Because class attendance is critical to your understanding of class material, you are allowed only two unexcused absences over the course of the semester. After two unexcused absences, your final grade average will be dropped five points for every day missed. An absence due to illness or family crisis may be excused if properly documented to my satisfaction. In addition, if you participate in a university-sponsored event (music, theater, field trip, or athletics), you must provide me with documentation from an appropriate authority. Whether or not an absence is excused, you are responsible for contacting a classmate or me to find out what material you missed and any work that was assigned. If work is due in class on the day of the absences, the work is due in my mailbox by 4pm that day.

One or two tardies (arriving late in class or departing class early) will be excused if the reasons are acceptable and if there is valid documentation. Otherwise, tardiness is not acceptable because it is disruptive, and, beyond any excused tardies, class participation grade and overall grade will be affected (2 tardies = 1 absence).

Class Participation:

In addition to attending class, you are also expected to contribute class discussions and participate in workshop sessions with your peers. Learning is not a solitary process, but one that necessarily involves others and I thus consider class participation a very important part of achieving this class's goals.

Quizzes:

If I think that the class is not doing the reading assignments, I will begin giving quizzes at the beginning of every class. If you are reading the texts as we progress though the semester, you should do fine.

Exams:

We will have one exam for the three periods of literature (Romantic, Victorian, and Twentieth Century) that we are covering in this course. The exam will include a take-home essay portion (see below) and an in-class portion. The in-class part of the exam will be made up of quotation identifications and short answer questions from the period being studied.
The third and final exam will have the usual identifications and short answers, but the essay for this exam will be the periodical research paper.

Essays:

For the essay portion of the exam, I will give out three essay questions or prompts from which you may choose your topic. Before the first exam we will go over some sample questions so that you have an idea of what they will be like and what I will be expecting. If you look at the schedule, below you will notice that each exam falls on a Tuesday. I will give out the questions that Thursday and the essay will due on the following Tuesday of the exam. Each essay will be no less that 1,500 words.

Format:

All work is due at the beginning of class on the day it is due. All major essays should be typed on only one side of 8 ½" x 11" white paper, MLA format, stapled, and be in Times New Roman font. On days when drafts are due (workshop days), you must bring two copies of your paper to class. These copies should be clean, typed papers (the same format as the final draft) and already well edited by you. I will not accept any papers that are not in this format.

Revisions:

You may revise any and/or all of the essays in this class. Revision does not simply mean fixing all of the errors that I have marked on your paper; rather, it entails make global changes to your essay. To this end, you must first work on your essay on your own. Then you MUST make conference with me about the essay. I will not simply tell you what you should do with the essay but will instead answer any questions that you have.

Periodical Presentations:

Each student will read an entire issue (front to back, including advertisements) of a Victorian periodical. Throughout the semester, students will present their issues to the class. These presentations will be at least fifteen minutes in length. We will discuss the particulars of this assignment after the first week of class. This assignment will be worth three quiz/response grades.

Bulletin Board Participation:

At the beginning of the term, I will set up a class online bulletin board. Each student must post at least six original responses to an upcoming reading assignment and six responses to others’ responses. While these posts need not be polished pieces of writing, I do expect a certain amount critical thought. The idea here is raise issues about a particular reading or group of readings for the class to think about before we discuss. Responses will be graded out of ten, with a ten being equivalent to a check for completion. Each post will be no less than 200 words.

Our Mutual Friend Character Reports: