Revisions - Jim Nugent

Instructor:	Jim Nugent
Email:	jdnugent@mtu.edu
Phone:	487-3273
Office:	Walker 142
Office Hours:	M & W 10 a.m., and by appointment.

Course Description

Revisions is a course offering skills, strategies, and practice in written, visual, and oral communication.

Required Texts

Williams, Robin. The Non-Designer's Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice. Berkley: Peachpit.
Aaron, Jane E. The Little, Brown Essential Handbook for Writers. New York: Longman, 2003.
George, Diana and John Trimbur. Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing. Fifth Edition. New York: Longman, 2004.

Course Policies

I expect regular attendance from all students. More than four unexcused absences will result in your final grade being dropped by one letter (for example, B becomes C, AB becomes BC, CD becomes F). Also, absences and tardiness will reflect poorly on your social practices when I determine your social practices grade. In-class work generally cannot be made up.
Technology problems are not a viable excuse in this class.
You are responsible for providing a replacement copy if I lose your papers. This doesn't mean that I will make a policy of losing your papers—all it means is that you should keep a saved copy of the major assignments on hand.
I reserve the right to revise this syllabus throughout the semester as I see fit.
Late assignments are generally not accepted.
I expect all work in this class to meet the standards of the university's Academic Integrity Policy.

Assignments

There will be five major assignments in this class, listed below, which are due on the dates listed in the course calendar. In addition, you will be required to submit a final portfolio of all the work you completed in this class. I will return your papers as soon as possible with a grade and comments. You then have through week 13 to revise it for a higher grade, if you wish.

I expect the first drafts to be complete and as final as possible—they should demonstrate appropriate levels of care and attention on your part. You may submit revised drafts as many times as you like, but please try to make as many substantive revisions between drafts as possible. I reserve the right to refuse to review a draft that doesn't contain substantive revisions.

The five major assignments are as follows:

Magazine article
Visual argument
Editorial letter assignment
Collaborative research paper
Oral debate

Grading

I will give letter grades (A, AB, B, BC, C, CD, D, or F) for all graded assignments in this class. The final grade is determined as follows:

12.5%	Magazine Assignment
12.5%	Visual Argument Assignment
10%	Editorial Letter Assignment
15%	Oral Debate
15%	Collaborative Research Paper
10%	Small Assignments and In-class Work
25%	Social Practices—This grade will reflect your contributions to class discussions, peer review activities, and group work, as well as your commitment to submitting timely and complete work. Needless to say, if you are not in class, you are not participating, so this grade will also partially reflect your attendance.

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