Psych 155 / Lin 155: Psychology of Language Syllabus for Spring 2012 Contact Information: Prof. Jon Sprouse Jessamy Norton-­‐Ford (TA) jsprouse@uci.edu jnortonf@uci.edu 949.824.8444 Office: SST 691 Office: 2312 SBSG Office hours: W 1pm-­‐2pm Office hours: M 11am-­‐12pm Hilary Cunningham (TA) hcunning@uci.edu Office: SST 683 Office hours: Th 1pm-­‐2pm 1. Requirements This course has four components: • lectures (notes will be posted online) • 3 take-­‐home lab assignments (i.e., homework) • 3 exams: two during the quarter and one during finals period • supplemental readings You will be expected to attend lectures regularly, turn in the lab assignments on time, and complete all three exams. The supplemental readings are not required, and will not be on any of the exams. They exist solely to help you learn more about the topics we discuss in class. 2. Grading Grades in this course are weighted as follows: Take-­‐home lab assignments: 40% total or 13.33% each Exams: 60% total or 20% each We will post grades on EEE. We will also incorporate the weighting scheme in EEE; however, you should still keep this weighting scheme in mind when calculating hypothetical grades (e.g., “What grade do I need on the final to get an A?”). 3. Extra Credit You may earn up to 4 extra credit points that will be added as percentage points directly to your final grade. For example, if you earned a 92 in the class, and completed 4 extra credit points, your final grade would be a 96. You can earn these by participating in experiments through the Social Sciences Human Subjects Lab: http://hsl.ss.uci.edu/. You will earn one point for every one hour you participate, or 1/2 point for every 1/2 hour. You may sign up through the experimetrix website: https://experimetrix2.com/uci/ You do not need to email your participation receipts. I will receive a report of your participation from the lab director at the end of the quarter. However, in order for this to happen, you must assign your extra credit hours to this course through the experimetrix website (https://experimetrix2.com/uci/) by the deadline (6/12/12). Participation in these experiments is completely voluntary. If you would prefer a different extra credit assignment, please contact me and I will give you an assignment (e.g., a short paper) that is of equal value and will take equal time to complete. 4. Late work Assignment deadlines are not arbitrary. The assignments are intended to reinforce the lecture material, therefore they must be completed as assigned to have any value. Late work will be penalized according to the following rules: • All assignments are due at 10am on their respective due date. • Less than 24 hours late: 1/3 letter grade deduction • Less than 2 days late: 1 letter grade deduction • Less than 1 week late: 2 letter grade deduction • Less than 2 weeks late: 3 letter grade deduction • No assignment will be accepted more than 2 weeks late • No assignment will be accepted after the last day of class (6/8/12) 5. Exam policy There are three exams in this course: two during regular class periods, and one during finals period. All exams will begin promptly. If you are more than 10 minutes late, you will not be allowed to take the exam. 6. Grading errors Sometimes we make mistakes when we grade assignments. If you believe a mistake was made, bring it to the attention of one of the TAs. The TAs have final authority to decide whether they made a mistake in grading your assignment. In the extremely unlikely case that you believe a TA is grading you unfairly, please bring it to my attention. I will re-­‐grade your assignment to ensure that it was graded fairly. Please be aware that I will re-­‐grade your entire assignment, not just the question you want to dispute. This is the only way to be fair, as it ensures that the entire assignment was graded according to a single standard, as opposed to different standards for different questions. Please be aware that this means that it is possible that your grade will go down after the re-­‐grade, as I may find that the TA was being too lenient on other questions. 7. Absences Attendance is technically not mandatory for this class. Furthermore, you will always have at least a week to complete lab assignments. Therefore absences are only relevant if they occur on the day of an exam, or if they are prolonged enough to interfere with lab assignments (e.g., hospital stays). Absences that are beyond your control (illness, family emergency, natural disaster) will be excused. I will be the final arbiter of what is beyond your control. If you know in advance that you will miss an exam, you must notify us as soon as you know so that we can make alternate arrangements. I will not excuse a planned absence if you wait until after the absence to notify us. 8. Academic Honesty I will not tolerate cheating or plagiarism in this class. If you do not know what these are, please feel free to ask me, or consult the UCI policy on academic honesty: http://www.senate.uci.edu/senateweb/default2.asp?active_page_id=754 If I discover cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty, I will follow the procedures outlined in the above policy. 9. Dropping the course or Changing the grading option I will follow the registrar’s policy with respect this. However, I will not approve either of these in the case of academic dishonesty. In other words, you can’t use these mechanisms to avoid the punishment for cheating or plagiarism.