Understanding Your Syllabus
A syllabus is a critical part of student success. It provides a roadmap for a course—it’s like your professor gave you directions on how to succeed in the course.
A syllabus lays out the course’s major assignments, weekly structure, and your professor’s expectations for the semester. It includes due dates and other essential information that will help you succeed in your course as well as providing you with contact information for tech support, disability services, tutoring, and other services. It also breaks down the weight of each assignment, which can tell you how much each assignment is worth as you keep track of your overall grade.
When you log into your class for the first time, look at your syllabus! Read it and annotate it. Print it off if you need to or save it to your computer.
Key Features of a Syllabus (or what should you look for while reading a syllabus):
- General Info: includes course title, professor contact information, office hours
- Course Overview: lays out the instructor’s vision for the course
- Required Materials: tells you what books you need
- Assignments: gives you an idea of what sort of course work you’ll be doing
- Grade Breakdown: shows you what percentage each assignment is worth towards your final grade
- Schedule: lays out every reading, assignment, exam, or project in the course
- Mandatory Statements: information included in all syllabi, as required by the university, to outline things like academic integrity policies, access to disability services, and more
You can look at an example of a syllabus and its key features in the next section.