Course Structure
Your CC 130 course consists of two parts - a lecture which is held on Mondays in the Maxwell Library Lecture Hall and a "lab" which is held on Wednesday and Friday. You must attend both lecture and lab.

Some of your friends may also be taking another type of CC 130 which has one professor and meets with the same people and in the same place every class period. All students taking CC 130, whatever the structure of the class, use the same text and learn the same content. The assignments and dates may not be identical, however, so be sure to check in with students in your own class if you have any questions about assignments.

Participation
Communication involves not only speaking, but also listening. In order to be an effective communicator you need to learn to both send and receive communication. You will be called upon to participate in class discussion, in groups and in interpersonal experiences in virtually every class. Therefore, it is important that you attend all classes. Your classmates will depend upon you to be there to listen to them, to communicate with them, and to be a member of a group with them.

You may have no more than three (3) unexcused absences (including lecture and lab together); more than three absences will negatively effect your grade. Lateness will also negatively effect your grade. When you have an oral assignment in class (either as a part of a group or individually), you must present on the day assigned or you will receive a grade of zero (0) for that assignment. If you miss a class for any reason, it is your responsibility to get the notes and assignments. If you miss a class because of illness, bring medical documentation immediately upon your return. There will be no make up for quizzes, examinations or oral presentations. If a snow day is called, or if class is cancelled for any reason, any assignments or presentations are due the next time the class meets.

As a matter of courtesy and professionalism, set your cell phones and beepers to silent alerts during class time.

Lecture "Papers"
At most lectures you will be given an assignment to complete either during the lecture, or to be completed outside of class and turned in at the following lab class. Some of these papers will be done cooperatively with other members of the class others will be completed individually.

Papers
Any written assignment (with the exception of the previously mentioned lecture papers) must be typed, double-spaced, with adequate margins. There are many computers available at various locations across campus if you need one. It is expected that you will use proper spelling, punctuation, grammar and sentence structure. Use the MLA style as your reference for writing papers. Assigned papers are due at the beginning of class on the assigned day. Any paper turned in late will receive an automatic one grade deduction for each 24 hour period it is late (the first deduction after the beginning of class on the assigned day).

Oral Presentations
During the semester you will be required to participate in a number of oral presentations, both individually and with a group. For any oral presentation, your instructor must approve your topic at least one class period before you speak. You will be assigned a specific date for your presentations and must present on that assigned date.

There are several reasons for this policy. Each regular appearance of a student before the class is considered a speaking engagement in the real sense. It is the same situation as though you were invited to speak at a designated time and place before a civic club, church group or any other audience. So you must be prepared on the designated date. Failure to present will result in a zero (0) for that assignment.

You will be required to do research for these presentations. For your informative speech, you will have at least three outside sources, for your persuasive speech, at least five outside sources. For both speeches, the sources must be no more than 5 years old, no more than one interview, and no more than 2 from a webpage. We will talk in lecture about sources long before these are due.

You will turn in two copies of your complete outline before you speak. One will be returned to you, the other will be kept by your professor.

You must turn in all assignments on time. Only severe medical problems are acceptable reasons for missing exams or assignments, and it is your responsibility to make immediate arrangements for make-up work. Computer problems and crashed disks are not valid reasons for late work. If a medical emergency arises, you must provide verification in order to be excused and scheduled for make-up work.

Video Systems
You will view some assignments on Video Systems. In class, you will receive more information on the system, which is housed in Maxwell Library. The system is available at every hour the library is open, so you have approximately 80 showings per week available (better than your local cinema!) and should have no problem finding a time to watch the program. All of the programs are less than one hour in length; some are significantly shorter. After viewing the programs, you will complete a brief "Thumbs Up Paper."

Computing labs at BSC

MLA Style guide at BSC