Assignments

The point range listed below for each grade (A,B,C,D) reflect cumulative points given to individual students as a result of the quality of their completed work.Your final grade will be determined by your Homework assignments at 10%, your graded Essays at 70% and your Research Paper at 20% of your total grade.The total points students receive from the assignments and activities below will determine their final grade.

There are 100 points possible in this course.

Grading Scale

90 ~ 100 = A : Outstanding

80 ~ 89 = B : Above average

70 ~ 79 = C : Average

60 ~ 69 = D : Bellow Average

59 or below = F : Failing

PLAGIARISM

Academic Dishonesty, as stated on page 28 of the Northern Marianas College 2002-2004 catalog "cannot be condoned by the college. Such dishonesty includes cheating and plagiarism ..., which may result in expulsion from the College. " Plagiarism-taking credit for writing done by others-is a serious form of cheating and will be dealt with seriously. You can't learn to write unless you do your own writing. Any work which is suspected of being copied from someone else will be graded an F and will seriously drag down your final grade. Don't even consider this "shortcut"!

Things to consider when you write:

Unity: all of the sentences relate one main topic and develop the controlling idea. All the supporting sentences “prove” the controlling idea of the topic sentence. Erase any sentence that does not “prove” your controlling idea.

Cohesion: all ideas in a paragraph support or “prove” your local Topic Sentence. All information in a paragraph should be relevant to the Topic Sentence. This topic sentence proves one part of the Thesis Statement of the overall essay.

Coherence: all of the ideas are arranged in logical progression. The reader can easily follow the progression of ideas. All paragraphs support the main idea of Thesis Statement of the essay.

GRADING RUBRIC

Score:

Level:

Criteria:

Content:

	30 - 27	Very Good to Excellent: knowledgeable, substantive, thorough development of the thesis & each topic sentence, complete introductory & concluding paragraphs, all relevant to assigned topic
	26 - 22	Average to Good: related to topic but incomplete development, limited thesis &/or topic sentence development, lacks complete, sufficient or related details, incomplete introductory and/or concluding paragraphs
	21 - 17	Poor to Fair: inadequate development, incomplete thesis & topic sentence development & incomplete introductory &/or concluding paragraphs
	16 - 12	Very Poor: does not show complete of sufficient knowledge of the topic through non-substantive & not pertinent thesis & topic sentence development or not enough to evaluate.

Organization:

	20 -18	Very Good to Excellent: Fluent expression - ideas are clearly stated & supported, succinct, well-organized & logical, unified & coherent using appropriate examples & transitions
	17 - 14	Average to Good: somewhat choppy expression & organization, logical organization & main ideas stand out, but incomplete expression of ideas, minor problems in unity & coherence because transitions are missing or may be inappropriate at times.
	13 - 10	Poor to Fair: non-fluent expression & organization, presentation of ideas may be confusing though main ideas are present, details may be illogical, lacks coherence or unity of expression.
	9 - 6	Very Poor: Does not communicate clearly as organization is logically disconnected or not enough to evaluate.

Vocabulary:

	20 - 18	Very Good to Excellent: sophisticated use of vocabulary & expression, effective word & idiom choice & usage, appropriate word form usage & appropriate register.
	17 - 14	Average to Good: adequate range, occasional vocabulary or expression usage errors, occasional idiomatic expression errors, may have inappropriate word form usage.
	13 - 10	Poor to Fair: limited range of expression, frequent error in vocabulary and/or idiomatic expressions, frequent usage errors, meaning may be confusing at times.
	9 - 6	Very Poor: essentially literal translation, little knowledge of English vocabulary appropriate to the topic, idiomatic & word form errors contribute to some confusion or not enough to evaluate.

Language Use:

	25 -21	Very Good to Excellent: use of effective & varied complex constructions, few elementary grammar errors of agreement, number, word order/function, articles, pronouns, prepositions, tense, or noun form
	20 -16	Average to Good: effective but somewhat reliant in limited sentence construction or variety, minor problems in complex constructions &/or tenses, numerous errors of agreement, number, word order/function, articles, pronouns, prepositions or noun form, but meaning is not confusing.
	15 -11	Poor to Fair: consistent problems in complex sentence structures, reliant on simple sentence structure formats &/or tenses, frequent errors of agreement, number, word order/function, articles, pronouns, prepositions, noun form or run on sentences, leaving meaning confusing at times.
	10 - 5	Very Poor: limited ability to construct varied complex sentence structures, very limited sentence structure formats &/or tenses, often there are errors in agreement, number, word order/function, articles, pronouns, prepositions, noun form, or run on/fragmented sentences. Meaning is confusing or there is not enough to evaluate.

Mechanics:

	5	Very Good to Excellent: demonstrates spelling, punctuation, capitalization & paragraphing mastery.
	4	Average to Good: occasional errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization &/or paragraphing, but meaning is seldom obscured.
	3	Poor to Fair: frequent errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization &/or paragraphing, poor handwriting or typing, meaning may be obscured or confusing.
	2	Very Poor: demonstrates virtually no mastery of spelling, punctuation, capitalization &/or paragraphing, very poor handwriting or typing, so the meaning is confusing & difficult to understand, or there is not enough to evaluate.
	Total

 

Course Assignments:

There are various kinds of activities for this class. There are three types of assignments, Homework, Essays and Research Papers. Below is a description of the assignments to be completed for the course.

Homework:

At the beginning of the semester there will be a series of homework assignments assigned from the text. The homework will make up 10% of your final grade and will not be accepted late! Homework varies to a degree but usually requires no more than 150 words of work. I see the homework as a way for you to get used to my style of grading. It also allows me to get a sense of your writing in a NON graded manner. The homework is either done or not done there is no in between. It is an excellent opportunity for you and I to get to know each other.

Essays:

You will be required to produce 7 short essays. Essays make up 70% of your final grade and like homework they will not be accepted late! Essays are defined as writing assignments a minimum of 500 words in length which are unified, coherent and well-organized. The topic and style of writing will depend on the chapter in the text which we are discussing. See the schedule for further information.

Research Paper:

You will be required to produce one research paper approximately 1500 words in length which is unified, coherent and well-organized. The research paper makes up 20% of your final grade it will be due the fist day of finals it cannot be accepted late because grades are due at the end of finals week! It must have a minimum of 5 sources to support the

There is no final exam.

Due Dates: All essays, revisions, analysis/summary papers, research components and research papers are expected no later than the date due. Any essay or research paper turned in late will lose 10 points for each day late. Final acceptance dates for essays and assignments turned in late will be strictly followed. Research paper components turned in late will result in reducing the research paper's grade by 1 point per day for each component turned in late. I will provide adequate notice of due dates; you should take these dates seriously in order to earn the grade you believe you deserve.

Conferencing: In lieu of class attendance, you will be required to conference with the instructor in parts of the semester. The purpose is to provide you the opportunity to discuss, at length, in detail and in privacy, the research you are doing. You are expected to be prepared for each conference. Efforts will be made to provide you with the opportunity to schedule conferences at a viable time for both you and I. Failure to attend or be adequately prepared for the conference will result in a deteriorating instructor/student relationship.

Final Research Paper: The final research paper is due Friday the first day of Final Exam Week. This will permit me to grade your research paper more objectively.

Attendance: I will strictly adhere to the NMC policy regarding attendance!

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