Assigments and grades

Back to the syllabus and course homepage:

Jump down to information and instructions for:

Overall grades
Logical analyses
Long responses
Short responses
Final exam
Extra credit

Reading and preparation

Active participation in class discussions, writing good papers, and even just understanding lectures all require some familiarity with the assigned reading. Furthermore, my classes are usually structured progressively, with later readings reacting to earlier readings, and I spend a great deal of time choosing readings that are reasonable in terms of both length and difficulty. For these reasons, it is essential and expected that you keep current with the assigned readings. If you fall behind, do not expect my lectures to keep you with the rest of the class, and do not expect to maintain a good grade in the class.

At the same time, I design my classes to cover challenging material at a fast pace, and I recognize that my students are all busy with other classes, work, family responsibilities, and other activities. Furthermore, the authors we read are often contributing to ongoing philosophical debates with which you are probably not familiar, and reading these texts outside of context can make some parts of them virtually impossible to understand. I therefore cannot expect you to perfectly understand the assigned reading on your own.

So, I offer the following deal to each of my classes. For their part, students must

make a reasonable effort to read the assigned texts before each class meeting,
over the course of the whole semester, neither unreasonably sacrifice their work in my class for the sake of their other responsibilities and activities nor unreasonably sacrifice their other responsibilities and activities for the sake of their work in my class, and
take the initiative in asking me for additional help if they need it.

For my part, I will

overlook occasional days when an individual student was too busy to do the reading,
not schedule pop quizzes or other punitive measures designed to coerce students into reading,
adequately identify and explain the most important parts of the assigned readings during lectures and discussions, and
make myself available during regular office hours and by appointment for individual meetings with students who need additional help.

If I feel that one or more students are not living up to their part, it is my obligation to contact them individually or, in the case of a widespread failure, bring it up during class time for general discussion. If students feel that I am not living up to my part, it is their obligation to contact me, either face-to-face or by email, for discussion.

Grades

Your grade is based on an weighted average of your scores on the following items:

3 short logical analyses (each weighted 1),
2 long response papers (each weighted 2),
4 short response papers (each weighted 1),
class participation (weighted 2), and
a written final exam (weighted 2).

The chart at the right shows how much each category contributes to your overall grade.

Students should expect to write a total of about 5000-7500 words (roughly 16-25 double-spaced pages) over the course of the semester. All assignments should be submitted by email in DOC, DOCX, or RTF format; I don't accept hard copies. Everything is graded on a standard 4-point scale: 4=A, 3.66=A-, 3.33=B+, 3=B, and so on. At any time, you can contact me for an update on your current grade status.

Detailed assignment instructions

Participation

Like most other classes, you can't learn to do philosophy just by watching someone else do philosophy. You have to actually practice doing it yourself. Since face-to-face, real-time discussion is an essential part of doing philosophy, active participation in class discussion is essential to learning to do philosophy well. Indeed, it is, if anything, more important than the practice you get in written assignments. This is why I weigh class participation the same as a full paper.

Class participation is based on quality, not quantity. A quiet student who says one or two brilliant things a week will probably get a 3.5 or 4 for participation. A student who, in my judgment, just likes to hear himself talk is likely to get a 2.5 or 3. Someone who is rude, disrespectful, misses class more than 3 or 4 times or otherwise lowers the quality of our discussion could easily get a 0 or 1. Participation takes into account the comments you make, the questions you ask, and how well you listen to others -- it involves both talking and listening.

Logical analyses

A logical analysis is an opportunity for you to practice some of the most important methods of philosophy: analyzing and reconstructing arguments.

I will assign texts for the first two logical analyses [LA] one week before the due dates.
For the third LA, pick a short, argumentative piece of text from outside of class. I recommend newspaper opinion pieces.

When you turn in your LA, please give me a photocopy or link to the piece.

An LA has two parts:

Reconstruct the argument from the text in premise-conclusion form.
Identify the pattern used in the argument. Based on this, determine whether the argument is valid or invalid. If the argument is valid, briefly evaluate it for soundness.

All together, your LA shouldn't be more than a page long.
Due dates:

LA 1 is due Thursday, 15 September, 6pm
LA 2 is due Thursday, 22 September, 6pm
LA 3 is due Thursday, 8 December, 6pm

Assignment sheets:

LA 1
LA 2

Long response papers

You write one long response [LR] in Unit 2 and one in Unit 3.
The exact due date is different for each student. You'll sign up for LR due dates on Thursday, 15 September, in class.

Your LR is due at 11am on the due date.
Turn in your LR by email.

Your LR is a response to part of the reading (one important argument or claim) for the day after the due date.

Example: Your LR is due Monday the 13th. It is a response to part of the reading for Tuesday the 14th.
If there are supplemental readings, you may write your LR on those.

LRs are circulated to the whole class and used for the short responses.

LRs are not circulated with my comments or a grade.

A LR is 1200-1500 words (about 4-5 pages) long.
For more information on what I'm looking for in the papers, see the Giant Philosophy Papers Packet.
We'll spend a whole class session talking about writing philosophy papers before your LR is due.

short response papers

You write two short responses [SR] in each of Units 2 and 3.
The schedule for writing your SRs depends on the due date for your LR.

SRs are not due the same week as your LR, or the week before or after (wrapping around within the unit).
They're due the other two weeks of the unit.

Example 1: Unit 2 runs from week 6 to week 10. Your LR is for week 8. You write SRs for weeks 6 and 10, and not for weeks 7-9.
Example 2: Unit 3 runs from week 11 to week 15. Your LR is for week 11. You write SRs for weeks 13 and 14, and not for weeks 11, 12, and 15 (the week `before' your LR).

Each SR is a response to one of the LRs from that week.

SRs are due by 6pm the end of the week.
During weeks with unusual schedules, the end of the week is the last day of classes of the week (school-wide). For Thanksgiving, this means SRs are due on Tuesday!

Your SR is a combination of a peer writing review and a regular paper.

First, assign the LR a grade (A, A-, B, etc.) for each of the five aspects (understanding, debate, originality, structure, and mechanics), and an overall grade.

These are not official in any way -- they're just some feedback for the author of the LR.
You don't have to include comments, just letter grades.

The paper part is 300-600 words (about 1-2 pages) long.

It should have a very brief introduction, but not a summary or conclusion. Focus on the debate, interpretive issue, etc., set up in the LR.

Like a LR, your SR should say something original and consider both sides of the debate.

SRs are emailed to the author of the LR.

Final exam

The final exam will be based primarily on three short essays.
Each essay will be approximately 300-450 words.
Questions/prompts will be announced a week in advance.

I'll announce five questions.
One will be randomly eliminated at the start of the exam.
You answer three of the remaining four.
There is also likely to be a short, mandatory question related to logic.

The final will be closed-book and closed-note.
The final will be cumulative and given in the registrar-scheduled final time and place unless otherwise announced.

Extra credit

Extra credit is available to students who complete a pre-approved service activity and write a short reflection paper on their experience.
Service activities that are not approved in advance will not be eligible for extra-credit.

The service activity should involve at least 10 hours of work off-campus over the course of the semester.
The service should be for the benefit of those who are in need rather than simply have a need.
The service should be as direct as possible. Roughly, at least 8 of the 10 hours should involve direct interaction with individuals who benefit from your service.
The service should be for the benefit of groups or individuals who are not part of your immediate community (in terms of race, class, religion, educational background, and other salient characteristics).

As an alternative to a service activity of your own, you may go on one of the Center for Social Concerns' immersion seminars and use that as the basis for your reflection.

Deadlines for applications to the CSC seminars are usually the first Thursday of the semester.

Your reflection should be 300-600 words long and should relate your service activity to material and issues covered in this class.
Reflections are due at the beginning of the last class meeting.
Extra credit will be used to boost your lowest LR grade, by up to 1 letter grade.