ENG 260 syllabus > evaluation of student performance

In order to complete this course and to receive a final grade and credit for it, you must have finished each of the following course requirements detailed in the subsections of the previous section of this syllabus, "main parts of the course":

• taken all nine quizzes
• taken all three essay examinations (Exam One, Exam Two and the Final Exam)
• made at least one significant post to each of the weekly periods of the discussions board

If you haven't met all of these requirements by the end of May 19, I will have to assign you a grade of INC (for "incomplete") for the course. Now, if this happens to you it's important you realize the ramifications of this INC grade, namely that this is only a temporary grade and it is not the same as a failing grade (that's an E); you'll definitely still be able to make up the work and pass the course, but please be aware of the College's policy that if the INC still stands as your grade for the course (meaning that you have not yet completed all the work for it) at the end of the last day of classes of the following semester, the INC grade will be automatically converted into a permanent E. Here are links to more information about the incomplete grade policies:

• the "Grading System" subsection of the "Academic Policies" section of the SUNY Cortland 2009-2010 Undergraduate Catalog
• the "Evaluation" subsection of the "Academic Policies" section of the SUNY Cortland 2009-2010 Undergraduate Catalog
• section "415.01 GRADING SYSTEM" of the SUNY Cortland 2008-2010 College Handbook

If you do complete all the work by the end of the semester, you will receive a final grade as per the College's grading system. Here is how your final grade in this course will be computed:

• total of the numeric scores on the three exams: 75%
• class participation: 25%

The latter category, "class participation," encompasses things like on-time posting to the Discussions board and following the rules for posting there as I've laid them out, about all of which again see the "discussions" subsection of the "main parts of this course" section of this syllabus. And once more, notice that any scores you get on any or all of the quizzes are NOT included in any way in the computation of your final grade.

Lastly, I should give you a little warning that around halfway through the class I will have to issue Mid-Semester Estimates for everybody, and I may have to give some of you "Unsatisfactory" rather than "Satisfactory" estimates. I will assign "U"s at mid-semester only for one of the following reasons:

• if a student has posted to none or very few of the Discussions board weekly periods up to then
• if a student has taken no or very few quizzes given so far
• if a student has not taken Exam One
• if a student has failed to attend to a serious course matter that I have mentioned to him/her either through private e-mail and/or a reply on the Discussions board

I discuss several of these issues further in the next section of this syllabus, "my expectations."