Welcome to Core 8, Section A WF 9:00-9:50 Jody Taylor Watkins 6210 jwatkins@saintjoe.edu My office hours are flexible and you can generally just drop by the library to see me. If you need extended assistance, it is best to make an appointment.

Assignments

The grade for the course will be calculated based on the following scale:

Assignment	Percentage of overall grade
Weekly quizzes	30%
Research paper	25%
Film papers	20%
Class participation	15%
Final exam	10%

Weekly quizzes: These quizzes will consist of various short answer question types and are designed to gauge your progress in keeping up with readings and lectures.

Research paper: The research paper is designed not only to increase your knowledge of recent examples of conflict in Africa but also to prepare you for Core 9 by asking you to think about an ethical issue in relation to the continent: humanitarian intervention. There are many examples of situations in Africa in the last 10-15 years that have provoked the question of whether the outside world should intervene to save lives at risk by conflict: conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the genocide in Rwanda, the present-day genocide accompanying the civil war in Darfur, Sudan. Your goal with this paper will be to consider situations of humanitarian disaster and write a manifesto stating your approach to intervention in such situations, backed up by reference to specific events and a consistent and well-explained ethical point of view. This paper will be a minimum of eight text pages (excluding title page, bibliography, notes page and other supporting material) and cite a minimum of eight sources. We will have various supplementary activities to help you think about this subject, including a guest talk on March 21 by Fr. Tim McFarland about making a good ethical argument and the in-class viewing of a documentary on the Rwandan crisis. More information about the research paper will be forthcoming in class. This paper is due on Friday, April 20.

Film papers: You will write two film summaries/analyses this semester, each having a minimum of three pages. One of these film summaries will ask you to watch and write about a film from the United States or Europe about Africa and analyze the images of the continent that you take away from the film. The film choices are the following: “The Ghost and the Darkness”, “I Dreamed of Africa”, “King Solomon’s Mines” (1985), and “Out of Africa.” This first film paper will be due on Wednesday, Feb. 14. The second paper will ask you to watch and write about a film from Africa. You will write about how the film(s) you have chosen challenge or reinforce your images of Africa, both those you brought to the course with you, as well as those that emerged from the film you watched for the first paper. Here the choices are “Life on Earth”, “Xala”, “Madame Brouette”, “Tsotsi” (joint South African-British production), and “Mama Africa” (a series of three short films by women directors – watch all three). The second film paper will be due on Wednesday, March 21. All films will be placed on library reserves. More information about the film assignments will be forthcoming in class.

Class participation: Core classes should be discussion-driven and your willingness to participate in class is very important.  However, in order to have an effective discussion, we must all have something in common to discuss.  Therefore, it is crucial that you regularly complete and reflect upon all assigned readings as they are assigned and attend all lectures.  You will be evaluated on your general commitment to and involvement in the class throughout the semester, as evidenced by attendance and class participation.   A separate grading rubric for class discussion is found here. 

Final exam: You will be given several essay questions in advance of the exam. These questions will ask you to reflect on the course and what you’ve drawn from it. You will complete these questions on your own and bring them to our scheduled final exam period for discussion. The final exam period for this class is Monday, April 30 at 3:00.

Grade Scale

94 to 100%	A
90% to 93%	A-
87% to 89%	B+
84% to 86%	B
80% to 83%	B-
77% to 79%	C+
74% to 76%	C
70% to 73%	C-
67% to 69%	D+
60% to 66%	D
59% and lower	F

Writing Guidelines

• If you use anything other than Microsoft Word (not Works!) for your papers, please do not attempt to send them to me electronically because of technical difficulties in doing so.
• Always keep a copy of your written work, both in paper format and electronically, until the end of the semester, after final grades have been turned in. 
• Double-space all papers, except where The Everyday Writer indicates that single spacing is appropriate. 
• Please use reasonable margins and do not try to artificially raise your page count by manipulating margins.  The default margins for a normal document in Microsoft Word should be your regular model.
• Please use no larger than 12-point type and please use the Times New Roman font, using boldface print only when highlighting is appropriate. 
• Please include a title page. 
• Please use page numbers.
• Please include a bibliography of all sources you use in your paper and please cite them in the body of the paper wherever you use them.
• Please use one of the formats given in The Everyday Writer for citing sources and compiling bibliographies:  MLA, APA, CBE or Chicago Style.  While it does not matter which of these you use, please use a style consistently. 
• Please get in the regular habit of proofreading your work.
• For your research paper, you must actively cite at least eight sources.  This must include at least four journal articles (at least three of which must be peer-reviewed) and at least one book.
• Encyclopedias are too general to be used for anything other than background information.  Use no more than one in either paper or electronic form.  
• Please exercise caution when using web pages since, unlike books and journal articles, many web sites don't go through a rigorous editorial or other "quality control" process.  It is often difficult to tell the age and expertise level of web page authors.  Be very careful!  Fr. Tim McFarland has information about evaluating web sites on his homepage under student links (http://www.saintjoe.edu/~timm/student_links.html).   A brochure is also available in the library entitled "Evaluating Web Pages."  You may pick up a copy at the circulation or reference desk. 
• Please use the interlibrary loan service to obtain articles, books and other materials that are not available in paper or electronic form at the SJC library.  Details are available in the library.

Policies

Here are some class and College policies with which you should become familiar. 

Attendance: All SJC students are bound by the mandatory attendance policy found in the College's catalog (pp. 47 of the 2006-2007 Catalog).  You must attend all regularly scheduled classes and lectures, barring reasonable causes preventing you from doing so.  The instructor is the judge of what constitutes an excused absence.  Please understand that your work in other classes or extracurricular activities, no matter how intense, cannot be used as an excuse for not attending and meeting all responsibilities in your Core 8 class.  Please work around class and lecture time when scheduling appointments with doctors, dentists, and so forth.  Repeated absences due to illness may well result in my asking you for medical verification.  You must let me know ahead of time when you must miss a class for any reason.  You are responsible for finding out about and completing any work that you miss.  Each unexcused absence will have an impact on your class participation grade.

Academic Honesty: On pages 53-54 of the 2006-2007 College Catalog, you will find the Academic Honesty policy.  This is crucial reading for all students; please be familiar with the actions that constitute violations of academic honesty and if you have questions, please ask me.  All of your work at SJC should be your own.  If I discover cases of academic honesty violations, I will generally turn them over to the Provost for adjudication, as directed by College policy. 

Deadlines and Makeups: Please adhere to all due dates.  Since you know from the beginning what those due dates are, there should be no general need for extensions.  Papers will be assessed the equivalent of a half letter grade penalty for each day in which they are late.  Makeup quizzes will be given for documented excused absences only. 

Turning In and Keeping Copies of Assignments: Assignments should generally be put in my hands during class on the day they are due.  However, you will have until the library closes on the day something is due to slide an assignment under my office door (make this about 10:45pm to be safe).  The exception to this is the final exam, which must be submitted to me during our scheduled final exam period.  Do not place any material for me in my Core building mailbox.  This is a public area and security cannot be guaranteed.  If you leave things there, you do it at your own risk.  Also do not rely on anyone else to turn in your written work for you.  If I cannot locate your work, you will be asked to produce another copy.  You are required to keep copies of all written work, including quizzes, until you have received your final grade. 

Disabilities: If you are a student with a documented physical or learning challenge, please meet with me immediately to discuss the accommodations you will need during class activities, examinations and out of class assignments in order to participate fully and demonstrate your ability. 

Assistance Available

The Writing Clinic:  Saint Joseph's College provides a couple of academic services about which you should be aware.  The Writing Clinic, located on the second floor of the Core Education Center (Room 212), is staffed by students who will read your paper and assist with grammatical and other technical aspects of writing.  If you have problems with writing, please call the Writing Clinic at 866-6138 or sign up for an appointment at the Clinic office.  This service is free.

Student tutors: The Counseling Services Office, in Room 200 of Halleck Center, maintains lists of available student tutors.  If you find yourself running into difficulties with reading material and feel that you need help outside of the classroom setting, please contact the staff in person or by phone (219-866-6116).  This service is free. 

Calendar

Film paper #1	Wednesday, February 14
Spring break, no classes	Week of March 5
Film paper #2	Wednesday, March 21
Fr. Tim McFarland speaking on making sound ethical arguments – early prep for research paper, so come prepared to take notes!	Wednesday, March 21
Good Friday, no classes	April 6
Easter Monday, no classes	April 9
Core 8 lecture	Friday, April 13
Research paper	Friday, April 20
Discussion of research papers	Wednesday, April 25
Final exam	Monday, April 30, 3:00

The Class Participation Grade

Just as you learn a lot from your peers, so also we on the faculty learn a lot from our colleagues. Prof. Maia Kingman, who teaches English here at SJC, has devised a rubric for grading class participation. I liked it so much that I asked her if I could borrow it for use in my own class. She graciously obliged, so the rubric that follows is an abbreviated version of hers, with a few additions of my own. You should use this for general guidance about what I expect from student participation at different grade levels. There are two overarching requirements that you must keep in mind. The first is attendance, an essential part of successful participation. You will lose participation points for every unexcused absence. The second is respect for peers. Good class discussions rely upon reasoned debate between class members. It is natural for arguments to arise from time to time about the topic of discussion. However, please refrain from personal attacks on the character of your classmates. Personal attacks will result in loss of points on class participation.

The student who…

Earns an ‘A’ grade for class participation

• Participates in all class discussions, answering and asking questions thoughtfully;
• Demonstrates through discussion that she/he has read all material assigned for the day’s class and has attended lectures;
• Is able to analyze reading and lecture material critically as well as personally;
• Is always attentive and respectful of peers and instructor;
• Always has textbooks, and the necessary paper and writing implements to take notes and complete other kinds of in-class writing.

Earns a ‘B’ grade for class participation

• Participates in most class discussions and frequently answers questions posed in class. This student also asks thoughtful questions quite often;
• May differ from the ‘A’ student by showing slightly less initiative and by a lesser degree of thoughtfulness in answers to questions posed in class. Perhaps this individual refers to course materials less often in contributions to discussion;
• Always has textbooks, and the necessary paper and writing implements to take notes in class.

Earns a ‘C’ grade for class participation

• Participates in class discussion about half of the time;
• Generally attentive;
• In discussion, this student doesn’t often refer to readings and lectures and is more likely to state personal opinion about them rather than engage in critical analysis;
• Almost always brings textbooks and writing materials to class.

Earns a ‘D’ grade for class participation

• Participates in less than half of the class discussions;
• When participating in discussions, this student rarely makes reference to readings or lectures and relies more on personal opinion or preference in answers to discussion questions;
• Rarely asks questions in class;
• Is frequently inattentive in class and occasionally distracts other students;
• Frequently forgets to bring textbooks and writing materials to class.

Earns an ‘F’ grade for class participation

• Generally does not participate in class discussions;
• Shows little interest in readings and lectures and rarely or never asks questions;
• Is inattentive in class much of the time and frequently distracts other students;
• Frequently forgets to bring textbooks and writing materials to class.