Grades and other hassles

    Short Papers - On each of the three supplemental books. Two-pagers are worth 14% of the course grade; the one-pager is worth 12%.. Specifications forthcoming under Study Guides.
    Midterm Exam - In-class. One long essay, plus map and chronology. Covers Antiquity and the Middle Ages. A study guide will be provided.
    Final Exam - In-class. Comprehensive. Details coming in December.
    Discussions - Quizzes and other interrogative devices will be used to encourage you to keep up with the reading.  Participation in the weekly discussions is crucial to success in this course.

Special Needs:
    Any student who has special needs, including but not limited to documented disabilities, is encouraged to identify himself or herself to the instructor so that those needs can be accommodated. If appropriate, such students might wish to contact the Office of Educational Accessibility, which can provide assistance beyond this immediate course.

Fair Play:
    Plagiarism - failing to give credit for words or ideas that are not your own - is considered a crime in the university. Plagiarism constitutes theft of intellectual property. Even worse is the dishonesty of submitting someone else's work as your own.
    Plagiarism is easier to spot than one usually expects. To those of us who routinely read scholarly writing, phrases and ideas that do not sound like the ones we expect from students practically leap off the page. Continuing advances in Internet search capabilities make it as easy for faculty to locate the plagiarized source as it is for students.
    The consequences of being caught cheating are severe: immediate failure of the course. Appeals can be filed through the Office of Student Student Conduct & Academic Integrity. See the Code of Student Conduct (Board of Visitors Policy #1530) for further information.

    Screens & Electronic Devices - Not to be consulted in class.  Please take notes from the lectures and discussions on paper.  The motor memory of writing terms and definitions by hand is an important part of the learning process; and notes made by hand in a spiral-bound notebook are a far more effective study aid than notes read from a screen.  Electronic texts, while fine for light reading, are inadequate for the depth of analysis required in this course.
Needless to say, surfing, texting, facebooking, catching Pokémon or other gaming in class are extraordinarily rude.  The distraction affects not only the immediate user but everyone around, like second-hand smoke.