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Syllabus for a Commonwealth
Version of English 112 (up to 2005)

Below is the table of contents for a syllabus being used by Litonline Webmaster Prof. Eric Hibbison of J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in Richmond, VA (USA).  Other faculty who wish to use the Litonline webs may do so, as well as any of the course practices and policies they see here; those faculty who wish to vary from this syllabus and course calendar of readings should develop their own course calendar and course policies and practices for their students.  Considerations in the section of Litonline for Teachers may help.

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(Underlined words are links.  Those below are to the segments of this Commonwealth syllabus to set forth requirements for students of Prof. Eric Hibbison.  Hibbison's students should add this web page to their "Favorites" list.)
0. Prerequisites  7. Attendance and  Late Work
1. Instructor's Contact Information 8. Course Calendar
2. Textbook

  Presentations   

3. Learning Activities 9. Course Objectives
4. Learning Resources 10. Course Outline
*Self-Quiz
5. Evaluation *Troubleshooting
        Grades *Extra-Credit Topics
6. Midterm Assessment *Publisher's Web

Course Procedures

I’m asking you to try to follow these guidelines as a favor to me to help me stay organized—

  • When you send me an email (ehibbison@jsr.vccs.edu), please include a hint about your content in the “Subject” line.  Blank subject lines are one indicator of a virus.  Also include your name, please.
  • Try to send emails after you have run your virus checker.  I suspect that one reason email with attachments sometimes does not get through to me is that viruses lurk in attachments.
  • Avoid attachments to email by pasting a copy of your work into the email message; some formatting may be lost, but fewer viruses will be transmitted.  If you must use an attachment, be sure to save it as a Word (.doc) file (File – Save as – Save as type) and email it to me via ehibbison@yahoo.com since the Yahoo emailer checks for viruses.  I cannot open files of Word Perfect (.wpd) or Works (.wps), so don’t send me files in those formats, nor .eml.
  • When you send me work via email (which is most of the time for an online course), please include your name and your grade roster code name (from the Permissions and Plans form in the first assignment).  Specify the assignment name (from the column heading in the grade roster) so I know where to record the grade and we are both clear on what you are submitting.  Include a title on your work that hints at your main idea.
  • Your work should generally defend a thesis with quotable quotes from the literature for that unit.  If you string together facts about the reading, you are probably summarizing instead of analyzing, so when you include a fact explain how it connects to your thesis (main idea).  When you quote, include phrases, not sentences, and work the quotation into one of your sentences, usually by telling who is talking or what you say the phrase means. Be sure to use quotation marks at both ends of the word-for-word copying that is the quotation.  (See chapter 4 of Stanford or the student samples in the “Hills” web in Litonline for multiple examples, as well as my own grading criteria and a sample comparison/contrast essay from a former student marked to show those criteria in action.)
  • Even if you are sending me a rough draft, edit enough so I can see your ideas.  Word will underline for you items that it sees as sentence fragments and misspellings, but it won't spot comma splices, run-on (double) sentences, or word usage snafus, and maybe not subject-verb agreement or confusion of verb tenses.

Students please note: This syllabus is being used by Professor Eric Hibbison's students.  Your instructor may be adapting this syllabus for a section other than a distance learning section being offered at J. Sargeant Reynolds CC, which is a Commonwealth Course. 

Your instructor's course design comes first, despite anything written in this online syllabus, so be alert to your instructor's directions.  Your instructor decides how much reading and writing to assign for the course. Your instructor is not bound by the suggested values for shorter writings or essays, so track your grades carefully as you earn them and stay informed on your instructor's assignment values to determine if you are on pace in the course for the semester grade you want.

Commonwealth Course Contents

Syllabus (this page; you are here at the syllabus table of contents)  See also the contents for the entire Litonline website.

Click the purple quilt piece on
each root page to go to the Litonline sitemap.