CS 305 is the required junior-year writing course for computer science majors. It is open to computer science majors (pre-majors are not eligible without special permission from the department) who have passed English 112 with a C or better. Transfer students will be allowed into the course on a case-by-case basis. Other students may be allowed into the course on a "space available" basis.

One goal of the course is to help students become better writers. To accomplish this, students will be expected to write numerous papers, ranging from technical papers to short essays on social issues.

As advertised in the course title, the class will examine social issues in computing. A glance through the assigned readings will indicate the wide range of topics we will touch on. Many class periods will be devoted to discussing the readings.

The following text is required for fall 2006:
Edward Tufte The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint
Students are also expected to read the news at http://slashdot.org on a regular basis throughout the semester. Details of this requirement will be discussed during the first day of class.

Academic Honesty

Grades

Each paper you turn in will be worth between two and fifteen points (depending on the assignment). For example, you could get a 4/5 (four out of a possible five points) or a 6.5/8 (yes, it's what you think it is). The total number of points available to you through the writing assignments and the group presentations is 78. The remaining 22 points will be for in-class writings and class participation (see below for details). The connection between my numerical grading scheme and your final letter grade is simple--I use (roughly) the standard scale: 90-100 is some form of A, 80-89 is some kind of B, etc. Your final grade will be determined by how many of the 100 possible points you accumulate.

In-class writings: We will sometimes start the class with a writing exercise related to the day's assigned reading. These writings will be graded and will account for 10% of your grade. [NB: Being unprepared for these in-class writings is often the reason students get lower grades in the class than expected. You have been warned.]

Class participation: The remaining twelve points will be for class participation. If you show up every day having done the reading and actively discuss it during class, you will get 12/12. If you don't join in the class discussion, you are required to write a short, informal response to the day's topic which you need to post for the class to read at the CS 305 bulletin board. (You can register an account on the bulletin board by going to http://bb-edlab.cs.umass.edu/cs305 and following the instructions. User name and password for initial login will be given during the first class.) Students who don't take part in class discussions and fail to write the short responses will get 0/12 points for their participation grade.

Late papers

Due dates for all of your assigments are posted on the class website. Any late papers will be penalized one point per day. A paper that would have received 6.5/8 had it been handed in on time would receive 5.5/8 if handed in one day late (and 4.5/8 if handed in two days late). For purposes of this penalty (and to make the penalty somewhat less onerous), "one day" means one class day, so that a paper handed in on Wednesday instead of on Monday will be one class late, and so will be considered "one day" late. Extremely late papers will be penalized by a different standard; it is always better to hand in a paper (no matter how late) than to not hand one in at all.

Attendance

There is no penalty for the first three classes you miss. The penalty for your fourth and fifth missed classes will be one point each. Each absence beyond the fifth will result in a two point penalty. I am willing to negotiate adjustments to this policy if absences are caused by extraordinary circumstances. A two point bonus will be given to any student with perfect attendance.