Policies

Basis of Grading

Your grade in this course will be determined as follows:

Late Work

Late work will not be tolerated or accepted in this course. Instead, consider all written assignments due as of the first day of class. You may submit them for credit through the dates indicated on the schedule, but consider those dates to be deadlines. After those dates, I will not accept your work for any reason . . . even illness or excused absence. Your syllabus contains all of the instructions for all of the assignments, and you must budget your time accordingly. You should plan on submitting your work at least a week before the date shown on the schedule. That way, you can avoid missing the deadline.

Class Participation

Part of your grade this semester will be based on your level of participation in class. To participate, you obviously have to attend class, and you are expected to attend each and every class session. Because emergencies do come up, you will be allowed 3 absences for the semester, though you will be held responsible for the material you miss. With your 4th absence, your class participation grade will be lowered one full grade, such as from an A- to a B-. With your 5th absence, you will receive an F for the course regardless of your test and paper scores, as per Geography Department policy.

In class, you should participate actively by asking questions and interjecting relevant comments and observations based on your experiences or the course readings. This is especially important during class discussions of important articles on various topics concerning Latin America. You should come to class having read the assigned materials and having thought about them. Following student presentations during the semester, you should also ask questions and make comments. Put briefly, play an active role in class!

To encourage participation, each student will have the opportunity to earn up to 10 bonus points to be added to his/her Final Exam score. To earn these points, you need to bring in xerox copies of short articles or news items about Latin America. Sources might include newspapers like the New York Times, Washington PostChicago Tribune, or the Christian Science Monitor or periodicals like Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, or The Economist (all of which may be found in the periodical room of the library). Then, at the beginning of class, you should be prepared to relate the events or issues discussed in the articles to the class. Up to 4 points will be assigned per item. Items submitted by a number of students will earn fewer points; items submitted by only a few or by one student will earn the maximum. There will be no other extra credit opportunities during the semester.

Honor Code

The VU academic community operates under the Honor System, specifically the following Honor Code: "I have neither given or received nor have I tolerated others' use of unauthorized aid." The Honor Code will be upheld in this course. Put simply, authorized aid for this course is limited strictly to your own personal knowledge on all exams and your own work on all other assignments.

You are, nevertheless, authorized and even encouraged to consult the Writing Center or a classmate for reviews/critiques of your written assignments. You are further authorized to make use of constructive comments and suggestions from these sources. Just be sure in the final product that the actual writing remains your own.