Secondary sources are not encouraged. Use the text and provide evidence for what you say. Write carefully and clearly. While errors will occur, careless preparation and incoherent expression are punishable. No distinction in general is made between excused and unexcused absences.
Attendance is taken at the beginning of class.
A student who is marked late for class three times will be charged with an absence for the purposes of the attendance policy. Quizzes are crude tools to encourage students to read and remember. Quizzes are a few questions each answerable with a few words or sentences. Questions ask about the facts of the text, such as the topics treated and the main distinctions or definitions. Quizzes are given at my discretion.