If you miss class, contact a classmate for notes, reading assignments and handouts – or, better yet, check Canvas.

Grade Distribution

• 10% Class Discussion & Participation
• 25% Discussion Posts (CLO 1, 2, 3, 5)
• 25% Lab Reports (CLO 4)
• 40% Digital Exhibit Project (CLO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Grading Policy

The Department of English reaffirms its commitment to the differential grading scale as defined in the official SJSU Catalog (“The Grading System”). Grades issued must represent a full range of student performance: A = excellent; B = above average; C = average; D = below average; F = failure.

In English Department courses, instructors will comment on and grade the quality of student writing as well as the quality of the ideas being conveyed. All student writing should be distinguished by correct grammar and punctuation, appropriate diction and syntax, and well-organized paragraphs.

• The “A” essay will be well organized and well developed, demonstrating a clear understanding and fulfillment of the assignment. It will show the student’s ability to use language effectively and construct sentences distinguished by syntactic complexity and variety. Such essays will be essentially free of grammatical, mechanical, and usage errors.
• The “B” essay will demonstrate competence in the same categories as the “A” essay. The chief difference is that the “B” essay will show some describably slight weaknesses in one of those categories. It may slight one of the assigned tasks, show less facility of expression, or contain some minor grammatical, mechanical, or usage flaws.
• The “C” essay will complete all tasks set by the assignment, but show weakness in fundamentals (usually development), with barely enough specific information to illustrate the experience or support generalizations. The sentence construction may be less mature, and the use of language less effective and correct than the “B” essay.
• The “D” essay will neglect one of the assigned tasks and be noticeably superficial in its treatment of the assignment–that is, too simplistic or short. The essay may reveal some problems in development, with insufficient specific information to illustrate the experience or support generalizations. It will contain grammatical, mechanical, and usage errors that render some sentences incomprehensible.
• The “F” essay will demonstrate a striking underdevelopment of ideas and insufficient or unfocused organization. It will contain serious grammatical, mechanical, and usage errors that render some sentences incomprehensible.

For your final grades, 100-90 is an A, 89-80 is a B, 79-70 is a C, 69-60 is a D, and below 60 is an F. Pluses and minuses are the middle of each range. In calculating the final grade, a set number will represent each letter grade; for example, B+ is 87.5, B is 85, and B- is 82.5.

Within any of the letter grade ranges (e.g. B+/B/B-), the assignment of a + or - grade will reflect stronger (+) or weaker (-) completion of the goals of the assignment.

Course Requirements and Assignments

Class Discussion & Participation

A student’s participation is assessed by his/her contribution throughout the semester. Use the following as guidelines for this portion of your final grade:

• To earn a “C,” do the minimum: read and prepare assigned readings so you are never at a loss if you are asked a question, but speak only when called upon, do “ordinary,” plain-vanilla presentations and responses. This is the “bottom line” for getting a “C” in this part of the course.

• To earn a “B,” prepare assigned readings thoroughly, initiate discussions about them by asking good questions or suggesting ways to interpret readings, do presentations that reveal that you have done good additional work that you can make both interesting and meaningful to our discussions, and participate actively in those discussions.

• For an “A,” take it up another level entirely: prepare readings thoroughly, find and talk about connections among them and among other aspects of culture (then and now), take a real leadership role in class discussions, including working actively to get others involved in the talk, make your presentations and responses “sparkle” by bringing to them something really special in terms of your own contributions, interests, skills, and abilities to think in broad even interdisciplinary terms. Most of all, remember that an “A” indicates the very best grade a person can get; that should tell you what sort of work you need to do to earn the grade of “A.”

If you miss class, contact a classmate for notes, reading assignments and handouts – or, better yet, check our Course Website.

Weekly Discussion Posts (10 total)

Each discussion post is worth 1 to 10 points and is based on the quality of your response. This weekly post will focus on a particular topic associated with that week's readings and discussion. This weekly writing will also allow you to practice your writing skills. Posts (unless otherwise specified) are formal writing that should conform to MLA style with proper citation format 8th edition (Links to an external site.) and should be edited for grammar and typographical mistakes. Sloppy writing will be penalized by at least 3 points. (See Writing Tips.)

There are no make-ups for discussion posts; you simply receive a zero for that post. A late post will receive a zero. Please be aware that missing even a few of these posts will cause your final grade to drop significantly. On some days, you will write a post for participation points. This will apply not necessarily in terms of finite points, but will instead represent your participation in the class.

Citing and quoting (and linking!) outside sources will definitely enhance your score. When in doubt, cite everything (use the 8th edition of MLA Style (Links to an external site.)). See below for scoring rubric:

• 8-10 points: The post explores the prompt using references from our discussions, details from evidence, and an intellectual exploration of the topic. The post is free from grammatical and writing errors. This level of points is difficult to achieve. Expectations are high for the intellectual rigor of the post.
• 5-7 points: The post has the beginnings of intellectual rigor but lacks one of the qualities above.
• 3-4 points: The post regurgitates class discussion without exploring the topic further in addition to lacking evidence. The post contains grammatical errors, informal writing (such as the use of I or you), ignores MLA style.
• 1-2: The post severely lacks elements from above or does not answer the prompt. This point range also signifies a lack of formal writing and a recommendation to visit the Writing Center for help with formal writing style. This point range also signifies use of personal pronouns throughout the post as well as a lack of interest in the topic/prompt.
• 0 points: This represents not submitting the post on time, not at all, or not answering the prompt at all.

Lab Reports

Four lab reports will provide information about particular activities conducted throughout the semester. Like the Discussion Posts, the lab reports will be written using formal language.

1. Candlelight Scriptorium which entails reading a Dickens serial by candlelight.
2. Annotating a page from a periodical, magazine, or newspaper following the visit to Stanford's Special Collections.
3. Keeping a commonplace book of 19th-century findings throughout the semester which should be brought to every class session for sharing with colleagues.
4. Printing Workshop in which each participant will use a 19th-century American iron press to print hand set lines of text (in whatever font you choose).

Digital Exhibit Project

Using either Omeka or Scalar and relying upon the original blue-backed serials of Charles Dickens' serialized novel, Bleak House, the culminating project will be to create a digital exhibit of these serials. We will work with SJSU Special Collections on learning how to digitize the serials (without harming them). Our work will then proceed towards the content construction of such a digital exhibit. Activities may include building a timeline based on discovery of relevant and important events 1815-1915, annotating an individual serial part, assessing paratextual and ephemeral materials within the serial part, providing literary and print culture context. The digital exhibit project culminates in a final presentation day on the final exam day. This is a scaffolded project which means that we will have waypoints and markers to gauge progress of the project.