Policies

Academic Integrity

In this course, you will be treated as an adult. You are expected to know and abide by the rules and policies of the College of Wooster and this course. Particular attention should be directed to the appropriate and ethical use of materials whether online sources or books, articles, films, music material culture, or any source used for scholarship and research. Whether intentional or not, improper use of materials can be considered a violation of academic honesty.

Cheating in any of your academic work is a serious breach of the Wooster Ethic and the Code of Academic Integrity and is grounds for an F for the entire course.  In addition, I am required to forward a record of the incident to the Dean for Curriculum and Academic Engagement.  You will be held responsible for your actions.  If you are unsure as to what is permissible, always consult me first.

You should be aware of the following guidelines regarding plagiarism:

  1. Any idea or argument taken from a work that is not your own – whether it is from a printed source, online, or another student – must be properly cited.  You must incorporate an acknowledgment of the source of the idea in a footnote or endnote.  If not, your work will be considered plagiarism.
  2. All quotations must be clearly marked with quotation marks in the text and the source identified in a footnote or endnote.  If not, your work will be considered plagiarism.
  3. Any group of three or more words taken directly from a work that is not your own must appear in quotation marks and the source identified in a footnote.  If not, your work will be considered plagiarism.
  4. The borrowing of any complete sentence, sentence fragment, or sequence of three words or more from a work that is not your own (whether taken from printed works, online, or the work of another student) without quotation marks and without proper citation is considered plagiarism.  This includes words taken from reference works, online book reviews, or student essay posting sites.

The Writing Center

The Writing Center provides professional tutors who work with you to help clarify your thinking and improve the communication of your ideas.  They can help at all stages of writing, from planning to drafting to revision.  I encourage you all to take advantage of this wonderful, free resource for any of your writing assignments. Hours and appointment information available on their website.

The Academic Resource Center

All necessary accommodations will be made for students in this course with learning disabilities.  Please register with Amber Larson, Director of the Academic Resource Center (alarson@wooster.edu) and let me know as soon as possible so we can discuss how to shape the class requirements to best fit your needs.  All discussions will remain confidential.

Laptop and phone Policy

No laptops are allowed for classroom use unless instructed. 

Digital notebooks are permitted, but must lay flat on the desk.

Phones are expressly forbidden at all times. I will remind you of this policy exactly once with no penalty. Each time thereafter, whether I mention it or not, a student seen with a phone will be counted absent that day. 

Recording Classroom Activities

Students are not to record classroom activities unless other wise instructed. 

Absences, arriving late, and disruptions

This class meets 28 times for eighty minutes. It begins in the early afternoon. There is no such thing as an excused absence or any reason to be tardy or leave in the middle of class. If you have a swim meet go swim that is your decision. If something weird happens and you might be a few minutes late for class, get here as quick as you can and slip into class as quietly as you can. If you just have to get up and leave for some reason, fine. But don’t make habits of any of these things. After any combination of three absences, arriving late, or disrupting the class, you will begin accrue penalties to your professionalism grade (worth 20% of your final grade. Be respectful of the class and be professional. 

Late Work

Penalties of a letter grade will accrue every 24 hours past the due date for 72 hours. At that time, the grade will automatically convert to an F. Consistently late papers will adversely affect a professional grade. 

Electronic Submissions

  1. All work except for your movie diaries will be submitted electronically.
  2. All work will be sent as an email attachment to jroche@wooster.edu from your wooster.edu account. Not as a link, not in one-drive, but as an attachment. 
  3. All work will be sent in pdf format. Not Word, not a Google doc, not a jpeg, but a pdf. 
  4. The title of each piece of work submitted will begin with your last name followed by some indication about the subject of the work. For example: roche goodfellas music research paper. Not “jeff movie homework” not “history paper”.
  5. Failure to submit your work in the proper format with the proper title will affect a professionalism grade. 

FALLING BEHIND

I have an absolute “open-door” policy. Everyone gets overwhelmed sometimes. The key is letting me know that you are getting overwhelmed. Come to my office hours, see me after class, wave me down in the hall, but let me know what’s going on. If you have any questions, any questions, need some set of new conditions to get back on track, we can work that out. That goes for any other classes. I can meet with students any day of the week at any reasonable hour of the day. Do not dig yourself into a hole that could impact your entire collegiate career.