assignments

Final Grade Calculation

Library Walk (grade: general participation).

Public forum summaries: To complete these you must a) attend an on campus academic public forum or lecture and b) post a 300-word review of the presentation to the course discussion forum. The first of these must be posted by October 9, the second by November 11. (grade: general participation)

Absences : You must complete an additional forum summary for each class that you miss. These make up summaries must be completed within two weeks of the absence. (grade: general participation)

Sunflower Essay: This is a three page paper presenting your reasons for the choice you would make at the end of the story. Your essay should include a response to one of the essays at the end of the book that take the opposite position you take. Part of the grade is based on the overall organization of the essay and the quality of the writing, part based on an accurate representation of the opposing argument and the quality of the reasoning offered to support your conclusion. For help with writing see Michael D. Sublett, "An Essay on Short Essays".

Argument reconstructions (3).

Annotated bibliography: On one of the pro\con topics. The bibliography should contains a complete (APA or MLA) citation for 6 items, at least 2 obtained from Lexis\Nexis and 2 from First Search. A short summary of the content of the items follows each citation. Grade based on the quality of the sources, and the accuracy of the citation.

Argument evaluation essay: A four page essay summarizing and evaluating two sides of one of the pro\con arguments and providing your own reasons for choosing one side. The grade is based on the overall organization of the essay and the quality of the writing, the accurate representation of the opposing arguments and the quality of the reasoning offered to support your conclusion.

Mallard Quizzes : There will be at least two Mallard quizzes: one concerning "identifying conclusions" for the argumentation component of the course and the second concerning the Horgan article on paradigms.

The quizzes are taken out-of-class anytime before the final due date.
The quizzes may be taken up to ten times.
At least some of the questions may change each time you take the quiz.
The order of the possible answers often changes with each version of the quiz.
You will receive the highest grade recorded on the quizzes you take.
A quiz grade of less than 60% counts as a zero.
Retaking the quiz will not lower your score.
Grades of less than 60% count against the number of times you may take the quiz.

Participation: The general participation grade includes your overall participation in class discussion, the completion of a number of ungraded assignments. Especially insightful work on the otherwise ungraded assignments such as the public forum summaries and argument reconstructions will receive extra consideration in the calculation of the participation grade.

Paradigm Essay: The paradigm essay is a five to six page paper based in part on a personal interview conducted with an ISU professor in your field of study, or anticipated field of study. You are responsible for finding a professor who will give you a good interview with something interesting for you to write about. A primary focus of the essay should be the disciplinary paradigms, controversies, methodologies and approaches to the field of study.

Final Term Paper:

Final Presentation: In class group presentation on one of the pro\con topics.

Exams:

(you have three lifelines for the examinations)

Final Grade Calculation

May 14, 2005