COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Attendance and class preparation: Please make sure you come to every class. Missing class is only acceptable for one of the academically legitimate excuses. It’s impossible to do well on homework problems or write a good project report without attending classes regularly. And by “impossible” I really mean “impossible”.

Also, make sure you read the textbook as well as all materials on reserve or on the course website that are assigned in class every week BEFORE coming to class. It will help you (and help me too) a lot if you come to class prepared.

There will be EIGHT HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS to test your understanding of the material covered in class and to help you work on linguistic problems on your own, applying the same reasoning and analytical tools that we’ll be discussing in class. Each homework counts for 5% of your overall grade. So, take them seriously! While I do not mind you discussing assignment questions with your colleagues, bear in mind that the work you turn in has to be yours, and yours alone. Copying someone else’s work will be treated as cheating, will receive no credit, and will be subject to the consequences of violating academic integrity, as described in the College’s Academic Honesty Statement given at the bottom of this page.

In addition, students will be required to work in pairs on a ten-page-long RESEARCH PAPER on a topic of their choice that is relevant to the focus of the class. Details on the paper will be posted here in due time. A brief paper proposal is due on April 5.

Finally, students are required to take TWO TAKE-HOME EXAMS: a midterm and a final. The midterm exam will be assigned on March 15 and is due on March 22. The final exam, which will be comprehensive, will be assigned on May 14 and is due on May 21.

Here's how each course requirement contributes to your overall percentage in the course:

Here's how your letter grade will be assigned:

Honor code

I will follow the Middlebury College’s Academic Honesty Statement as described here:

http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/acadinfo/honorcode/statement.htm

Please make sure to write the Honor Code Pledge "I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this assignment," on both exams as well as the research paper (use “We” in this latter case, since you’ll be working in pairs). There’s no need to write the pledge on the assignments since I do not mind your discussing homework problems together. Make sure, however, to turn in your own work. Copying someone else’s work on assignments will still count as cheating, will receive no credit, not to mention the consequences of violating academic integrity.