Regardless of the length of your course or the specific focus, you may want to include some of the following standard information in your course syllabus:
- Instructor's name and contact information including office hours.
- The course title and catalog description.
- A statement of purpose for your course, and a list of objectives. For help in authoring and refining the statement of purpose for your course, see the Course Manual that accompanies Becoming A Master Student.
- Time and location of course meetings.
- Titles and authors of required texts and supplementary materials, including videos, CDs, frequently used websites, etc.
- The schedule of readings and assignments. You may want to include major test dates, assignments and activities that will be graded, or quizzes.
- The expectations for student behavior, including attendance and promptness.
- A description of lengthy or complex assignments and a schedule for completion.
- Your grading policy, including the percentages for assignments, tests, etc that make up the total grade.
- A statement of academic honesty.
Below are two sample syllabi, including grading systems, that can be used in creating your own syllabus.
Use the information and resources on the Class Prep CD and in the printed Course Manual that accompany this text to help determine the direction in which you would like your course to go.
Send us your syllabus! If you would like to share your syllabus with other professors using this text, please email an electronic version to us at
csweb.collegesurvival@cengage.com. Selected samples will be periodically posted on this site.
