History 120: Handbooks and How-To Guides in the Ancient World (Summer and Winter Sessions, 2020)

GRADING

Grading for the course will be based on the following breakdown:

• Worksheets (20%): There are 15 brief comprehension worksheets to complete, one for each handbook assigned. These can be found on D2L (see the "Worksheets" section of the course D2L page). Complete these—with responses of 75 or more words per question—and submit them electronically on D2L for grading. I suggest that you use them as study guides for quizzes and as notes for your short papers. Your lowest five worksheet grades will be dropped.

• Quizzes (20%): There is a brief (15 minute) D2L quiz to complete for each reading assignment = a total of 15 in all. If you do the readings—and complete/review the comprehension worksheets in advance—you should have no trouble doing well on the quizzes. Your lowest five quiz grades will be dropped.

• Short Papers (60% [20% each]): Three papers of between 750 and 1000 words in length based on course readings will be assigned. These are meant to be exercises in analytical thinking and should not require any additional research or reading (though you are certainly welcome to do additional work, if you like!). The topics for each paper are posted on D2L (in the "Content" section, in the "Short Paper Topics" folder) and are to be submitted on D2L. ***You are allowed to submit drafts of your papers on D2L for some initial feedback—up to 48 hours before the due date—and will have the option to revise either your first or your second paper for a better grade if you choose. If you would like to do this, please email me to discuss ways in which you can improve it. Revised papers are due (in the appropriate Dropbox folder for revisions) by the final due date. **Please note: any quoted material does not count towards the word count minimum! Word count totals are totals for your own words, not the words of another author.** ***PLEASE ALSO NOTE: You MUST let me know you want to revise one of your papers no later than a week before the end of the term!***

OTHER (IMPORTANT!) COURSE POLICIES: READ CAREFULLY

• Course Content: Course readings will sometimes contain brutally violent, sexually graphic and/or otherwise potentially offensive material. I assume that all students enrolled in HIST 120 are mature enough to handle such material and suggest that anyone easily offended not take the course.

• Office Hours: I will NOT be holding regular office hours during the term. If you would like to meet with me, however, we can make an appointment and meet via Zoom. I am most easily reached via email (jbausch1@email.arizona.edu). I will do my best to respond to any concerns you have within a few hours, and certainly within a day.

• D2L: As mentioned above, students in HIST 120 will be expected to be familiar with D2L ("Desire2Learn"), the University's online course content management system. Our use of D2L in HIST 120 will be extensive: we will use D2L not only as a repository for course documents (additional readings, course handouts, etc.) and as a place to post grades, but also for quizzes and for updates about the course. If you are unfamiliar with D2L, see the D2L help homepage.

• Plagiarism and Using Quoted/Cited Material: Plagiarism is the presentation of another person's work—or what is substantially another person's work—as one's own, and it is strictly forbidden in higher education. If you copy material from an outside source and paste it into a worksheet response or paper for HIST 120, you have plagiarized. If you copy material from an outside source and paste it into a worksheet response or paper for HIST 120, and then tweak the pasted material a bit, you have still plagiarized. Responses to questions on reading worksheets and short papers need to be in your own words. No credit is given for plagiarized material. Repeated instances of plagiarism may result in disciplinary acton at the university level. On a related note, it's worth mentioning my policy on using quotations from course materials. I'm fine with it! That said, quotations (which must be set off by quotation marks and have a page number citation) should only be used as supporting material for making your own points, and, maybe most importantly, material within quotation marks DOES NOT COUNT TOWARDS WORD COUNT TOTALS for reading worksheets and papers. As noted above, word count totals are totals for your own words, not the words of another author.

• Grades: Grades for papers and worksheets will be entered on D2L (ideally) within 48 hours of submission; grades for quizzes are automatically generated immediately after completion. ***It is your responsibility to keep track of your grades over the term. You have 48 hours from the date of a posted grade to appeal it. After that, the assumption is that you have seen the grade and are OK with it.***

• Paper Grading: The following rubric will be used to compile your grades on papers in HIST 120 (with thanks to Jennifer Kendall!):
  
  

  Category & Description	Max Points
  1.) Paper Mechanics 15 points: The essay adheres to all of the mechanical requirements (formatting, length, margins, proper citations and following any specific instructions for content in the paper assignment). 10 points: The essay has one or two mechanical errors. 5 points: The essay has numerous mechanical errors. 0 points: The essay has numerous mechanical errors and/or is less than the required length.	15
  B.) Grammar/Spelling/Composition 15 points: No / almost no spelling, grammar, punctuation or other compositional errors are present. The essay clearly appears to have been proofread and edited. 10 points: There are a few grammar, spelling, punctuation or other compositional errors but the essay appears to have been proofread and edited. 5 points: There are many grammar, spelling, punctuation or other compositional errors present. 0 points: Numerous errors make the essay difficult to read and/or excessively long quotations or paraphrases are used.	15
  C.) Content 70 points: The depth of analysis greatly exceeds expectations, details are many and organization is excellent. 55 points: The depth of analysis is good, as are details and organization, and minimum expectations are exceeded. 40 points: The essay is basic with an adequate analysis. 25 points: The essay is poor all around, but there is at least an attempt to follow directions. 10 points: The essay is poor all around, and there is little to no evidence that the author followed instructions. But at least he/she handed something in!	70
  Total Possible Points:	100

• Final Grades: For the final grade, the following breakdown will be used:
  
  

  A+ = 98–100	A = 93–97	A- = 90–92
  B+ = 88–89	B = 83–87	B- = 80–82
  C+ = 78–79	C = 73–77	C- = 70–72
  D+ = 68–69	D = 63–67	D- = 60–62
  F+ = 58–59	F = 53–57	F- = 0–52

  Final grades ending in .5 or higher will be rounded up; those ending in .49 or lower will be rounded down. ***There are NO exceptions to this policy.***

• Writing: If you would like help with your writing, the University’s Writing Skills Improvement Program may be a valuable resource. The Program offers professional individual tutoring in writing for students, as well as a number of different types of writing workshops. Register online and improve your prose!

COURSE SCHEDULE AND DUE DATES

There are fifteen assigments in HIST 120. Each assignment consists of readings to do, PowerPoints to view (and listen to! there is audio), a reading worksheet to complete and a quiz to take. As noted above, in addition to these fifteen basic assignments there are three short papers to complete. Since this is (for the most part) a self-paced online course, there is ***ONLY ONE DUE DATE/TIME PER SESSION.*** They are the following:

• Presession 2020: 11:59 p.m. on Friday, June 5
• Summer Session 1 2020: 11:59 p.m. on Friday, July 10
• Summer Session 2 2020: 11:59 p.m. on Friday, August 14
• Winter Session 2020: 11:59 p.m. on Friday, January 15 (2021)

ALL of your work for the course MUST be submitted on D2L by the specified date/time in order for it to count towards your final grade for the course. Anything not submitted by this deadline will not be counted.

Since there are 15 assignments in this course, but ultimately only 10 will count towards your final grade, you should feel free to consider 5 of the assignments (readings, worksheets, quizzes and discussions) entirely optional. If you complete more than 10 of the assignments, only your best 10 grades in each category (worksheet, quiz and discussion) will count towards your final grade. Please note, however, that all three papers are required.

Check this page often, as readings and assignments are subject to change. I will also (of course!) give you all a heads-up over email or on the course D2L page if a major shake-up is imminent.