Think of a syllabus as a guide to success for your college courses. If you don’t consult it on a periodic basis, you will get lost! Keep your syllabus with your class notes and refer to it frequently.

A syllabus gives you information on assignments, the attendance policy, the grading policy, and usually, a week-by-week outline of what will be covered in class. Information about your textbooks and recommended readings are also listed.

Your instructor will usually include his or her email address and an office and/or home phone number. Yes, some faculty members actually tell you it is OK to call them at home with questions – as long as it isn’t at 2:00 in the morning!

The syllabus often includes a reference to the college’s academic honesty policy and informs you of the consequences of plagiarizing.

Check out the following sample syllabi to get a sense of course requirements.

Syllabus #1 [PDF]
This syllabus is from a University Orientation course. Many colleges have a course that is required of new students designed to help you get oriented to college life. Permission to use granted by Colleen Boff, Associate Professor, Bowling Green State University.

Interactive Version [PDF]
In this version of Syllabus #1, click on the yellow question mark icon to get more information about the different parts of a syllabus.

Syllabus #2 [PDF]
This syllabus is for a history course on the Americant West, offered at a small liberal arts college. It is a course that would typically be taken by sophomores or juniors. It is 9 pages long which is an average number of pages for a college syllabus.