Grading and Academic Integrity

Your grades for the semester will be weighted as follows:

Assignments Points Due
2 Question, 2 Respond, 2 Discuss Postings (5 points each) 30 weekly rotation
2 Participatory Learning Contributions (5 points each) 10 your choice
Overall participation, including personal statement due Feb 5 15 throughout
Memo 1 – Propose Topic 5 see course calendar
Memo 2 – 100 year timeline of topic, with references, 3 page minimum 10
Memo 3 – Annotated bibliography, at least 4 sources 10
Final Presentation – ½ peer-evaluated, ½ professor/ITF evaluated 10 Last 2 weeks of class
Write-up of final research paper 10 See course calendar
100

Grading Policy

Each assignment will be graded based on a matrix that allocates points for that assignment to aspects of the content and format. At the end of the course, points will be tallied out of 100% to assign a final grade.

Assignments submitted late will lose 1 point per day of lateness.  Due dates are non-negotiable except in case of documented excuse (illness, family emergency).

Points out of 100% correspond to the following letter grades:

min max grade
95 100 A
90 94 A-
85 89 B+
80 84 B
75 79 B-
70 74 C
65 69 C-
55 64 D
below F
      IMPORTANT NOTE ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:

Cheating and/or plagiarism results in failure of the class – it’s that simple.

Cheating is the attempted or unauthorized use of materials, information, notes, study aids, devices or communication during an academic exercise. Examples include but are not limited to:

• Copying from another student during an examination or allowing another to copy your work

• Unauthorized collaborating on a take home assignment or examination

• Using unauthorized notes during a closed book examination

• Using unauthorized electronic devices during an examination

• Taking an examination for another student

• Asking or allowing another student to take an examination for you

• Changing a corrected exam and returning it for more credit

• Submitting substantial portions of the same paper to two classes without consulting the second instructor

• Preparing answers or writing notes in a blue book (exam booklet) before an examination

• Allowing others to research and write assigned papers including the use of commercial term paper services

 Plagiarism includes copying sentences or parts of sentences from any source without citation; “forgetting” to include citations; copying, downloading, extracting or otherwise using internet sources without citation; copying from another student; presenting any one else’s work as your own; or “inadvertently” copying sentences, sentence fragments, paragraphs, pages, from any source. Plagiarism is also reproducing sentences or parts of sentence but substituting synonyms while maintaining syntactical structure, as in the following example:

 Original: There is considerable debate in the scientific community as to the sources of global warming.

 Plagiarism: There exists substantial disagreement in the scientific field about the causes of global warming.

 Not Plagiarism: Scientists are engaged in ongoing disagreement and discussion on the sources of global warming.

I take cheating and plagiarism extremely seriously. If you have any doubts or questions about whether your work might constitute plagiarism, please see me.

In addition, I am required by College policy to submit a report of suspected academic dishonesty to the Office of the Dean of Students. This report becomes part of your permanent file.