Evaluation and Grading
| Item | Evaluation |
| Practical Assignments | 20% |
| Written Assignments | 20% |
| Discussion and Class Participation | 10% |
| Quizzes | 20% |
| Final Exam | 30% |
| Total | 100% |
Grading Criteria
The following are the criteria used for evaluating assignments. You can roughly translate a letter grade as the midpoint in the scale (for example, an A- equates to a 91.5).
| Criteria | Grade |
| The assignment consistently exceeds expectations. It demonstrates originality of thought and creativity throughout. Beyond completing all the required elements, new concepts and ideas are detailed that transcend general discussions along similar topic areas. There are no mechanical, grammatical, or organization issues that detract from the ideas. | A- or A |
| The assignment consistently meets expectations. It contains all the information prescribed for the assignment and demonstrates a command of the subject matter. There is sufficient detail to cover the subject completely but not too much as to be distracting. There may be some procedural issues, such as grammar or organizational challenges, but these do not significantly detract from the intended assignment goals. | B-, B, B+ |
| The assignment fails to consistently meet expectations. That is, the assignment is complete but contains problems that detract from the intended goals. These issues may be relating to content detail, be grammatical, or be a general lack of clarity. Other problems might include not fully following assignment directions. | C-, C, C+ |
| The assignment constantly fails to meet expectations. It is incomplete or in some other way consistently fails to demonstrate a firm grasp of the assigned material. | Below C- |
Late Assignment Policy
An assignment is considered late if it is turned in after the assignment deadlines stated above. No late assignments will be accepted without penalty unless arrangements for validated unusual or unforeseen situations have been made.
- Class Blog contributions cannot be turned in late. If you miss contributing prior to class for that week’s discussion / questions you will receive no credit for it.
- The exercise assignments will be assessed a 20% penalty each day they are late. No credit is given for assignments turned in over five calendar days past the due date.
- You must submit all assignments, even if no credit is given. If you skip an assignment, an additional 10 points will be subtracted from your final grade in the course.
- Plan ahead and backup your work. Equipment failure is not an acceptable reason for turning in an assignment late.
Citation Guidelines
If you use text, figures, and data in reports that were created by others you must identify the source and clearly differentiate your work from the material that you are referencing. If you fail to do so you are plagiarizing. There are many different acceptable formats that you can use to cite the work of others (see some of the resources below). The formats are not as important as the intent. You must clearly show the reader what is your work and what is a reference to someone else’s work.
Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty
All work done for this course: papers, examinations, homework exercises, blog posts, laboratory reports, oral presentations — is expected to be the individual effort of the student presenting the work.
Plagiarism and academic dishonesty can take many forms. The most obvious is copying from another student’s exam, but the following are also forms of this:
- Copying material directly, word-for-word, from a source (including the Internet)
- Using material from a source without a proper citation
- Turning in an assignment from a previous semester as if it were your own
- Having someone else complete your homework or project and submitting it as if it were your own
- Using material from another student’s assignment in your own assignment
Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses, and behavior like this will not be tolerated in this class. In cases of cheating, both parties will be held equally responsible, i.e. both the student who shares the work and the student who copies the work. Penalties for such actions are given at my discretion, and can range from a failing grade for the individual assignment, to a failing grade for the entire course, to expulsion from the program.
Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities
The University has adopted a policy on Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities (Policy # 03.70.02) which can be accessed through the following link:
http://policies.temple.edu/getdoc.asp?policy_no=03.70.02