Soc/CES 541 & RS 401: Nature, Faith, & Community
Course Organization
Your grade for this course will be based on the following: the weekly intellectual journal (30%), the midterm (25%), the final (25%), and class participation (20%), with deductions for unexcused absences. (See special requirements for graduate students, described below.)
The point of the weekly intellectual journal is to give you a chance to develop your own views on the readings and lectures, to communicate those views to the class, to demonstrate your command of what we’ve read thus far, and to keep you up-to-date with the material in the course. The format is simple: Write a critical appraisal of around 250-350 words (longer is just fine; shorter is not) of some particular theme in the week’s readings and lecture, and post result to your muddle (see below) by Wednesday midnight, using the forum feature of learn@uw for this course.
It is important to develop one theme or argument, rather than a scatter of observations. Also, it is important to document your theme or argument and to explain your reasoning, rather than offering opinion. The rubric for grading the weekly journals is 4 points for engaging course content, 4 points for developing a theme or argument, and 2 points for writing (including using appropriate citation procedures).
Here’s a nice thing: We will drop your two lowest grades out of the 12 total weekly entries. (There’s no journal entry due for week 1, week 9, or week 15.) Another way to put it: You can choose to take two weeks off from writing one entirely!
Note that for Thanksgiving week, the journal assignment will follow a different format, which is described on the "materials" tab.
Each muddle will be a group of 3 or 4 students, who are expected to read each other’s intellectual journal entries before section and to “muddle through” them together, both in section and through brief comments made before section on the learn@uw page for the course. Each section will begin with a meeting of the muddles, who will afterwards bring issues for discussion forward to the entire section. We will periodically re-organize into new muddle groups over the course of the semester.
In most weeks, there will be both primary and secondary sources to read, of varying difficulty. You should expect to put in 4-5 hours each week doing the course readings. Plan for it.
The midterm and final will each consist of in-class identifications and take-home essays, based on the readings and lectures. For the take-home component, we encourage you to meet and discuss the questions with others; the only constraint is that you must put your answers in your own words. Note that the final exam will be cumulative, although it will emphasize the second half of the course.
Your grade for class participation will not be a measure of how loud you were, or of how often you spoke. Rather, it will reflect the extent to which you were “there.” We will evaluate your “thereness” based on our subjective assessment of your engagement, including the quality of your listening, in muddles and class discussions. If things don’t seem to us to be going well for you in this area, we will let you know.
Attendance will be taken daily in lecture and section. You may miss two lectures and two section meetings. Think of it as four chits, two of each type. No excuse or explanation needed; just don’t show up, and we’ll deduct the chit. However, additional absences will not be excused, except in exceptional circumstances. Each absence beyond two chits each will lower your final grade by 2 points. If you are late to lecture or section by more than 10 minutes, you will be considered absent for the day. But – special bonus – you’ll get one point added to your final grade for each of chits you don’t spend. Perfect attendance for the semester, in both section and lecture? Nice. Get 4 points added to your average.
You’ll want to bring a paper notebook for keeping notes in during class. Ordinarily, we prohibit electronic devices, such a laptops, phones, or tablets during lecture and discussion section. If a student has particular needs that require her or him to use an electronic device, she or he must discuss it with the TA prior to class. If a student uses an electronic device during class, that student will receive a zero for participation and attendance for that class meeting.
We recognize it may seem terribly autocratic to make this rule, but laptops and cells can easily get out of hand in a lecture course, and distracting you and others.
While some of the readings will be difficult or unfamiliar, your weekly intellectual journals and the material for the take-home portion of your exams must be uniquely yours, in your own words, and cited fully and properly. Any form of cheating or plagiarism is absolutely unacceptable and intolerable in this class and in the entire UW System. We expect you to familiarize yourself with your rights and duties as a UW student, and about the consequences of cheating at:
www.wisc.edu/students/saja/misconduct/UWS14.html.
We will not accept lack of knowledge regarding these guidelines as an excuse.
Note that the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology is licensed to use anti-plagiarism software. This software is extremely accurate, comparing student work to a database of previously submitted work, on-line sources, and published academic materials. Be aware that we may choose to run your intellectual journal entries and test answers through the software.
Every year, instructors in our department catch students committing plagiarism. It is an immensely uncomfortable experience for all concerned, and can affect a student’s career for years afterwards, even permanently. It’s not worth it. Really.
We require graduate students in the course to write a final paper in the range of 3500 to 5000 words (14 to 20 double spaced pages) analyzing how social constructions of nature, faith, and community shape their field of graduate work, or their graduate research. We welcome a wide range of specific approaches to this broad topic. This paper will be worth 20% of the final grade of graduate students. The midterm and final will be worth 15% each, instead of the 25% each for undergraduates. Grades for class participation (20%) and weekly journals (30%) will count the same as for undergraduate students. A topic statement (1-3 sentences) is due at section in week 7; an abstract with a preliminary references list is due at section in week 10; the final paper is due along with the essay section of the final exam.