Required Texts and Materials

There are two required texts for this course; they are available in the student bookstore:

William Vesterman's Reading and Writing Short Arguments
Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49

It is also recommended that you buy your own standard English dictionary

Internet access is required for this course. Access to the home page for this class will be absolutely crucial. Most of our course hand-outs, work-sheets, and other instructional material will be available only in this format. You will be required to print out these materials and bring them to class.

Journal Notebook: You will need to keep a notebook (technically they are called "report folders") for your Journal assignments and Practice Exercises. This will be collected and graded on a regular basis.

Course Work

Your grade in this course will be determined by the points you earn on the following assignments. Detailed instructions and due dates for these are available on the course home-page. All assignments must be submitted on or before the due date. NO LATE PAPERS will be accepted and NO MAKE-UP quizzes will be given.

All of your course work, with the exception of in-class quizzes and activities, must be typed or word processed and stapled. They must be double-spaced, left-justified, printed in Times 12 point font and aligned with one inch margins on all sides of the page. Make sure your ink/toner/ribbon is black and adequately dark. I will not grade papers that I can not read.

Grade Breakdown

First Reasoning Analysis Paper	10 points
Second Reasoning Analysis Paper	10 points
Research Paper	15 points
Complete Journal Notebooks	15 points
Total:	50 points

Class Procedures

Attendance is crucial. "Any student who fails to attend class regularly or during the first session may be dropped; however, it is the responsibility of the student to complete the course or to officially withdraw from a class" (MJC Catalog 18). Accordingly, any student who is habitually absent--that is any student who misses more than 7 course meetings--will be given a failing grade. Furthermore, any student not in class at twenty minutes after the hour will be counted absent. It is up to you to make sure that I have marked you present if you come in within those ten minutes. I will not review or debate my attendance records with you later on down the road.

Participation is essential. Students are expected to participate in all classroom exercises and activities. If a student declines to participate, he or she must sit quietly. Students who do disrupt the class will be asked to leave and will be marked absent for the day. Please turn off all cell phones and pagers before coming to class.

Deadlines are absolute. All papers and assignments are due on the date designated by the on-line course outline. No late papers will be accepted and no make-ups will be given on any quiz or activity. Everything distributed in class, hand-outs and returned work, will only be distributed once. Students who are absent are responsible for acquiring returned work from my office. Handouts will be posted online

Plagiarism is illegal. A word about plagiarism: don't do it. Students are regularly caught and punished for it. If caught, students will fail this course and their cases will be forwarded for appropriate discipline.

Your instructor is available. If you run into a problem with a particular reading or writing assignment, please take the time to talk to me about it. I am available to discuss any pertinent scholarly or administrative issues during my office hours.