Policies, Procedures & Forms

Important Forms

• Grade Reappraisal Form (DOC)
• Attending Physician’s Statement (PDF)
• Directed Reading Application Form (PDF)

Academic Resources

• Senate Policy on Academic Honesty
• Undergraduate Academic Petitions
• Academic Conduct Policy and Procedures

Course Entry Authorization

To take a first course in a particular language, students must have authorization from the Departmental Office, S580 Ross. Those continuing students who are presently enrolled in a language course and achieve a minimum grade of C will automatically be allowed to proceed to the next level.

Students in German Studies, Italian Studies, Japanese Studies, Spanish, Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian Studies, or Linguistics are strongly encouraged to meet with an advisor from the program to discuss their course selection. Before this meeting, students should pick up and complete a degree checklist from the Departmental Office.

Assignment Drop-off

Our DropOff Box is a secure location for the collection of assignments handed in outside of class time. It is a small receptacle located in the wall near the elevators of the 5th floor in South Ross Building. All assignments are date stamped and placed in the appropriate faculty mailboxes. As there is only one drop box for all DLLL faculty members, it is critical that prior to leaving assignments students include the following:

1. Professor’s or TA’s name
2. Student name and student number
3. Course title, section and/or tutorial number

Academic Honesty

A central purpose of the University is to teach students to think independently and critically. Cheating and other forms of academic dishonesty, such as making false claims or statements and submitting false information on registration information/eligibility to register slips and/or placements tests, violate the ethical and intellectual principles of the University; they are therefore subject to severe penalties.

Please consult the Senate Policy on Academic Honesty Tutorial for Students Concerning Academic Integrity, found on the LA&PS website.

Our department would like to remind students that material found on the internet must also be cited if quoted or paraphrased. Material from any source must be properly cited.

Teamwork, Tests & Examinations

Term Work
Term Work includes reports, assignments, essays, tests, and other written work assigned in a course with the exception of final examinations. Term work must be submitted by the first day of the official Examination Period of the term in which the course ends. However, instructors, departments and divisions may set earlier deadlines for the submission of term work.

Tests and Examinations
Tests and examinations must be conducted under fair conditions that allow students to demonstrate what they have learned. Disruptions or attempts to obtain an unfair advantage are offences against academic process and carry severe penalties. (See Senate Policy on Academic Honesty and Academic Conduct found in the Undergraduate Programs Calendar and the New Students’ Handbook.)

Make Up Tests and Examinations
Make-up tests/examinations will only be administered under exceptional circumstances or for medical reasons. The instructor has the right to request a medical certificate or other documentary evidence in order for a student to write a makeup test/examination.

Grading & Grading Scale

Except for courses taken under the “Ungraded Option,” courses in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies are graded according to the following scale.

Note: The Point Values in the middle column above are used only in calculating students’ Grade Point Average (GPA), both sessional and cumulative; they are not designed to be used to calculate marks in courses. The Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies does not have an official table of “percentage equivalents” for its final letter grades.

Grades in Courses

The means of determining the final grade in a course must be announced in writing in each course within the first two weeks of classes. Information must include the kinds of assignments, essays, examinations and other components that make up the grade, their relative weights and any other procedures that enter into the determination of the final grade.

Subsequent Changes:
In exceptional circumstances, a previously announced marking scheme for a course may be changed, but only with the consent of all students; the new marking scheme must also be distributed in written form.

“Feedback” during Course:
Instructors are obligated to provide a mechanism by which students can be apprised of their progress in a course; in particular, students must be able to make an informed decision on whether to withdraw from a course. This will normally mean that students will receive some graded feedback on work worth at least 10-15% of the course grade for Fall, Winter, or Summer Terms, and 30% for full-year courses before the deadline for withdrawing from that course.

Marking Scheme:
In courses where percentages are used as a means of reporting grades on individual pieces of work, the following conversion table is to be used in converting percentage grades to letter grades, unless alternative provisions for scaling and/or conversion are announced to students in writing within the first two weeks of classes.

Passed Courses

• A passed course is one in which the student has achieved a grade of D or better.
• Students are allowed to repeat a passed or a failed course once for academic degree or certificate credit. Students should note that course availability and space considerations may preclude the possibility of repeating a course in the session they choose.
• When a student is allowed to repeat a course for academic degree or certificate credit, the second grade will be the grade of record and the only grade calculated in the student’s Grade Point Average (Major, Cumulative, Sessional, and Overall). A course can be credited only once towards satisfaction of degree or certificate academic credit requirements.
• The record of both the first and second time the course was taken will appear on the student’s transcript, with the first course designated as “No Credit Retained.” It should be noted that, when a course is repeated, the first instance of the course being taken and the grade that was awarded will continue to appear on the transcript with the designation “NCR” (No Credit Retained) added as a qualification beside the grade. The transcript legend will explain that the NCR designation means that neither the course credit nor grade have been included in the calculation of the student’s Grade Point Average.
• The restrictions regarding repeating a passed or failed course also apply to cross-listed courses and course credit exclusions.

Pass/Fail (Alternative Grading Option)

The Pass/Fail option is convenient for taking courses without impacting your grade point average. However, before opting for a pass/fail grade, carefully consider the following:

• grades are used by organizations outside the University to evaluate students;
• admission to graduate programs and to professional schools of all types depends upon letter grades;
• a grade of “P” for any course during your last 60 credits or for any upper-level courses may impact the evaluation of your transcript for graduate school admissions;
• many medical schools will not consider ungraded courses as part of a full-time load which may disqualify you for admission.

Please explore the options and procedures to apply for the option, through your Academic Record.

Release Dates for Final Grades

• Fall/Winter Session: In the Fall/Winter Session, grades are normally released in January for Fall Term half (3-credit) courses, and in June for full (6-credit) courses and Winter Term half (3-credit) courses.
• Summer Session: Grades for courses taken in the Summer Session are normally released in September.

Requests for Reappraisal of Final Grades

Students may, with sufficient grounds, request that a final grade in a course be reappraised. Further information may be obtained from the Department/Division/College offering the course. Students applying to have a grade reappraised in a Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies course should note the following:

• Requests for reappraisal must be filed with the unit offering the course within 21 calendar days of the release of the final grade in the course.
• Students may question the marking of specific pieces of work or the overall course grade. Normally, however, only written work can be reassessed.
• When a student asks for a reappraisal, an original grade may be raised, lowered, or confirmed.
• Students wishing to request the reappraisal of a final grade should fill out the appropriate form available from the Department/Division/College offering the course and submit it to the same office.
• The decision of the Department/Division/College may be appealed to the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies Executive Committee only on grounds of procedural irregularity or new evidence that could not be presented earlier.