Policies

This section contains the policies and expectations for English 240 that are not included in the Assignments section.

Basic Needs

In order to meet the goals of this course, and to learn and thrive at Grinnell in general, you need to meet your basic needs first. I want to support your learning and well-being. If something academic, personal, or financial interferes with your ability to do your work, please ask me for help. I know that asking for help can be difficult, even scary, but asking sooner can often prevent situations from getting worse. Even if you do not know exactly what to ask for, or whether I can provide the help directly, you can let me know what's happening. I will work with you provide help directly or to connect you to the person or office that can do so.

Learning Goals

The English Department has agreed on a set of goals outlined in our curricular map. This course primarily addresses these goals from that list:

2. to enable students to analyze texts from a range of critical and theoretical perspectives
3. to train students in the techniques of academic research in English
4. to develop the skills that contribute to persuasive argumentation and stylistic elegance
8. to develop in students the skills of revision and rigorous self-criticism

Expected Workload

Grinnell College defines four credits of academic work as equivalent to an expected minimum of 12 hours of academic work per week, including the meetings times of the class. The workload of this class will vary from week to week, but in keeping with this definition of course credits, students should expect to spend approximately eight hours per week reading, writing, and otherwise preparing for our four hours of class meetings. As I construct the syllabus, I have often sought to require more preparation for the first class meeting of the week than the second because there are more days in which to complete that work.