Hi Everyone,

Instead of bombarding you with tons of information here, I'm going to provide you with what I think are the essential pieces of information you'll need to get started and to understand our overall approach in this class. You'll find more detailed information in the Syllabus Module, where I will bombard you. :)

Basic Course Information

Textbook

Most of the materials for this class are housed right here in our online classroom. Some are available as links to websites, and I require you to have just one book, Cornelia Dean's Making Sense of Science. It's available at the bookstore, and if you want to get an electronic version that will work ok for our purposes.

Late Policy

Assignments are due at midnight the deadline day. If you cannot, for any reason, turn your assignment in on time, you must make arrangements with me before the deadline, providing an explanation for your lateness and a commitment about when you will turn in your work. If I approve your request to turn in an assignment late, you must turn it in within 48 hours of the original due date, and you'll incur a deduction of 20%.

But remember—failure to make arrangements with me before the deadline means you will not be eligible to receive any credit for a late assignment. (By the way, feel free to turn in assignments earlier than the deadline date/time.)

Assignment and Grading Summary

The graded activities in this class are divided into groups, and each of those groups constitutes a specific percentage of your grade. Here's how that breaks down:

- Minor Assignments: 5%. This includes a couple of quizzes and some minor stuff. 

- Discussions: 20%. This will reflect your performance on the discussions that we'll have throughout the class, usually one per week.

- Peer Reviews: 10%. For most of the major essays, you'll be required to submit a draft of your work to a group of other students. And you'll need to provide feedback and input on the drafts they submit.

- Major Essays: 65%. We'll do five major essays, and they'll add up to your grade in this section.  The Researched Argument will count for twice as much as the other essays.