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Kaitlyn Pike
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Do I Really Need This Sheet of Paper?

What if I told you that one sheet of paper could determine whether or not you graduate
college? I wouldnt actually be too far off. Students in almost every college and high school in
America have received a syllabus. Theyre handed out at the beginning of the first class of the
term and students refer back to them even after finals are over while they try to calculate their
grade. Often, professors will respond to emails and questions in office hours with, Have you
checked the syllabus? College chemistry syllabi accomplish a variety of different goals in only
two pages of text. Organic chemistry professors Dr. Zhang, Dr. Bruice, and general chemistry
professor Dr. Price all author extremely effective syllabi. A student in a college chemistry class
would not succeed without a helping textual tool for the course, which a syllabus provides more
effectively than any other genre of text. Kerry Dirk says to Think about genres as tools to help
people get things done. (Dirk 252) Therefore, if students analyze a syllabus and learn how to
utilize the conventions such as font emphasis, layout, and format, they can see that Dr. Bruices
syllabus gives them the best chance at success.
As a genre, chemistry syllabi are easily identifiable. The authors know their audience and
their audiences concerns about the course. Consequently, they have a clear purpose that they
execute using a specific set of conventions. They are writing to college students and while they
are a very diverse audience, students all have the same ultimate goal in the class - to get an A.
The readers of this genre also have other concerns that range from when and where exams are
held, a professors office hours and location, and information about the textbook for the course.
All of these are addressed by bolded headings such as Homework, Mid-terms, [and] Grading
(Bruice), which help the reader quickly find the important topics they are looking for. These

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headings are the first things readers look for as they search for the answers to their questions and
their eyes are easily guided to both the bolded topic and the un-bolded, concise description text
next to them. While Dr. Zhangs syllabus also utilizes bolded headings, his are less effective as
they are coupled with bolded point values directly underneath such as:
Homework:
(100 pts)
(Zhang) This is less effective since the extra bolded text jumbles up the information, and makes
it less clear for the student to read.
In addition, some phrases that are written inside of boxes. Dr. Bruices boxed information
is extremely important, which can be seen by an all-capitalized, bolded, and boxed reminder to
BRING A PICTURE ID TO ALL MIDTERMS AND EXAMS. (Bruice) This is an
extremely effective reminder to the student about an important part of taking exams for this
course, since the exam might not be accepted without proper ID in order to combat potential
cheating. Without this reminder in a known, convenient place like a syllabus, a student could
forget to bring an ID and may not be able to turn in their exam. Dr. Bruice understands the need
to write in a clear fashion in order to make her syllabus as reader friendly as possible so that her
students can achieve success. Making the syllabus reader friendly also aides the students in
understanding the exigence of the syllabus, which is, the circumstance or condition that invites
a response. (Carroll 48). Carroll later goes on to state, Understanding the exigence is important
because it helps you begin to discover the purpose of the rhetoric. (Carroll 49) Relating these
two quotes to a syllabus and its audience of students, when students understand the reasons - the
exigence - why a professor includes or emphasizes certain aspects of their syllabus, they can

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figure out what is truly important to the class. By figuring this out, they can focus their efforts on
these aspects and work more efficiently to achieve success.
Since many courses in chemistry are not graded in a straightforward manner, and often
each professor has their own unique method for grading, professors must write clear and
informative sections on grading in their syllabi so that their students can have the best chance at
succeeding. Since this information is extremely important to a students goal, questions often
arise such as if the course will be graded on a curve, if their lowest exam score will be dropped,
or if there is a predetermined grading distribution. Professors are aware of these concerns and
approach this in different ways. Though most effectively of the three, Dr. Bruice puts the most
detail into the grading portion of her syllabus, and it ends up being the largest section so that it is
clear to the student that this topic is important to their success. She utilizes more bolding here to
emphasize words to the student. An example of this is where she is addresses those who may
potentially miss an exam and states, In cases where your attendance is required (Bruice)
before going on to explain the procedure of what to do if an exam is missed. She also goes on
later on to explain, the midterm may be taken BEFORE the scheduled time. (Bruice) This
also leaves no room for questioning when the test may be taken in such a case. The allcapitalized and bolded words make her intentions clear so that there is no question for the
students and they are able to plan accordingly.
Dr. Zhang also utilizes some similar font formatting in his grading section, although
much less effectively. He defines two terms, Final Exam Score (FES) and Midterm Exam
Score (MTES) (Zhang) then bolds and uses those abbreviations repeatedly throughout the
section. The overuse of bolding creates too many points for the readers eye to look to, and

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subsequently distracts and confuses the reader. To add to the confusion, Dr. Zhang attempts to
incorporate fractions and equations into a block of text without breaking it up. Adding together
all of these factors result in a confusing grading section that leaves the reader with more
questions than they started with. Dr. Zhang is unclear in his formatting, which does not
contribute to success for the student and may even mislead them.
Getting to a bigger picture, the layout of a syllabus is also important. Since most syllabi
are usually handed out on paper, effective professors like Dr. Price and Dr. Bruice keep the
syllabus to one page printed on the front and back. There are a lot of benefits to this length and
the primary advantage is being able to distribute the syllabus on one sheet of paper. The purpose
of keeping a syllabus to one page is so students have less to keep track of, and so that all of the
information is easily and effectively provided on one sheet of paper. With multiple sheets of
paper, the student may lose one, and then have to come to the professor for questions that could
have been answered by the lost sheet.
What if the student still loses that one sheet of paper? While losing the most important
sheet of paper that a student will receive in that class definitely doesnt aid success, the other
options for layout and format are not better. Emails are one way to get information out to
students, but they are easily deleted and after a few days they can get lost in inboxes. Another
option would be to verbally tell the students the details of the class during lecture. Good students
would write everything down but it is likely that they would still miss something important.
Other students that would only sit and listen to the verbal syllabus would almost certainly forget
something important. A physical copy of a syllabus, as well as having access to a digital copy in
case a student loses theirs, is the most effective way of getting information from a professor

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about a course, to the students taking the course so that students have the best opportunity to
succeed.
A syllabus, regardless of medium, is constantly used as a reference throughout the term,
and contains valuable information that is sometimes even quizzed on. It can not only gives a
class direction and focus, but it can also allow professors to focus more on teaching and less on
administrative questions. By taking the time to make a clear and reader-friendly syllabus,
professors set their students up with the best possible route of success. The different conventions
highlighted here show how important information can be brought to attention, or lost in the
confusion such as in Dr. Zhangs grading portion. In the end, all of the different parts of
chemistry syllabi come together to help students. By understanding these conventions, students
can better recognize the ways that professors tell them important information so that the students
have the best chance to succeed. So in short yes. You do need that sheet of paper!