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Academic Policies
These pages describe the policies I follow in accepting and grading most formal work. They contain information on style, documentation, layout, and my standard policies on extensions and late work. Most of these policies are concerned with essays although some are of application to all types of work. All of these documents are to be considered part of the course syllabus.
Marks will be deducted from you if you fail to follow these guidelines unless there is something about your work that suggests an exception may apply. You should always see me before you hand in work that deliberately deviates from these standards.
I am requiring you to follow these rules in order to save me time and to help you get more from the course. Your tuition is better spent when I am able to devote my attention to your ideas and arguments rather than correcting trivial spelling errors or policing late assignments. If all students follow the same rules, I will have to spend less time on relatively minor administrative matters and more time evaluating your real work.
If you are in any doubt about anything discussed in these pages, please get in touch with me.
Asking me for a letter of recommendation
Students often need to get letters of reference from faculty for jobs, applications, and the like. In general, you should ask for references from faculty with whom you did well or with whom you had a particularly strong working relationship. Here are some guidelines if you would like to ask me for a reference.
(read more..)Last modified: Friday December 26, 2008. 18:25 (MST)
Finding feedback in Turnitin
(read more..)Last modified: Sunday September 14, 2008. 16:14 (MDT)
Grading Rubric for Old English to Modern English Translations
The following explains the criteria I use in grading most Old English translations submitted as part of tests, quizzes, homework assignments, or exams. This rubric is a guideline, not a contract: few translations will meet the criteria for any one grade exactly; some may have aspects that affect their quality that are not listed here. On the whole, however, you should find that translations that show the qualities listed here receive the corresponding grade.
(read more..)Last modified: Monday December 18, 2006. 13:40 (MST)
Documentation
Documentation is often poorly understood by junior-level undergraduates. Many report that their high schools required them to document their sources only in the case of direct quotation or close paraphrase.
This is inadequate for University-level humanities research. At the University level, you must document the sources for all specific intellectual debts in your work. You must cite these sources regardless of whether you are quoting them, paraphrasing them, or simply using information you learned from them in your own arguments. Do not be afraid that this will make your essay seem unoriginal: most information in most essays and scholarly articles comes from secondary sources.
(read more..)Last modified: Friday October 3, 2008. 11:42 (MDT)
Letter Grades and Percentage Equivalents
The University of Lethbridge employs a letter system of grading. It does not record grades as a percentage. On your transcript, these letter grades are converted to a numerical value on a four-point scale (a “Grade Point”) for assessing your overall academic performance (a “Grade Point Average” or “GPA”).
How your grade is determined in my classes depends on the nature of work being assessed. Tests of specific skills or knowledge (such as identification questions in literature classes, or fact-oriented tests in grammar and language classes) are usually assigned a numeric score which is easily converted to a percentage. Essays, presentations, and other performance-oriented tests are usually graded by letter. These letter grades are then converted to percentages using the “conventional value” found in the fourth row of the following table below.
| Excellent | Good | Satisfactory | Poor | Minimal pass | Failing | |||||||
| Letter | A+ | A | A- | B+ | B | B- | C+ | C | C- | D+ | D | F |
| Percent range | 100-94 | 93-90 | 89-86 | 85-82 | 81-78 | 77-74 | 73-70 | 69-66 | 65-62 | 61-58 | 57-50 | 49-0 |
| Conventional value | 100 | 92 | 88 | 84 | 80 | 76 | 72 | 68 | 64 | 60 | 56 | 49-0 |
| Grade point | 4.0 | 3.7 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0 | |
Last modified: Thursday December 21, 2006. 11:10 (MST)
Appealing a Grade
It may happen that I make a mistake in grading your work, that you feel that I have graded your work unfairly, or that you believe I have incorrectly or inconsistently applied my administrative policies.
(read more..)Last modified: Monday December 18, 2006. 12:48 (MST)
Grading Rubric for Essays
Expectations for University level work can vary from discipline to discipline and instructor to instructor. At the same time, however, there are some cross-discipline standards. You can take it as a given that poorly executed, sloppy, or careless work will get you a poor grade in both sculpture and computer science. Likewise, it is hard to think of a discipline where highly original, well-thought-out, and carefully executed work would not be rewarded with a high grade.
The following list explains the criteria I use in grading essays and presentations in my classes. Although its primary focus is the literary essay, I have seen similar criteria in other disciplines and at other Universities. With appropriate adaptation to reflect the nature of the discipline, you should find that it is applicable to your work in most courses.
(read more..)Last modified: Monday January 18, 2010. 13:02 (MST)
Style sheet
This document outlines minimum expectations for style and documentation for essays submitted in my classes. Exceptions occasionally do apply for special types of work such as creative projects and research projects on certain advanced topics. Be sure to ask if you think such exceptions may apply in your case. In most cases, these guidelines will apply.
(read more..)Last modified: Sunday May 3, 2009. 16:57 (MDT)
Extensions
Except under the most unusual of circumstances, extensions are granted only for medical, family, or personal emergencies. In all cases, I want the circumstances documented by a doctor’s line or similar, or, in cases where this is impossible, a written and signed letter explaining in broad terms why the extension was necessary.
(read more..)Last modified: Monday December 18, 2006. 13:41 (MST)
Due Dates
Unless specified otherwise, hardcopy assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day specified on your syllabus. Electronic assignments are usually due at 1159 pm that day. Assignments handed in any time after the due date (including during or right after class in the case of hardcopy assignments or midnight in the case of electronic submissions) are late. The late penalty is one third of a letter grade per day or part thereof, including weekends. This means that an ‘A+’ paper that is one day late will be given a final grade of ‘A’, and that an ‘A’ paper that is three days late will be given a ‘B’, etc. The penalty works out to between 2.5-3% per day.
(read more..)Last modified: Friday December 26, 2008. 19:10 (MST)