Important: Reread these instructions and requirements before submitting each essay.
- Format of Papers: All out-of-class assignments must be double-spaced (using 12 pt. type). Use one-inch margins, with the right margin unjustified. Make sure that your name, course number, paper assignment number, date, and word count are found at the top of the first page. Creatively title all essays. Again, you must double-space your formal submissions to receive substantive marginal comments.
- Canvas: Submit essays when due via Canvas. Rough drafts are due in class on the days they are due, not after class. Final drafts are due before midnight on the day they are due. Essays not submitted by this date and time will be marked late. In addition, each submitted essay should be accompanied by a completed questionnaire and a process log (see below).
- Process Log: Include with the final draft of each of the three major submitted essays a log (one to two pages long) explaining the processes you went through to produce it. Use the process log to reflect and comment upon the assignment and the strengths and limitations of your response to it. You need not include process logs with one-page essays, or with rough drafts. The process logs should be affixed to the very bottom of your final drafts.
- Late Papers: Any essays not submitted by the date and time specified on Canvas will be marked late. Grades on late papers will drop one third of a grade for each calendar day or fraction thereof that they are late. Allow yourself extra time to revise and proofread (see #7).
- Plagiarism: See guidelines provided by the Office of Student Support and Judicial Affairs. We will often discuss the topic of academic dishonesty; make sure you understand the definitions of plagiarism. For more information, visit The Academic Integrity Project at https://www.andysclasses.com/standards-and-expectations/the-academic-integrity-project/.
- Proper Citation Procedures: It is your responsibility to cite sources correctly, and to use whatever citation style is appropriate for your field. As a campus expert on academic integrity, I will thoroughly discuss with you the typical citation and plagiarism problems that prompt student visits to the Office of Student Support and Judicial Affairs.
- Revision and Proofreading: Spend as much time revising and proofreading your submitted essays as you do brainstorming, outlining, and writing them. Too many students receive grades that do not reflect the genius of their thought because they choose to submit a first or second draft. Read out loud the final draft of any essay you wish to submit to me several times after you consider it “finished.”
- Include a completed copy of the essay questionnaire with each major submitted essay of two pages or longer. You need not submit a questionnaire for one-page papers or for rough drafts.
- The three practices most likely to sabotage a promising essay are the following: Failure to respond substantively and insightfully to the prompt, failure to present specific and shown evidence to support claims, and failure to revise the submission thoroughly.
