Skip to Main Content

Research Guides

Course Overview and Introduction: Course Syllabus

Syllabus Guidelines

The Syllabus Guidelines provided here are intended as a guideline / checklist for your syllabus. In almost all cases, you will want to have an online syllabus, which serves as your primary reference document, and a shorter, printed version that you may want to hand out to students in class.

The syllabus is an important tool in conveying course intent and policies. A well designed syllabus is very helpful in setting your expectations and informing students what participation in the course will entail. In cases where a student challenges a grade – a clearly written and complete syllabus is a valuable tool in quickly resolving the dispute.

Course syllabi have become longer, more explicit and more complex documents. While there are a number of "boiler plate" components that can be moved from syllabus to syllabus, current syllabi are much different from syllabi that were perfectly appropriate a few years ago.   

Where a course has multiple sections taught by different instructors a common syllabus is strongly suggested. Course objectives, Hamline plan designations and grading should be consistent from section to section. Lectures, course activities, and pacing can/will change depending on the instructor but the goals, grading weight, and learning outcomes should be consistent.