The evaluation for the course will be based on these items, out of a
semester total of 500 points:
Work due on a given day is due at the start of class, unless otherwise
noted. Missing a tutorial costs one full grade. Late
(even barely late) work loses the point equivalent of one full grade
(=10%), and a further grade for each additional twenty-four hours of lateness.
Keep in mind this cost when deliberating about taking more time in which to
complete an assignment.
Tutorials
The tutorial papers, 5-8 pages each, will be run as paired tutorials. You
will be scheduled in pairs to come to my office and read your paper to me and
to the other student. We will talk about your paper, interrupting you more than
once. Then the other student will read her or his paper in the same way. So
that we may follow along as you read, hand in three copies of your paper
(including the original). Realize that it is your paper which will be graded,
not your reading of it or your answering any questions
which I or the other student may bring up. The purpose of having you read the
paper to me is that I can give you comments directly and suggest ways to
improve your future work. This is much easier for me to do and much more
helpful to you than having you read my comments in dried ink on a dead piece of
paper. Because I will have to schedule many tutorial sessions, I am canceling
class for the days during which the tutorials will be held.
You will have the opportunity to submit a substantive re-write (that is,
not only correcting mechanical errors—see next paragraph) of your first paper,
and the grade recorded will be the average of the grade on the first submission
and on the second submission.
Writing
Since writing is central to the course, both in reading others' and in
creating your own, respect for writing will manifest itself even at the level
of writing mechanics. You will be expected to take stylistic and mechanical
concerns most seriously in your three papers. As a motivational aid to this
end, you will be allowed two grammatical, spelling, or punctuation mistakes per
page (partial pages counting as full), after which you will lose one point for
each mistake. For example, if you have a 44-point paper of five pages, and you
have made thirteen mechanical errors, then you will receive a 41 for the paper.
N.B.: the same mistake (not just similar) repeated will count as one
mistake. You will be allowed to submit a revised version with the mechanical
errors corrected, and in these cases you will be assigned the average of your
original and revised grade.
You might consider spending a bit of time at my writing site.
Literature reviews
You will write a 3‑4
page review of each of three journal articles (not something that is a chapter
of a book) of your choice as follows:
·
an
article about one or more Presocratic philosopher (from Thales through the
Sophists) or on Socrates or on Plato;
·
an
article about Aristotle;
·
an article about one
or more medieval philosopher (from Augustine through the fifteenth century).
All articles must be in peer-reviewed publications. If you have any question about this with regard to a given candidate, ask. A good place to find a database suitable for searching is to scroll down to “Philosophy” at our library’s “Browse databases by subject”: http://libguides.smcm.edu/databases (One of the databases listed there, “Philosopher’s Index,” is a good place to start. And for most people a fine place to end.)
You are (i) to provide a complete bibliographic
citation to the article above the start of the body of your paper, (ii) to
describe in your own words the problem or issue which the author is addressing
(in other words, why have written the article?), (iii) to summarize the
author's treatment of this topic, and (iv) to point out what you take to be the
strengths and/or weaknesses with the author's treatment.
Remember that scholarly articles are not written for undergraduates, and you
will be able to write more coherently about something you understand than about
something you don’t really get. If you
can’t follow the subtleties of an article’s argument, or you can follow it but
it doesn’t interest you, then you have not chosen wisely. The most common reason for such unwise
choices is not having started early enough.
Desperation is not a strategy for flourishing, so leave yourself time to
be able to go back and look for another article.
Personal electronics
This seminar requires a free-flowing exchange of ideas, between you and
the long-dead, as well as among us. Because they create a literal vertical
barrier among us, the use of laptops is not allowed in class, except by those
with documented special needs. Those with electronic copies of the readings
should use a tablet, e-reader, or some other flat-laying device.
Otherwise, cell phones should be stowed away, and not simply on the
table, even if turned completely off. “Why,” you ask? Recent studies indicate
the distracting effect of even a cell phone not
one’s own, laying on a nearby table. In fact, of even a
drawing or a thought of a cell phone. So I hereby prohibit you during class even to
think of a cell phone.
Students with
documented disabilities
“Students are admitted to St. Mary’s College
based on their potential for academic success, irrespective of physical or
learning disabilities. Administrative staff and faculty work cooperatively to
assist students with disabilities in their educational endeavors and adjustments
to the College community. The Office of Academic Services works to ensure that
educational programs are accessible to all qualified students. Students with
physical or learning disabilities should contact the Office of Academic
Services for specific information and assistance regarding potential special
needs.” --SMCM
2014-15 Catalog, pg. 8
If you have a disability documented with the Office of Academic Services, you must schedule a meeting with me to discuss how to address any accommodations from Academic Services. Please note that this meeting must take place during the first three (3) weeks of classes. If you have a documented disability, but do not plan on using your accommodations, you still need to meet with me. The purpose of this meeting is not to justify or explain the reasons for any accommodations (that’s the business of the Office of Academic Services), but to discuss what reasonable accommodations for this course will be and to work out the logistics of these accommodations. For example, if Academic Services recommends that you have a certain amount of additional time on tests, we will discuss where and when you will get this extra time.
Academic integrity
Academic integrity: The College’s definitions and policies
on this matter are laid out in the student handbook, To the Point, article III, section I: www.smcm.edu/tothepoint/judicial-procedures-for-academic-misconduct/. Ignorance of such matters is no excuse.
Good samples of acceptable and unacceptable paraphrases can
be found at a page put up by Indiana University: www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml
Cornell has a quiz you can take to see how well you
understand what sorts of material needs to be sourced: plagiarism.arts.cornell.edu/tutorial/exercises.cfm (Click on “Introduction” on the left-hand
side if you want to see their discussion leading up to the quiz.)
Grading standards
Adapted from Maxine Rodbury,
“A Grading Rubric,” Harvard Writing
Project Bulletin, p. 11: https://www.usfca.edu/uploadedFiles/Destinations/Office_and_Services/Academic_Support/Learning_and_Writing_Center/HWP.responding.pdf [accessed 30
March 2015]
a grade of A
Excellent in every way (this is not the same as
perfect). This is an ambitious, perceptive essay that grapples with
interesting, complex ideas; responds discerningly to counter-arguments, and
explores well-chosen evidence revealingly. The discussion enhances, rather than
underscores, the reader’s and writer’s knowledge (it doesn’t simply repeat what
has been taught). There is a context for all the ideas; someone outside the
class would be enriched, not confused, by reading the essay. Its beginning
opens up, rather than flatly announces, its thesis. Its end is something more
than a summary. The language is clean, precise, often
elegant. The reader feels surprised, delighted, changed. There’s something new
here for the reader, something only the essay’s writer could have written and
explored in this particular way. The writer’s stake in the material is obvious.
a grade of B
A piece of writing that reaches high and achieves many
of its aims. The ideas are solid and progressively explored, but some thin
patches require more analysis or some stray thoughts don’t fit in. The language
is generally clear and precise but occasionally not. The evidence is relevant, but
there may be too little; the context for the evidence may not be sufficiently
explored, so that the reader has to make some of the connections that the
writer should have made clear for the reader.
OR: A piece of
writing that reaches less high than an A essay but thoroughly achieves its
aims. This is a solid essay the reasoning and argument of which may nonetheless
be
rather routine. (In this case the limitation is conceptual.)
a grade of C
A piece of writing that has real problems in one of these
areas: conception (there’s at least one main idea but it’s fuzzy and hard to
get to); structure (confusing); use of evidence (weak or non-existent—the
connections among the ideas and the evidence are not made or are presented
without context, or add up to platitudes or generalizations): language (the
sentences are often awkward, dependent on unexplained abstractions, sometimes
contradict each other). The essay may
not move forward but rather may repeat its main points, or it may touch upon
many (and apparently unrelated) ideas without exploring any of them in
sufficient depth. Punctuation, spelling,
grammar, paragraphing, and transitions may be a problem.
OR: An essay that is largely plot summary or
“interpretive summary” of the text, but is written without major problems.
OR: An essay that is chiefly a personal reaction to
something. Well-written, but scant intellectual
content—mostly unsupported opinion.
lower grades
These are efforts that are wildly shorter than they ought
to be to grapple seriously with ideas.
OR: Those that are extremely problematic in many of
the areas mentioned above: aims, structure, use of evidence, language, etc.
OR: Those that do not come close to addressing the
expectations of the assignment.
Send me mail: mstaber at smcm dot edu
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