Written work
The written work for the course consists of three five-page papers and a final exam. Each paper is on an assigned topic that will be handed out ten days before the paper is due; and each can be written from the course books and the lectures without additional research. Paper assignments will be loaded onto this page as soon as they are handed out in class. The final is a two-hour bluebook exam scheduled by the Registrar.
Writing-Intensive Sections
This course has two writing-intensive sections, with up to 15 students each, whose members receive special guidance from student Writing Tutors. Members of these sections first submit their papers to be critiqued by the section's Writing Tutor, and only then submit a revised version to be read by the instructor.
Here's how it works for a member of one of the writing-intensive sections: The paper you hand in on the Monday due date must be an advanced draft, with your ideas worked out and mostly whipped into shape; among other things, that will make the writing tutor’s comments most useful to you. The draft is returned to you the following Friday in class (be sure to be there!). Over the weekend you meet with the writing tutor of your section to go over her or his comments; and the final, revised paper is due at class-time on Monday. The revised paper is the one that is graded, but you are expected to hand in the marked-up draft along with it.
Reminders
Take care while writing to:
Low grades in this course often come from lapses in these things!
Links to the paper topics