Preparation and Follow-Through:
Preparation for Class
You should complete all items contained in the Weekly Overviews posted in each week’s module. All of our discussions and assignments are based on you completing the readings and watching the videos. We focus on larger understandings in class, so you might not be able to fully participate without being prepared for class.
Please make note of the days and times assignments are due. All major assignments must be submitted on Canvas.
Assignments
Expectations: The expectation in this class is that you will analyze and critically think about each concept we learn about. Your ideas, opinions, and subsequent support from sources will likely be different from your peers in your assignments and discussions. Please stick to the maximum page length, word count, or time limit specified in assignments. Because my time and professional attention is carefully divided between my courses and thesis mentorship, I will stop reading, watching, or listening at the top end of the limit for the assignment. Because of the attention I give each student's assignment, when students go over the requirement, it limits the time I can provide those whose assignments I have yet to grade.
AI Usage: While AI can be useful in some respects, it is important to understand how you are expected to use it ethically in this course as a graduate student. I share several literature review search tools like Elicit, Scholarcy, Research Rabbit, and LitMaps, which can be extremely helpful in assisting you in looking for articles and quickly summarizing them to ensure they are pertinent to your research. Chat GPT and other AI search bots can be useful to provide context to a question you have while reading. These would be considered approved uses for the course.
Unapproved uses would be things like sending your paper through Chat GPT or another AI tool in order to make it sound "more professional" or to add parts to it that are underdeveloped using AI generated text. Taking AI generated text and passing it off as your own work would be considered academic dishonesty and would fall under the penalties listed in the student handbook. If you are unsure if using AI would be approved or unapproved, please contact the instructor.
Written Assignments: Use Google Docs for all written work, aside from the discussion boards. This will allow me to provide more detailed feedback within the document, rather than using the Canvas tools that are not as sensitive. This will also allow you to see feedback immediately after I provide it. When submitting the Zoom reflections (if you don't attend the session live), Critical Analyses, and Literature Review assignments, please upload BOTH a link to the Google doc with editing permissions granted and the document file that allows for the AI/Plagiarism Detector software to scan it.
Please be sure to review the assignment requirements and rubric for each assignment. All written assignments should be professionally presented with well-organized ideas and materials (and proper grammar and spelling). All written assignments must be typed (double spaced, 12 point font, 1-inch margins). Please PROOFREAD your work. Please contact me with any concerns in advance of the deadline(s). You are also welcome to schedule time with the Graduate Writing Center staff to assist with your writing. I advise contacting them to schedule an appointment several weeks prior to the deadline, especially at the end of the semester.
Research Sources and APA Format: For all research-based assignments, students are expected to utilize evidence that has undergone a rigorous review process.
- Acceptable Sources: Peer-reviewed journal articles, books published by academic presses, and primary source documents as specified in assignment guidelines.
- Unacceptable Sources: Non-academic websites, social media, general encyclopedias (like Wikipedia, though useful for background research), and texts not intended for a secular, academic context unless explicitly permitted for a specific assignment.
- Citation: All sources used must be properly cited according to APA 7 guidelines to avoid plagiarism. Fabrication of sources or information will result in serious academic penalties. Please consult the APA Manual 7 or the OWL at Purdue for proper format requirements. I advise you not to rely on reference citation programs that may not always cite things correctly.
Because this is not a writing class, I will not be providing instruction on APA format. If you find yourself struggling with it, please schedule a meeting with the Graduate Writing Center and/or me.
Exemplars: I do not provide exemplars of student work. I am always happy to meet with you in-person or over Zoom to discuss your progress on an assignment if you have questions.
Revisions: I do not allow for revisions of assignments as a rule. If you have concerns about how to approach an assignment, please make an appointment to talk them through with enough time prior to the assignment due date. On extremely rare occasions, I have asked students to re-do an assignment because they completely missed the objective on the assignment. This has only happened a handful of times in the 16 years I have taught in higher education. Be prepared to complete graduate-level work in this course and ask questions when you have them.
Late Work: Late assignments have an automatic 20% deduction. You have one week from the due date to submit the late assignment. If you submit an assignment after this one-week deadline, it will not be graded, and you will receive a zero on that assignment.
Discussion boards will not be accepted late since they are time-sensitive communications. The discussion boards will close for comments at the due date time.
Extensions: Extension requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Any requests for an extension should be put into writing for me to consider. If requesting an extension, you must indicate the assignment you are requesting an extension for, the basic reason for the request, and the date that you will have the assignment completed, which I will need to approve. If an extension request is granted, you will be held to the date agreed upon from the written request and additional extensions WILL NOT be granted.