Policies

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Our class is relatively small; the maximum is 21 students. This provides a tremendous opportunity for hands-on learning, but it also means that you can’t skip and get all the lecture notes from your buddy, or slink into the back of the room and listen to your iPod. Your active physical and mental presence in class is vital to your own success and to the success of the class as a whole. I will allow each student one "free" absence to be used in case of sickness, travel, or other reasons - no explanation necessary, no explanation desired. Beyond this, missing class will decrease your participation grade, and if necessary your total grade. Excessive absence could result in failing the course. Lateness is very disruptive and thus unacceptable, so two lates will equal one absence.   If you have extenuating circumstances (e.g. family emergency, serious illness, or other catastrophe), you must communicate with me in a timely manner so we can discuss how to handle it. In my five years teaching at UCI, I have never failed a student who came prepared to each class and turned in all assignments completed and on time.
Students who fail my classes are flaky. The worst thing you can possibly do is drop out of contact with me.

Please read the university policy on Academic Honesty. Submitting a paper that includes researched information that is not cited is grounds for failure in the course. All information borrowed from print sources or the Internet must be identified. From a legal standpoint, failure to do so constitutes intellectual property theft. Plagiarists fail the course and have their offense recorded by their School and by the School of Humanities. Violations of academic honesty can affect a student's graduation, financial aid, and eligibility for honors. The Composition Program deals with plagiarism cases every quarter, even though most people do not hear about them. No matter how pressured you feel, do not plagiarize; it isn’t worth it, and I will nail your sorry ass.

Although copies of assignments must be submitted to me by hand or by email when they’re due, formal written assignments are not considered “complete” until they have also been submitted to turnitin.com—or until you have satisfied an alternative means for verifying the authenticity of your work—and your grade on any assignment
and/or for the course will be withheld until you complete this process . Before the first paper comes due, I’ll provide the class I.D. number, password and instructions so you can register for turnitin.com.

If you receive any help at all with an assignment—from your classmates, roommates, study group, LARC writing counselors, parents, siblings, other teachers, dead celebrities encountered through astral projection, etc.—you are required to include a written acknowledgment. No one else should generate the language of your papers.

For most students, the kind of reading and writing you’re asked to do in 139W is very time-consuming. To do well, it helps to start assignments early, write multiple drafts, and attend office hours for individualized feedback and instruction. You know, the same tricks you learned in the dreaded 39B and 39C courses. Many successful students also find the services of the Learning and Academic Resource Center (LARC) to be very helpful. LARC is located on the fourth floor of Social Science Tower (SST). If you need to see a Campus Writing Program administrator for any reason, contact Iveta Cruse in Krieger Hall 500-D.

If you are absent on the second day of class, you will lose your place on the class roster. For MWF classes, which begin on Monday, March 31st, the second day is Wednesday, April 2nd. The deadline for adding/dropping classes (and for changing from a grade to P/NP) is the end of the second week of classes on Friday, April 11th. If you want to add or drop in the first two weeks, ask me for an add/drop card, fill it in, and submit it to the Registrar.

If you stop attending but forget to officially drop the course, you may get an F on your transcript. This goes even for students who communicate to me that they want to drop the class and students who get kicked off the roster in favor of a waitlisted student because they missed the second day. If you need to find another section or have any other enrollment question I can’t answer, please ask the Registrar, the Campus Writing Program administrator (Iveta Cruse, Krieger Hall 500-D), or the Campus Writing Program coordinator (Jonathan Alexander, Krieger Hall 500-B, jfalexan@uci.edu).

In addition to our workshops and exercises in class, we will have mandatory individual conferences for the Phenomenological Analysis and mandatory group conferences for the Empirical Analysis. These conferences will be pretty brief (about 15 minutes per student, 60 minutes for a group of four). Conferences will take place in my office or at one of the cafés, depending on the weather; I'll pass around a sign-up sheet in class a few days before the conference with more details. Before the conferences I’ll either give you handwritten comments on your draft or send you a computer file with my comments for you to print out and bring with you. Optional conferences will be available for the Empirical Analysis.

If you’re encountering any difficulties or would simply like to talk more about class, come to my office hours. I am required to hold them even if no students come to talk to me. If no one comes to office hours, I may be forced to strike up conversations about the philosophical and neurobiological aspects of humor with innocent bystanders. Please take pity on these people. If you can't make my office hours, feel free to arrange an appointment with me. Please ask questions anytime in and out of class. Ask them twice if I don’t answer them , which happens with unfortunate frequency. Regular office hours may be cancelled for holidays and conference days.

I’ll use the course listserv and website to disseminate important information throughout the quarter—from posting handouts to adjusting assignments and deadlines to accepting your papers and returning my comments. You’ll use it them to address questions and thoughts to your classmates. You are responsible for checking your email before every class session . If you would like me to add an alternate (non-UCI) email address to our listserv, let me know.

All assignments should be typed in 12-point font with black print on white background, doubled-spaced, with one-inch margins. (Note: on some word processors this is not the default margin.) You’ll find I’m pretty easy-going but I am fanatical on this particular point. Hold onto any instructor- or peer-commented drafts of an assignment and turn them in with the final draft. You may also be asked to submit other materials with final drafts, such as outlines, annotations, reflections, and acknowledgement statements. I’ll provide you with a checklist whenever a final paper comes due. Late papers will be penalized one full grade per 36 hours late . You cannot receive a higher grade for rewriting a final, graded paper.