We are living and working in extraordinary times. I want to make sure you know that even though this is an online class, there are many resources to support your work in it.
Zoom Student Hours
I have set aside one hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays as time I am available to chat with you on Zoom (https://udel.zoom.us/my/joeharris). The specific times are:
- Monday: 3:00–4:00
- Tuesday: 3:00–4:00
- Wednesday: 11:00–noon
- Thursday: 11:00–noon
You don’t have to make an appointment; you just need to check in. If I’m talking with someone else, I’ll turn to you as soon as I can—in no more than a very few minutes, I hope. And you won’t be imposing. I’ll be working at my desk during that time, but happy to turn from whatever I might be doing to talk with you. That’s what Student Hours are. Holding them is part of my job, but also something I enjoy doing.
I will also hold a live overview session on Zoom from 2:30–3:00 every Monday, during which I will briefly talk the work for the coming week , and answer any questions that people might have about it.
To avoid confusion: I will require you to meet with me on Zoom three times during the semester (in week 2 or 3, week 5, and week 10). These required conferences are separate from my regular Student Hours.
University Online Resources
UD has actually done a pretty good job of making its support services accessible online during the pandemic. When we were forced to quickly switch to remote teaching last spring, the Office of Academic Enrichment put together an excellent guide to resources, Tips for Succeeding in Classes Online, that collects links ranging from help with connecting online to academic advising and student counseling. You should bookmark it on your browser. But for the purposes of this course, there are a couple of links on that site that deserve special mention:
Writing Center
The Writing Center offers free, one-on-one advice about writing you are doing for this course or any other course at UD. Its tutors are trained graduate and undergraduate students. When you take the time to work with a consultant at the Writing Center, I know that you are taking your writing for this course seriously. This semester all appointments are online. Go to the Writing Center page to learn more about their services or to make an appointment. When you work with a consultant, have them send me a report. I will be impressed.
Library
The librarians at UD have a long history of working closely with E110. They have developed an excellent ENGL110 Class Page that you may especially want to refer to as you work on your second essay for this course. This page also provides contact info for Lauren Wallis, who serves as the liaison between the library and E110. If I had a question about research for a piece I was writing for this class, she’s the person I’d ask. There’s also an Ask the Library chat page that many students have found useful.
Disabilities
These are stressful times, and I want you to succeed in this course. If you feel you may need an accommodation to keep up with the work of this course, please visit the website for the DSS Office. You can also email them at dssoffice@udel.edu or call them at 302-831-4643. They will contact me, and we will make sure you get the support you need.
Sexual Misconduct and Title IX
If, at any time during this course, I am made aware that a student may have been the victim of sexual misconduct (including sexual harassment, sexual violence, domestic/dating violence, or stalking), I am obligated by federal law to inform the university’s Title IX Coordinator, who will decide if the incident should be examined further. If such a situation is disclosed to me in class, in a writing assignment, or in office hours, I promise to protect your privacy. I will not disclose the incident to anyone but the Title IX Coordinator.
More information is posted at the UD Sexual Misconduct Policy, Information, and Resources page. The University also provides 24-hour crisis assistance and counseling. You can contact its Helpline any time at (302) 831-1001.
I am required by UD to include the two paragraphs above in my course materials. I understand the reasons why. Sexual harassment is serious, painful, and illegal; it can happen both in face-to-face settings and online. But I’d prefer to approach the issue from a different angle. You should feel that you can write in this course as the person you are. You should never feel that you need to disguise any part of your identity: gender, sexuality, race, religion, social class, or anything else. If you feel that your personhood has been slighted in any way in this course, please let me know, and I will do my best to help.
Other Campus Resources
There are many other programs that can offer you support while you are a student at UD. Please let me know if I can help you contact any of them.
- Allies Support Program
- Center for Black Culture
- Center for Counseling and Student Development
- Health Center
- Office for Academic Enrichment (OAE)
- Office for International Students and Scholars
- UD Police
And Some Rules . . .
Course Evaluations
End-of-semester course evaluations are the principle way the English Department and the Composition Program keep track of the work that actually gets done in courses like this one. So I’ll ask you to take a few minutes to complete them at the end of term. I’ll also ask you to write a more detailed reflection on your work for the course as your final assignment.
Plagiarism
I expect all of the writing you do for this course to be your own. That’s both a simple statement and a complicated one—because everything you write for this course will be in response to some other text, and so you’ll always be working with other people’s words and ideas. We’ll talk more about how to do so fairly, generously, and assertively. (That’s pretty much what my book Rewriting is about.) For now the best advice I can offer you is to be as transparent as you can—to make it clear who you are responding to, and whose ideas or phrasings you are building on. You can’t plagiarize by accident.
Nonetheless people do sometimes plagiarize, by deliberately trying to pass off the work of others as their own. If I suspect that something like this is happening, I will ask you about it. If the two of us cannot resolve the issue, I will refer the matter to the Office of Student Conduct. The penalties for plagiarism range from failure in the assignment to failure in the course.
Deadlines
Usually my course materials include some words about attendance and class participation. (I encourage both.) But such exhortations don’t make much sense in this instance. There will be a couple of meetings (three conferences, two workshops) you’re required to attend during the semester, and I will indeed expect you to make them all, no exceptions. But for the most part, you’ll be working on your own. However, you will have a lot of writing deadlines (22, to be exact). You really need to make these. When you turn your writing in on time, I can get it back to you promptly, and you can move forward. It’s much like showing up for class in an ordinary semester. Late work will count against your grade. More important, if you miss deadlines, you will fall out of sync in the course, and your growth as a writer will likely suffer. So get your work for this course in on time.
E110: Seminar in Composition 