Due Dates
Note: This policy has been superceded and is preserved for archival reasons only. For my current policy, see Late policy.
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.
Hardcopy assignments should be handed to me or left in my essay drop box in the hall outside the English department office whenever possible. If you shove an assignment under my office door or put it in my mailbox rather than my essay drop box, you run the risk of it being lost or overlooked. This is important because late penalties cover the entire period from the due date to the time I receive the assignment in my hands or to the date stamped on first page by the departmental administrator. If you push the assignment under my door while I am in class on Friday afternoon and I don’t find it until Monday morning, it is three days late.
Test and exams must be written on the scheduled day or, in the case of electronic exams, within the specified testing time-frame. I make exceptions only for medical crises in your immediate family (i.e. involving you, your immediate dependents or guardians, or some other very close relative or friend). Even then, I will accept such excuses only upon presentation of a doctor’s note or a typed and signed letter explaining the circumstances of your absence (not an email). You should be especially careful about final exams. I will not accept dentist appointments, doctor appointments, job interviews, or weddings as valid excuses for missing a final exam. You should make sure you can make the final exam before you sign up for the course.
