5.3 Submissions and Late Work

This course expects you to use the internet regularly -- mostly blogs.setonhill.edu and turnitin.com. Just as students in generations past learned to carry spare quills, a pen knife, an extra inkhorn, and spare lamp wicks, there are certain common-sense strategies that will make your use of the internet less risky. Print out a copy of the course syllabus, and print out online readings in advance, so that you can work on the readings if the internet happens to be down.

Most assignments will be submitted and returned via turnitin.com. Unless the homework assignment specifically mentions a printout, you should assume that I don't want you to submit a hard copy. (For instance, although I won't always collect your Agenda Items, you should still bring a printout to class each day.)

Please note that your Agenda Items are due on your blog on Monday, your weekly Exercises are due on Turnitin.com on Wednesday, and 2-4 comments per assigned reading are due sometime before class. (I will spend class time discussing these in more detail, and I'll send out reminders for the first few weeks.)

The multiple parts of the Term Paper assignment should be submitted in a folder. When submitting an expansion or revision, always re-submit all the previous drafts, including my comments. (Multi-part assignments are incomplete unless all required parts are supplied; I will supply more details on this when the time comes.)

Note: If you ever feel you want more rapid or more detailed feedback on an assignment, make an appointment with me during my office hours, and I will go over the work with you in detail, regardless of whether it was late or on time.

The slots for depositing papers on Turnitin.com have a due date and time. If your assignment is late by only a few minutes, I probably won't bother with any late penalty. If your paper is a few hours late, I will probably cut short the comments that I write (since I may in fact finish marking the stack before your paper arrives).

If you submit your assignment after I have already assigned a zero for your paper, you must e-mail me to ask me to replace the zero with the grade you have earned. (I typically do not go back to check whether late papers have arrived.)

Please note that if I have already finished grading my stack of submissions, a late paper goes on the bottom of my to-do list. I may not be able to get it back to you in time for you to complete the next step of a multi-step assignment. If you are concerned about not getting a paper back soon enough, please arrange an appointment so that I can give you feedback in person.

I reserve the right to refuse to accept any assignment that is more than a week late, unless there are extenuating circumstances.

By default, late assignments automatically lose one letter grade if they are not submitted on time, and another letter grade for each additional day late (counting weekends as one day).

Students may not skip any stage of a multipart assignment. This may mean that you will have to complete a preliminary assignment for no credit before I will look at the next step in an assignment.

All Late Work

If you are asking that I waive a late penalty, or change the zero I have already recorded, e-mail me a copy of your completed Absence Form, with a subject line that follows this pattern: "Smith EL312 Ex 1-2 Absence Form".

Special Cases

Response/Reflection Items: These time-sensitive assignments earn no credit if they are late. (You should still complete any items you missed in order to get full credit for your class portfolio.)

Class Participation: The way to get credit for a missed in-class activity is to contribute substantially to the online discussion. Post thoughtful comments on the course website, your peers' websites, and/or your own. To make sure that I see and record credit for this alternative work, send me an e-mail with links to the URLs for the additional work you submitted.

Make-up/Extra Credit Assignments: I do not have a policy of inventing make-up or extra-credit assignments to enable you to pull your grade up in the last few weeks of the term. You may, however, at any time demonstrate your willingness to work hard for your grade by doing more than the required amount of work on your weblog. (Call my attention to this extra work when you submit your weblog portfolio.)