Syllabus Sections to Include, Tone, and Why

This page teaches both the writing of a syllabus with the right tone and a list of sections each syllabus should include—with reasoning and/or guidelines for their uses. As the syllabus should point students toward succeeding in your course, the inclusion of these sections accomplishes transparency between professors and students.

Syllabus Sections

Course Title and Section Number

Include this information so students can tell by reading the syllabus that they are in the right place.

Meeting Day(s), Time(s), and Location

This gives students another means of knowing how to attend class.

How to Contact You / Your Intro

Students will need to be able to contact you. Provide the best ways to get the fastest response. Also include your office hours and consider including other resources to receive help with different question.

A brief introduction to your background as an instructor, expertise in your field, and research interests can pique students’ curiosity and help them begin connecting to you personally. Keep this part concise so that your word count is focused on giving students vital course information.

Course Description

Inserting the course description is a good way to establish relevance to student’s lives and future professional work.

Course Fee(s)

Specifics are beneficial, so include specifically what the fees cover.

Textbook(s), resources, and/or materials that will be required to complete course assignments

If your syllabus is a map, this section is a list of “gear” that will help your student navigate your course. Depending on the structure of your course, this section might be combined with course fees.

Course Learning Objectives

Although this is a guide to creating a syllabus and not writing course objectives, this is still a chance to ensure your learning objectives utilize specific verbs that are observable actions, that they follow Bloom’s taxonomy, and that they include conditions and degrees of skill as applicable.  For additional guidance, see the Writing Learning Objectives page.

Also, note that in your objectives, you will address the student in the third person, e.g., “Students will analyze…” whereas in the rest of the syllabus you will address them in the second person (you).

Schedule

The schedule should clearly convey all meetings, learning topics, reading and assignment deadlines, and holidays that students should be aware of. It’s best practice to format this in a table of dates and times or as a calendar.

This allows students to plan ahead and see how the course learning objectives are tied to assignments.

Evaluation Methods and Criteria

This section helps students understand the standards of their work and how assignments affect their grade. Include the grading scheme and how grades are weighted, if applicable.

 **Note: here that the format of the syllabus with Course Learning Objectives > Schedule > Evaluation Methods and Criteria follows a flow of telling the students what they will accomplish in the course > what they will do to complete those accomplishments > and how their work is measured to see if they did in fact accomplish what they set out to do.

Resources

Provide resources for students to seek help with various matters:

Policies

For all policies, rules, and guidelines, be clear and specific. However, for any university policy you’re including, consider rephrasing the policy and referring the student to a source of the complete policy. This way your syllabus includes necessary, immediate information for the student to reference while not being too cumbersome. 

The policies you should include are:

  • Attendance policy.
  • Late work policy, with detailed expectations for participation, homework, late/make-up work, and any other requirements.
  • Any university policies that are important for a student’s safety and academic success and in the course.

For additional policies to include see the Syllabus Resources page. 

Tone and Writing

The first important thing to practice regarding tone is to be inviting, encouraging, respectful, and professional. A great way to remember this is to have a mindset of helping your students succeed as professionals. It’s better to assume all of your students want to succeed as professionals than that they all want to break the rules. Portraying this mindset in the syllabus can help to instill a better student-professor relationship and to foster an environment of curiosity and critical thinking before they set foot in the classroom.

Here are some things that can help you have a professional, inviting, and encouraging tone:

  • Address students in 2nd and 1st person plural (“You will analyze…” and “We will explore…”), instead of 3rd person (“Students”). This feels more inclusive.
  • Include a statement of confidence that you believe all students can succeed in the course.
  • Make it obvious that students will have opportunities to grow, practice new skills, challenge themselves, receive feedback, and/or network.
  • Highlight opportunities where students will be able to contribute their own experiences to the course.
  • Emphasize rewards, not punishments.

The second important thing to practice is to avoid vague language. Vague language leads to confusion now and headaches later. If students are confused about a section in the syllabus, then that section is ineffective.

While your tone is inviting and encouraging, your language should be clear and direct. Be mindful of using any disciplinary jargon. Is it clear whether they will learn a concept in class or that they should already be familiar with it?

The third important thing is to “optimize” your syllabus. Keep it as short as possible while giving students the necessary information and direction to resources that will help them succeed. Although some expository and contextual information is useful here and there, the bulk of your word count should be spent on what the student will need to reference throughout the semester—or rather, what will answer the frequent questions students have about a course.

  • How should they contact you?
  • How many assignments/tests/quizzes are there?
  • How many points are items worth?
  • What happens if they are late or don’t do an assignment?
  • Do you have an attendance policy?

Other Considerations

There are a few other things to consider when writing a syllabus.

Keep it accessible. Refer to your state and university accessibility standards.  Additional guidelines:

  • Use styles or headers to separate information instead of just bold text. This is beneficial for people who are listening to the syllabus page.
  • Be sparing on color, particularly colored text. When emphasizing text, it’s best to emphasize it in two ways, such as bold and italics at the same time.
  • Use Ariel or another sans serif font, as that is easier to read on a digital screen.

Consider using visual distinctions, so long as they are following state and university accessibility standards. These can include:

  • Banners
  • Headers
  • Pictures
  • Borders
  • Separating information into columns
  • Graphs/Pie charts (e.g., a pie chart the breaks down how grades are weighted)

And perhaps most important,if in doubt, contact the Center for Instructional Design and Innovation (CIDI) for assistance.