INTD 100 Freshman Writing Seminar Science and the Criminal Justice System

• List of Daily Assignments
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Prompt and regular attendance at all class sessions is important for all your courses but is exceptionally important this course where the success of good intellectual discussion relies on each person being present and prepared. Nadine will take attendance at the beginning of each class period. You are allowed three absences to take into account illness and other unforeseen problems. Absences beyond three will negatively impact your grade in this course.

Reading assignments are to be completed before the class period for which they are assigned. If each person in the course is not prepared, we all suffer. In order to insure that even quiet people get to demonstrate their knowledge of the material, a reading quiz will be given during the first 5 minutes of each class. Any notes which you take on the reading can be used when working the quiz. When taking notes on the reading, jot down questions for discussion and vocabulary words with which you are not familiar. If something confuses you, please ask. There are no stupid questions and odds are that someone else has the exact same question you do.

It is so important that you get experience writing. You will have several in class and out of class shorter essays which will be focused on particular aspects of writing. These will range in length from 1-3 pages. Generally you will not rewrite these essays.

These will be pull it together essays which ask you to bring together the particulars about writing with the reading we have been doing about science and the criminal justice system. You will turn in first drafts which will be worth 25 % of the grade for the essay. Along with the first draft, you will submit a letter which details the writing process you went through in crafting your essay. After I have a chance to read through the essays, we will meet individually to review my comments. You will then submit a revised version of your paper along with a "letter to the editor" in which you detail how you responded to each of my comments in your paper.

Papers are to be typed and printed on a letter quality or laser printer. The manuscript must be double spaced with one inch margins and 12 point type. All documentation must fall the MLA guidelines in your Random House Handbook.

All assignments are due before the beginning of class on the date specified. Yes, this means that if you are late to class, your assignment is also considered late. If you are not in class on the day that an assignment is due, your assignment will be considered late even if it is turned in on time. Exceptions will be made in the case of illness or extra-curricular activities when documentation can be provided. Extensions for major assignments will be given only under rare circumstances where good habits and conscientious behavior have been previously evidenced.

The penalty for assignments will be a 1/3^rd grade reduction (i.e. B to B-) per 24 hour period. Again, this means that if you turn your paper in five minutes late, a grade reduction will be applied.

Word processing is a vital skill for anyone in the 21^st century. It is important to know that Murphy's Law says that if your disk is going to malfunction, it will do so the night before the paper is due. Keep back-up copies on multiple disks and save your work at least every five minutes. We all lost material and that is no excuse for missing or late papers and will not be accepted as such.

Just don't do it! Academic honesty is a core value on an academic institution. If you do not do your own work, you injure others by failing to credit them and yourself by depriving yourself of the chance to learn through formulating your own thoughts. The first instance of plagiarism will earn a zero for that assignment. The second instance will result in an F for the course. In addition, a note will be put in your permanent academic file detailing the instance of plagiarism.

Plagiarism can be obvious such as copying parts of your paper from someone or somewhere else but it can also be more subtle such as paraphrasing too closely without using quotes or incorrectly citing someone else's work. We will spend time in class discussing correct use of others work. The best rule of thumb is that if you are unsure, you should ask. Either Nadine or I will be glad to help you determine whether something is plagiarism or not.

A huge component of growth in writing is having a sympathetic and critical audience for your work. Nadine and I are dedicating ourselves to act in that role for each of you this semester. We will only be able to help you to the extent that you take advantage of our expertise.

My Office Hours: (listed at the top of the syllabus and posted on my office door, Science 306) This time is set aside for the purpose of helping students. Please come by to talk about this course or any other part of your academic work. I am at Whittier College because I want to help you to develop as a learner. If you can't come by during my office hours, please call or email me and make an appointment.

Nadine's Office Hours: Nadine will be available to work with each of you at any point during the writing process. She is an incredibly valuable resource. Please avail yourself of her expertise. She will be available????

The Writing Center: The Writing Center is located in the basement of Hoover Hall (907-4407). You can and should visit the student assistants who can help you with problems you encounter as you write your papers. The Writing Center will have regular hours which will be announced the second full week of the semester.

The Writing Center assistants are neither editors nor ghostwriters. More simply put, they won't do the work for you, but they will help you do it by answering questions, helping you brainstorm on paper topics, reading your drafts and commenting on them, explaining points of grammar, and so on. Be sure to bring along your assignment handout, relevant texts, and whatever notes and drafts you have made. One cautionary point: if you show up for the first time the night before your paper is due and you've only just started, the Writing Center will not be able to help you very much.