Jenny Tashjian Netto                 (209) 575-7822              nettoj@mjc.edu             Sierra 253         
Section #0219:  Mondays from 6:30-9:35 in Founders 278

In this course, students will study the art of the autobiography by reading and writing a series of autobiographical essays.   

For this course, you will need to purchase our course reader from Laser Graphics on 571 Tully (at Tully and Coldwell across the street from the track).  You may pay with cash or check, but they do not accept credit cards.

You must keep your reader in a binder notebook that will be dedicated solely to this class.     

Your grade in this course will be determined by the points you earn on the following assignments: 

Notebook/Reader (30% of your final grade): you will complete a series of assignments and activities in your notebook.  The bulk of these assignments will consist of ten essays.  These will be kept in your notebook/reader, which will be collected and scored.   

Revised Essays (60% of your final grade): you will select three of the ten essays we will write over the course of the semester and revise them for evaluation.  Essays must be typed or word processed and stapled. They must be double-spaced, left-justified, printed in Times 12 point font, and aligned with one inch margins on all sides of the page. Make sure your ink/toner/ribbon is black and adequately dark. I will not grade papers that I cannot read.  Each of the three revised essays will be worth 20% of your grade.   

Final (10% of final grade):  you will take a final during the scheduled final exam session for your section.   

Attendance is crucial. Any student who fails to attend class regularly or during the first session may be dropped; however, it is the responsibility of the student to complete the course or to officially withdraw from a class.  Although your grade will not be docked for absences, make-ups will not be given and late work will not be accepted. Excessive absence will therefore adversely affect your grade.

Participation is essential. Students are expected to participate in all classroom exercises and activities.  Non-academic and/pr disruptive behavior will not be tolerated.  Per college policy, cell phones and pages must be turned off during class time.

Deadlines are absolute. All papers and assignments are due on the date designated by the course outline. No late papers will be accepted and no make-ups will be given on any quiz or activity. Everything distributed in class, hand-outs and returned work, will only be distributed once.  If you are absent, it is your responsibility to acquire distributed materials from a classmate and evaluated work from my me during office hours.

Plagiarism is illegal. A word about plagiarism: don't do it. Students are regularly caught and punished for it. If caught, students will fail this course and their cases will be reported for appropriate discipline.  Again, if you plagiarize—at any time and on any assignment—you will get an F in this class.  If you are at all unsure about what constitutes plagiarism, you must ask me before you submit an assignment.

Your instructor is available. If you run into a problem with a particular reading or writing assignment, please take the time to talk to me about it.   

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