TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL
PROGRAM PARTICIPATION

When you begin preparing for your academic term:

Review all materials, audio and video tapes to see that your instructional packages are complete.

Review the contents, objectives, course outlines, assessment experiences, expectations for grading assessments, and all due dates carefully to help set up a plan for study and course participation that works best for you.

Make plans to utilize your email discussion groups frequently to share ideas, insights and questions with your fellow students and the faculty.

When you prepare to send your assessments to a faculty member:

Include your name, address and regional center on all correspondence to the faculty.

Always send self-addressed, stamped envelopes to your faculty members with your assessments so that your assessments can be returned more quickly. Be sure to send correct envelope size and postage.

Test out your email connection with your faculty member. Ask for a reply so that you know your emailed communications and/or your required assessments are being received in a timely fashion. It is the student's responsibility to see that assessments are received by the faculty member on time and that the student communicates with the faculty member directly on any revision to a published due date.

Institute Policy on Late Submissions*

Faculty who teach Distance Education courses can apply a late penalty on graded course work if a student's work is received after published due dates and the student has not contacted the faculty member directly and negotiated a revised due date, or does not have a personal situation that warrants an extension of time. This late penalty applies to all assessment experiences which have not been received by the due date or are postmarked, faxed, emailed or otherwise submitted after a published or announced due date.

Institute Policy on Copying*

You must submit your assessment papers and examinations written in your own words. While it is expected that most students abide by this ethic, our experience has shown it is important to address this issue in a straightforward manner. Holmes Institute encourages students to study together as much as you desire. This means it is perfectly acceptable to discuss objectives, the material in the textbooks, the audio taped lectures as well as your perceptions of these resources. Should you have access to others papers, it is acceptable to discover the many ways they have addressed an issue or a question. However, your assessment papers are to be submitted as a result of your individual understanding and mental integration of the issues. Here is an opportunity to discover your own thoughts and to creatively express your own insights about the topics at hand. It is your responsibility to listen to the tapes, to read the references and to raise questions of the professors when information eludes you. It is your responsibility to document any quotations used (see “Who wants to Write a Better Paper” for style manual references you may use for appropriately documenting brief 2 to 5 line quotes.) The professor who discovers a student has violated the Institute’s Policy on Copying has the right to give the student an automatic “F” grade for the entire course

* Policy developed with the support and assistance of Distance Education faculty

Who Wants To Write A Better Paper?

The excerpt below (How the Quality...), from our Fall Quarter 1998 Academic Program Guide, is a summary written by Professor Lionel Corbett, who teaches our course PHI 501: The Religious Function of the Psyche: A New Myth of God. Dr. Corbett shared his thoughts with his students to improve the quality of written papers he received from them.

The information provided here offers some helpful and insightful guidelines which can benefit any student. Moreover, the reference in Dr. Corbett's comments about the Modern Language Association's (MLA) Style Guide for writers, is provided at the end of this excerpt along with other helpful books for writers.

These resources will be useful to anyone who desires to write and speak their word with authority.

How the Quality of Your Thought
Will Help You Write a Better Paper

There is more than one path to excellence or to very good, competent work on student essays. Some courses, for example, have as their focus a large overview of a particular idea or concept which asks the student to know this material accurately without necessarily interpreting it. Other courses may focus on moving students to their own deep insights based on the material presented. Such insights may reveal themselves in writing, an art project or a combination of both.

"A" paper: Reflects writing/thinking which is truly exceptional. It demonstrates a thesis of unusual originality or organization or style as well as conceptual complexity or reveals extensive imaginative use of course materials. In addition, the essay is free of basic errors and adheres in all cases to the elements of appropriate MLA formatting. The student has taken up an angle of vision towards the material such that some new understanding emerges from his/her engagement with it. If the paper is to be primarily expository, then both the scope and the quantity of the material discussed is outstanding, going well beyond the basic requirements of the assignments.

"B" paper: Demonstrates a solid grasp of course materials, a clear, well organized presentation and a thesis that is consistently developed throughout the paper. The work represents a thorough synthesis and commentary on the material that, while not necessarily moving the ideas into any new or original terrain, nonetheless reveals a sure and deep understanding of it and a competent expression of that comprehension. If the paper's intention is to move towards personal insight based on the course material, then this category of grade reveals some original discovery.

"C" paper: Reflects work that shows a familiarity with the course material, but is perhaps too personal or too subjective, and lacks a clear thesis and focus, does not engage in any sustained way the idea or image, or has repeated errors in writing, formatting and facts. Where subjective writing is called for, the paper lacks an adequate grasp of the necessary underlying theory developed in the course and is therefore overly subjective. It contains many assertions that have no support or authoritative voice to help support what is said and assumes that the reader will simply accept what is declared at face value. Absent in C work is any original thought, complexity, subtlety or reflective sense of the ideas or insights from the course.

"F" paper: Reflects generally scattered and unfocused writing that includes course material only minimally, is almost entirely personal, has no discernible thesis, tends to drift from one idea to another and is flawed in writing, format and style. It is absent of any elegance in thought or expression. The format is arbitrary and inconsistent with the accepted rules governing documentation and style in presentation. It appears as the product of carelessness, speed and a lack of any deep reflection, evidenced most prominently by sloppy proofreading or extreme brevity or scattered notes, incomplete form or failure to develop a thought with any finesse, subtlety, or overall coherence.

Suggested Style Manuals for Students