent. Students must also turn their cameras on and leave them on for the duration of class.

Absences– Life happens and so do absences. But it is your responsibility to let me know if there are any extenuating circumstances that are preventing you from attending class regularly.

• You are allowed four absences (for any reason) without penalty or documentation.
• If you miss a fifth class, your final grade will drop by 5% (e.g. from 90% to 85%- half a letter grade)
• If you miss a sixth class, your final grade will drop by an additional 5%- another half a letter grade. This is a full letter grade at this point.
• If you miss seven classes, you may not be eligible to pass the course. *Contact your instructor to determine how to proceed.

TARDINESS– Being a few minutes late a few times in a semester is understandable, but it is crucial to try to arrive on time to each class.

• You are allowed two tardies of up to 10 minutes each (for any reason) without penalty.
• Being tardy more than twice or arriving later than 10 minutes after class begins may result in grade deductions at your instructor’s discretion.

-Meaning three or more tardies of over 10 minutes will equate to one absence.

EARLY DEPARTURES/LATE ARRIVALS- Seek permission from your instructor ahead of time for any early departures/late arrivals that you need. Unpermitted early departures/late arrivals may result in grade deductions at your instructor’s discretion.

-Sometimes students have appointments that overlap into class time and need to leave early or arrive late. Please alert me of these occurrences before class.

Technology

Students are required to use cameras and microphones in this zoom class. Students are required to use cameras and be visible at all times. No gallery photos, no black squares, no darkness (proper lighting is required) as well as full faces, cameras on with the use of a proper microphone, throughout the duration of class. This fosters a sense of camaraderie and inclusion in class.

“Don’t Yuck My Yum”

Each and every one of us, including myself, comes from a diverse background, environment, and has a unique life experience and skill set which contributes to our worldview and opinion.  As members of a classroom community, school community, and society, etc., it is our duty to remember this and respect all viewpoints, even if we don’t agree with them.  Remember, there are constructive ways to criticize.

 

Assignments and Due Dates

Assignments are submitted on designated areas on Blackboard unless specifically directed by the instructor. Due dates and times are set for discussion boards and assignment submission areas. Once the deadline has passed, the area for submission locks and disappears and students will no longer have access to submission. At that point, the assignment is late. Use your time wisely! If the deadline is 11:59pm, and you are attempting to submit your homework at 11:57pm and your computer/wifi freezes, chances are, your homework is going to be late. At that point, students must email the instructor requesting permission to submit homework through email. When permission is granted, then students can compose a coherent email identifying themselves and their homework and attach it to the email and send it. Then students must WAIT for a response from me stating I received the homework. Any assignment sent without a message (essentially just flung) via email, will not be acknowledged. Work submitted after the due date will be deducted by 5% every day that it’s late. Excessively late assignments result will result in a deduction of points (for example, if the assignment was out of 100 points, you might only start with 90 points) IF I decide to accept the assignment at all.  First draft due dates are listed on the weekly assignment schedule, final draft due dates are generally due 1-2 class meetings after you receive your essays back with peer reviewed comments. The exact dates will be announced in class and will always be on the syllabus.

 

 Academic Integrity

Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person’s words or ideas.  You can use other people’s ideas as much as you want and/or need to. Just make sure to properly give credit where credit is due. Words copied verbatim from another source must be quoted and the source must be cited. When you paraphrase words/ideas from another source, you must acknowledge the original author unless the ideas are common knowledge (information found in three or more different places). If you collaborate with another author to produce written work, you must acknowledge that person’s contribution. “Borrowed” material must be properly cited in APA format, as is the preferred citation for the sciences.  Anything incorrectly cited is considered plagiarism and is graded as an F.  If there is any further question about the parameters of academic dishonesty reference page 230 of the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity appears on page 230 of the City College of New York Undergraduate Bulletin 2013-2015.

• http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/registrar/upload/2013-2015-Undergraduate-Bulletin.pdf

All writing submitted for this course is expected to be your own.  If a student’s submission contains any forms of plagiarism, he/she is at minimum subject to a failing grade for the project and/or course, and worst case scenario, academic suspension or expulsion. Part of the function for this course is to teach students how maintain academic integrity and to cite sources properly according to the standards of the American Psychological Association (APA) in order to avoid cases of inadvertent plagiarism, As part of this course, we will discuss strategies for adhering to standard conventions for responsible source use and for maintaining academic integrity and how to avoid inadvertently plagiarizing someone else’s work.

**Assignments composed by ChatGPT or any other AI are considered to be plagiarized works and will be handled as such.

1-on-1 Consultation Policy

Students in first-year writing courses at City College are required to meet 1-on-1 with their instructors once or twice per semester. These meetings will provide you with invaluable individualized feedback on your writing. Your instructor will provide additional details for scheduling your 1-on-1 meetings. At the instructor’s discretion, these meetings will either be one, 30 minute meeting, or two, 15 minute minutes during the semester. These meetings are mandatory and will occur online during major assignments.