Syllabus Index: -- Required Texts -- Grading -- Unit One: Love -- Unit Two: Work & Play -- Unit Three: Loss and Death -- Final Examination -- Peer Editing -- Journaling -- Plagiarism Statement -- Honor Code Policy
Certain experiences are common to human beings. We are born, we die,
we love, we suffer losses, we work, we play. In this second semester of
the Valparaiso First-Year Core Course we will develop new ways of thinking
and talking about love and friendship, about work and play, and about loss
and death, through a careful reading and writing of texts which address
these experiences or their analogs.
Accordingly, the aims of this course are:
1. to continue the process of initiating you into academic study and this academic community through a sustained conversation about important aspects of human experience;
2. to encourage careful reflection and better understanding of our lives together;
3. to develop your ability and encourage habits of skilled writing, critical thinking, careful analysis and interpretation of texts, and persuasive presentation of ideas.
To achieve these goals we will devote significant attention to reading, thinking carefully about, and discussing some important texts addressing the human experience. We will enter into conversation with some gifted and historically important thinkers and writers as we attempt better to understand our human experience, and we will continue to develop those basic academic skills and work habits conducive to success at the university: how to recognize different types of texts and the types of reading appropriate to them; how to write imaginatively, clearly, and persuasively about these texts and our experience, how to make connections, and how to discuss questions with passion, care, and civility.
Paul's First Letter to Corinthians, Chapter 13
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
Dalai Lama, selections from The Power of Compassion
Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate
Film: Il Postino (The Postman)
Lady Murasaki, selections from The Tale of Genji
Film: Matewan
John Sayles, selections from Thinking in Pictures
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto
Arlie Hochschild, selections from The Time Bind
Selections from Bhagavadgita
Martin Luther, Freedom of a Christian
Film: Ferris Buehler's Day Off
The Gospel of Mark
Shusako Endo, Silence
Plato, The Last Days of Socrates
Film: The Trip to Bountiful
Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
Marilyn Hacker, The Bedford Handbook, 5th edition
1. Attendance and participation in classroom and Valpo Core Activities: 20%
2. Journal and other informal writing: 10%
3. Three unit exams (the last unit exam will take place during the regularly
scheduled final exam period, but will not be comprehensive): 30%
4. Papers: Best three of four papers, including the last paper, submitted
in a portfolio, with an introduction: 40%
VCA's: Any event that appears in
your syllabus with the initials "VCA" requires your attendance
and participation: this includes writing group meetings, lectures and performances.
The instructor will provide you with more information on how to respond
to these activities.
In addition to the Valpo Core Activities that appear on your syllabus,
we also require that you choose to attend and respond to at least three
other events from a Core Calendar of recommended cultural
and community events occurring on or around campus this semester.
Record (event, date, location, etc.) and respond to (with at least a paragraph)
these events in your journal.
Attendance Policy: Attendance and promptness are required. See me or speak to me after each absence, or before they occur if you have legitimate business that you know will keep you from class. More than three unexcused absences may be cause for failure of the class.
Week One (Jan 7-8)
1. (R 1/7) Introductions; Diagnostic Writing Exercises
2. (F 1/8) Paul, I Corinthians 13; C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves,
"Introduction" and "Likings and Loves of the Sub-Human,"
1-30
How, according to Paul, is love important for the Christian community he
addresses? How should Christian love be different from other forms of love.
What is the difference between Need-Love and Gift-Love? Is one better than
the other? Is this a helpful distinction?
Week Two (Jan 11-15)
3. (M 1/11) C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, "Affection" and
"Friendship," 31-91
Is Lewis' Affection an adequate characterization of parent-child love? Is
Lewis' definition of Friendship adequate? Does it describe your own?
4. (T 1/12) C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, "Eros," 91-116
What's the difference between Eros and Venus? How can Eros become demonic,
according to Lewis? Do you think he takes sex too seriously? How are we
representative in the act of love."
5. (R 1/14) C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, "Charity," 116-141
Do you think we are in danger of loving our fellow creatures too little
or too much? Describe what it would look like for a love to be transformed
by charity.
6. (F 1/15) Dalai Lama, The Power of Compassion, "Giving and
Receiving," 58-82;
Topics for paper #1 distributed
Week Three (Jan 18-22)
7. (M 1/18) Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
VCA: Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation:
"Discovering the Shared National Narrative: What Dreams are at the
Center of American Life." Monday, January 18, at 10:00 a.m., Chapel
of the Resurrection. Featured speaker: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ronald
Suskind, whose book, A Hope in the Unseen, An American Odyssey from the
Inner City to the Ivy League is a true story of a talented black teenager
struggling to succeed in one of the worst public high schools in Washington,
D.C., and his subsequent years at Brown University.
VCA: Closing of the Day: "In the Crossfire:
White Supremacists, Black Freedom-Fighters and Southern Jews." Monday,
January 18, 4:30 p.m., Chapel of the Resurrection. Featured speaker: Award-winning
author Melissa Fay Greene, whose book The Temple Bombing tells the
story of the bombing of Atlanta's oldest synagogue by neo-Nazi sympathizers
in l958.
Write and bring to Tuesday's class a one to two
page reflection on either of the two talks. You may wish to write about
connections you see: between Suskind's story and Rodriguez's attitude on
affirmative action; between Greene's talk and memories still fresh from
Hallie's Lest Innocent Blood be Shed; between King's life and legacy
and the kind of compassion the Dalai Lama writes of.
8. (T 1/19) Dalai Lama, The Power of Compassion, "Interdependence,
Inter-connectedness, and the Nature of Reality," 83-111
What is meant by "dependent origination"? By "Emptiness"?
How are these useful ideas for coming to see how real compassion is possible
between all things? How does "dependent origination" get us past
"absolutism and nihilism" (104)? Past Lewis' distinction between
Need-Love and Gift-Love?
9. (R 1/21) Dalai Lama, The Power of Compassion, "Contentment,
Joy and Living Well," "Challenge to Humanity," 1-21, 112-119
Why is an "ethical discipline" essential for living contentedly
and well? How might one practice such a discipline? Why, according to the
Dalai Lama, is it important to work upon ourselves first? How, then, do
we reach out to others far and near?
10. (F 1/22) First Draft Due, Paper #1;
Writing Tutorial
Week Four (Jan 25-29)
Note: You will be better prepared to discuss and understand Like Water for
Chocolate if you have it read before the first class devoted to discussion
of it. The last reading assignment for this week could prove a killer if
you are reading the text serially.
11. (M 1/25) Peer Critique Groups meet in class
12. (T 1/26) Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate, "January,"
"February," 1-41
What are recipes doing in a novel? What (if anything) do they add to the
telling of the story? What seems to be the relation between food and love
here?
13. (R 1/28) Laura Esquivel, Like What for Chocolate, "March,"
"April," 42-81
What enables love in this story? What impedes it? Are "rules"
always and only the enemy of love?
14. (F 1/29) Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate, "May"
through "August," 82-159
Does Lewis' chapter on "Eros" shed any light on what is going
on here? Compare Lewis on erotic love to Esquivel's image of the matches
which light the human soul. Which of these writers more closely captures
the nature of such love?
VCA: Screening of Il Postino
(or "The Postman): Wednesday, Jan 27, 9 p.m.; Thursday, January 28,
7:30 pm and 9:30 p.m.; Sunday, Jan 31, 1:30-3:30 (all screenings in the
Neils Science Center Auditorium)
Week Five (Feb 1-5)
15. (M 2/1) Laura Esquival, Like Water for Chocolate, "September"
through "December," 160-245
Do Tita and Mama Elena love each other? Does Mama Elena's secret redeem
her? Connections to Il Postino?
16. (T 2/2) Second Drafts due, Paper #1;
Writing workshop
17. (R 2/4) Lady Murasaki, The Tale of Genji, Chapter 1 and background
material, vii-27
Compare the parental relations between Mama Elena and Tita in Like Water
for Chocolate and the First Emperor and Genji. How do these expressions
of love align themselves with C.S. Lewis' ideas of Need-Love and Gift Love?
18. (F 2/5) Lady Murasaki, The Tale of Genji, Chapters 3 and 4, 65-133
Describe Genji's relations with women. What is the relation between power
and love as portrayed here? Are monogamy and faithfulness the same? If not,
why not? If so, can there be legitimate exceptions to being monogamous.
Week Six (Feb 8-12)
19. (M 2/8) Lady Murasaki, The Tale of Genji, Chapter 6, 146-186
How does the aesthetics of Genji (the poetry, the clothing the timing of
actions, the ceremonies) enhance the story line? Is there a story line beyond
aesthetics? In what ways do we rely on aesthetics to help our relations
with one another along?
20. (T 2/9) Lady Murasaki, The Tale of Genji, Chapters 9 and 10,
236-316
Is Genji "real" to you? How does friendship enter in here? How
has his relationship with his father changed?
21. (R 2/11) Unit Review
22. (F 2/12) Unit Exam
Week Seven (Feb. 15-19)
VCA: Screening of John Sayle's Matewan, Feb. 14, 3-5 p.m.; Feb 15, 7;30-9;30; Feb.
16, 7:30 p.m., Neil Science Center Auditorium
23. (M 2/15) Writing Reviews; Paper Topic #2 Distributed
24. (T 2/16) Discussion of Matewan
What role does race play in the film? Is the situation depicted in the film
a racial, union, or political issue?
25. (R 2/18) John Sayles, selection from Thinking in Pictures
In what ways does Sayles use music in the film? What role does religion
play in the story? What about baseball?
26. (F 2/19) Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, "Preface
to the Russian Edition of 1882"; "Bourgeois and Proletarians,"
4-6, 16-32
In what ways does the "Preface to the Russian Edition of 1882"
connect to what we read about in My Antonia? What does Marx say has
happened to the status and dignity of work following the triumph of the
bourgeoisie? Connections to Matewan?
Week Eight (Feb 22-26)
VCA: Peer writing groups meet this week to
work on drafts of paper #2
27. (M 2/22) Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, "Proletarian
and Communists, 32-43
What is capital? What is wage-labour? Comment on Marx's statement that "By
Freedom is meant, under the present bourgeois conditions of production,
free trade, free selling and buying." Why does Marx insist that private
property must be abolished? More connections to Matewan?
28. (T 2/23) Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto; introduction
by Vladimir Pozner, vii-xxii
How does Pozner help us to see the Communist Manifesto in context? What
questions does Pozner raise about the "fall" of communism and
the "triumph" of capitalism? In dialogue with Matewan, does belonging
to a labor union make one Marxist?
29. (R 2/25) Arlie Hochschild, "Family Values and Reversed Worlds"
from The Time Bind, 35-52
What are the purposes of this essay? What is the author's point of view?
Why do you think the discussion of society's changing view of work takes
as its point of contrast and comparison the family? Do you ever think of
the family as a workplace? How does this comment on work and family situations
in My Antonia and Little Women?
Second draft, paper #2 due
30. (F 2/26) Arlie Hochschild, "Giving at the Office," from The
Time Bind, 55-84
How do you take the ideas of labor and management and talk about them in
terms of white collar work? What would Marx think of the "home-away-from-home"
workplace depicted in Hochschild? Would he see the blurring of the home
and the workplace as a good thing.
Spring Break
Please note: Make
a serious effort to read Shusako Endo's Silence and/or Tim O'Brien's
The Things They Carried during the break, as you will be expected
to have finished reading those novels on the day we begin discussing them.
(Silence makes an excellent conversation starter on South Padre Island.)
Week Nine (Mar 15-19) See Revised Schedule
for Weeks Nine and Ten
32. (M 3/15) Bagavadgita (selections and guiding questions TBA).
Paper #3 topics to be distributed
33. (T 3/16) Bhagavadgita (selections and guiding questions TBA)
34. (R 3/18) Martin Luther, Freedom of a Christian
For Luther, what is faith? What must one do to be a person of faith? Why
is faith good?
35. (F 3/19) Martin Luther, Freedom of a Christian
For Luther, what difference does faith make for how one lives? What is the
relationship between faith and good works? How was this relationship demonstrated
in Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed?
VCA: Screening of Ferris Buehler's Day
Off: March 17, 9 p.m.; March 18, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., March 21, 3 p.m.,
Neils Science Center Auditorium
Week Ten (Mar 22-26)
36. (M 3/22) Discussion of film Ferris Buehler's Day Off in relation
to work and play; First
Drafts of Paper #3 due
37. (T 3/23) Peer Critique Groups meet in class
38. (R 3/25) Review of Unit Two
39. (F 3/26) Unit Two Exam
Week Eleven (Mar 29-Apr 2)
40. (M 3/29) Gospel According to Mark
How does Mark's Gospel portray Jesus? Is he teacher? Religious leader? Martyr?
Victim? Savior? How does Mark characterize the disciples? Why and about
what is Jesus so secretive in Mark's account?
Second Drafts, paper #3 due
41. (T 3/30) Gospel According to Mark
What narrative patterns or structures do you notice in Mark's gospel? What
recurrent words, images, or actions appear in the story? Why does Jesus
need two attempts to heal the blind man in 8:22-26, and how is that short
account similar to the overall themes of the whole Gospel of Mark?
42. (R 4/1) Gospel According to Mark
In what ways does Jesus' speech in 13:9-13 foreshadow the rest of Mark's
gospel? Who, besides Judas, fails or betrays Jesus in Mark? What does this
gospel itself say about the meaning or significance of Jesus' death? What
questions do the various alternative endings to Mark answer that are left
open if the gospel ends at 16:8?
Paper Topic #4 distributed
Good Friday April 2 No Class
Week Twelve (Apr 5-9)
43. (M 4/5) Assessment Survey (a comprehensive survey on the first year
experience)
44. (T 4/6) Shusaku Endo, Silence
In what ways does this novel (or various voices within the novel) problematize
the Jesuit's attempts to win converts among the Japanese? Can you discern
how the author views the Jesuits' action? Were Christians ultimately successful
in spreading their message in Japan? Why or why not?
45. (R 4/8) Shusako Endo, Silence
What motivates the main character? Does his motivation change in the course
of the story? What is the function of the character Kichijiro? Christ's
face? Christ's reaction to Judas in the eyes of the protagonist?
46. (F 4/9) Shusako Endo, Silence
Which matters more: What one says, or what one believes? In what ways does
the eponymous theme of "silence" function in the novel? What types
of silence are there?
Week Thirteen (Apr 12-16)
47. (M 4/12) Shusako Endo, Silence
Does this novel have a hero? What is worth living for? What is worth dying
for? How does the climactic scene involving apostasy relate to Mark's gospel
and the theme of "enduring to the end."
48. (T 4/13) Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates, "The Euthyphro,"
"The Apology," 1-41
How seriously does Socrates defend himself? Why is this? What effect does
he seek through his speeches? How does Socrates enact his self-identification
as a gadfly stirring the state? What happens when you compare The Last Days
of Socrates with the Passion of Christ according to Mark.
49. (R 4/15) Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates, "The Crito,"
The Death Scene from "Phaedo," 55-58
What does the dialogue in the Euthyphro add to the story of Socates' trial
and death? What does the dialogue in the Euthyphro suggest that piety is?
What do the dialogues as a whole suggest that piety is? What do you make
of Socrates' notion of what constitutes the good life?
50. (F 4/16) Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates
If you were on a jury deciding Socrates' guilt or innocence, how would you
vote? What penalty should he pay if found guilty? In what ways can you compare
Socrates' refusal to escape in the Crito to various voices on civil disobedience
read in the fall semester unit on Citizenship and Service?
VCA: Film Screening: The Trip to Bountiful,
April 15, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., April 18, 3 p.m., and April 19, 7:30 p.m.
Week Fourteen (April 19-23)
51. (M 4/19) First drafts, paper #4 due, Writing Workshop
52. (T 4/20) Discussion of The Trip to Bountiful
How are views of mortality and death in the film similar to or different
from those in other works of this unit?
53. (R 4/21) Peer Critique Groups meet in class
54. (F 4/22) Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
What significance can you draw about the items the soldiers carry with them
in chapter one? What items would you carry with you, or have you brought
with you, to difficult and strange transitions and duties in life, and what
do those choices say about you and the situations you find yourselves in?
Week Fifteen (April 26-April 30)
55. (M 4/26) Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
Who, according to O'Brien, has the authority to interpret war stories? What
makes O'Brien's voice (or voices of others who tell war stories) authoritative?
Do you agree or disagree with the author's attitude in the chapter entitled,
"How to Tell a True War Story?" Why? What is the role of truth
and "story truth" in these stories?
56. (T 4/27) Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
What is the significance of the names in this novel? How do gender roles
fit into this story? Into war stories in general? Is war the same for women
as for men? What must individuals do to prepare to fight an enemy? Is O'Brien
still fighting a war by virtue of his writing? If so, against whom or what?
57. (R 4/29) Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
Where in this novel do you find hope in the midst of loss? What is life
affirming in these stories? Why is it necessary for O'Brien to revisit Vietnam,
both literally and figuratively?
58. ( F 4/30) Portfolios due
Week Sixteen (May 3-4)
59. ( M 5/3) Course summary; review
60. (T 5/4) Course Evaluations
Guiding Principles
1. Good writing is often, if not usually, the result of a collaborative effort.
2. Learning to write well means acquiring a sense of audience, which this process can aid because readers will write and talk back about their reactions,
3. Nobody needs to be an expert, or English major, to be able to say what happens to them in the process of reading something, which is what this process requires.
4. Our focus is on what the writing does, what the writing says, what the writer is communicating.
5. Members of a peer review group are all in the same boat. The golden rule of writing groups is to read others as you want to be read, with seriousness, with generosity, with curiosity,
6. This takes time, at least an hour if you do the job right, and sometimes more. But it is time well spent, as it will help your writing and your development of critical thinking skills, plus you're helping someone else out, which is not a bad thing.
Procedure
1. Read the paper all the way through without interruption. When you finish, write a letter to the writer, describing as best you can what sticks with you having read their work once. You are reporting on your first impression only, and you need not judge the paper, or prescribe changes. Merely report what happened as you read, in as much detail as you can.
2. Read the paper through a second time, this time with pen in hand. As things happen to you in the course of writing, report them in the, margins, "When I read this, I thought this . . . I wondered this . . . I had a question about . . . " Underline what you think is good and jot a note in the margin to say what and why. Put wavy lines under words or passages you're not so sure about. Put question marks where you have questions. You can ask those questions when meeting in a VCA session. Put exclamation points where you have the feeling the writer has really nailed it. Draw little wedges where, you would like to see the writer expand the paper, to slow down and bring the camera closer.
3. Reread your first impression, and look over your itemized reactions, Now what do you think? Write a postscript to your first impression summarizing what you think and how you feel about this first draft. It would be good to use this occasion to repeat or underline those reactions you think most important,
4. Sign your letter.
A journal provides valuable additional writing practice to the more formal
assignments of the class. Because there is no graded evaluation of this
material, it offers opportunities for self-expression and self-discovery
in writing that may not be present in the regular assignments. It helps
make clear, by comparison with the regular assignments, the distinction
between public and private writing; at the same time, however, it should
encourage you to make a closer connection between public writing and private
experience, since the material in the journal could become useful in the
papers themselves.
Your journal/notebook should serve several functions. In part, it should
develop as a writer's notebook in which you record observations and ideas
from class reading and discussion that might find a place in a paper, experiment
with language and style, sketch ways of tackling an assignment. It should
also provide occasions for generating reading notes. And it should, at times,
be a much more private affair in which you express feelings and meditate
on personally important experiences and ideas evoked by the seminar. Periodically
you should read back through your entries to look for patterns, to define
for yourself what you have done or discovered. In no way is your journal
simple a diary; it is a record of experiences, observations, reflections
about world and self that you find significant or interesting.
From time to time, as we discuss various methods of writing, the instructor
will suggest specific topics and strategies for your notebook entries. Such
assignments should prove particularly useful as you prepare your essays.
You will also be allowed to use your journals as authorized aid during the
writing of the three examinations during the semester.
A Few Guidelines and Ground Rules:
1. Journal entries are to be made approximately four times a week (once for every class meeting).
2. Use a real notebook, not torn-out sheets of paper or a tiny memo pad. The journal should be separate from notes taken in class.
3 . Do not use your journal as a disguised letter to the instructor. The question of audience here is unique: you are writing for yourself. If you have difficulty getting started, you might think of the journal as a letter to yourself in the future.
4. The instructor will collect journals at regular intervals. Although this writing will receive no direct letter grade, it is important to the core experience. If you have entries which you wish to remain private, mark them as "off limits" with a paper clip or post-it note and the instructor will not read them.
5. The instructor will evaluate each journal on the basis of these criteria:--regularity, fullness, and thoughtfulness of the entries;
--application of writing techniques discussed in class;
--evidence of willingness to experiment with various kinds of writing.
Definition
Plagiarism is the use of the words, facts, ideas, or opinions of someone else without a specific acknowledgment of their source. It is the attempt - deliberate or unintentional - to pass off as one's own work what in fact has been borrowed. Whenever you are writing on an unfamiliar, specialized, or technical subject, it is likely that you will be using printed or oral sources of information. To fail to indicate that you used such sources and/or to fail to identify them constitutes plagiarism.
Direct Quotations
Whenever you use the exact words of a speaker or writer, you must enclose those words in quotation marks and indicate the precise source of the words in a parenthetical reference. This rule applies whether the quotation is two words or two paragraphs long. Furthermore, a quotation must be exact in every detail: no words may be changed, and none may be omitted that would change the meaning of the passage. An omission that would not affect the meaning is permissible, but it must be indicated by an ellipsis, three spaced dots (. . .). Furthermore, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and all such mechanical details must conform exactly to the original.
Other Borrowings
A large part of the borrowed material in any paper is likely to be paraphrased
or summarized rather than quoted. There are two important facts to be remembered
in this connection. First, the material is still borrowed; therefore exact
sources must be acknowledged in parentheses. And second, the wording of
paraphrased or of summarized material must be substantially different than
the original. When you put another writer's ideas into your own words, those
words must be really yours; you may not echo the vocabulary and the phrasing
of your source.
Similarly, whenever you use the organization that someone else has provided, whether it be a pattern which you imitated or an actual small part of your overall structure, you should indicate your source in an explanatory note.
Proper Extent of Documentation
When students are told that everything they learn from their reading
must be documented they often react with an anguished cry, "But then
my whole paper would have to be documented." This protest is not warranted,
however, because a research paper, properly speaking, is not just a collection
of facts and ideas gathered from sources. Unless you do something original
with your material, you probably have not fulfilled the assignment. That
is, ordinarily you must present some interpretations of your data and reach
some conclusions about your subject. These interpretations and conclusions,
which you are basing upon the material you have borrowed, represent your
original contribution to the subject.
In using this material, you must demonstrate that you have mastered it.
First, you must be careful that you never distort the meaning of another's
work, whether you have summarized, paraphrased, or quoted. Second, you must
make sure that your interpretations and conclusions follow logically from
the evidence you have presented. Therefore, because you have mastered the
material and have used it to reach a valid, original conclusion, the paper
is your paper.
In this connection, it is helpful to remember the words of the writer
James Stephens, "Originality does not consist in saying what no one
else has said before. In consists in saying what you yourself truly believe."
As a general rule, the newer a subject is to you, the more acknowledgments
you will need. But though it is theoretically true that the number of notes
required will vary inversely with the extent of the writer's previous knowledge,
it is not always true in practice. In handling certain subjects you will
discover that sometimes an entire paragraph, sometimes a half paragraph,
has been derived from one source, though at different places in that source.
In this instance you may document the borrowing with a series of page numbers
rather than with a single page number. Make certain that all the sentences
in the paragraph before the parenthetical acknowledgment are derived from
the sources indicated.
Study the documentation of representative scholarly books and articles to become more fully aware of what is involved in the whole business of using acquired knowledge. Keep and use the handbook required for this course. No professional will carelessly lay himself open to a charge of plagiarism. You should be equally careful.
Some Exceptions
There are, however, some exceptions to the rule that you must document
everything in an investigation paper that you didn't know before you started.
There is much information which is generally known and which is readily
available in a wide variety of sources. Dates, for instance, rarely require
documentation. Perhaps you don't know that Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo
in 1815, but many people do and the fact is obtainable in dozens of places
- history books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, and even calendars;
to document such a fact would be sheer pedantry. On the other hand, if you
wanted to mention the number of French and British troops who died at Waterloo,
you could certainly have to acknowledge the source of your information;
you could not assume that those figures could be known without some special
investigation. Another exception to the general rule is the quotation which
is so familiar as to be almost proverbial, "To be, or not to be,"
for instance. An acknowledgment after that phrase would be both an insult
to the intelligence of your audience and a confession of your own ignorance
of what documentation is for. In general, then, you need not document any
material that may be assumed to be common knowledge. But if you are unsure
whether the educated public is likely to know what you don't, or if there
is disagreement among the experts, it is better to be safe and use what
may be an unnecessary note than to omit one and thus provoke a suspicion
of plagiarism. Never give your reader an occasion to ask, "How do you
know?" or "What is your evidence for this point?"
The ultimate responsibility for academic honesty belongs to you. You are
responsible for knowing exactly what plagiarism is and for scrupulously
avoiding any suspicion of it in all your writing. From that responsibility
no one can excuse you.
The references to the techniques of documentation in this statement conform
to the MLA guidelines adopted in 1995. These techniques are fully explained
in the Handbook you are using.
Since 1943, all academic work at Valparaiso University has been done within the context of an honor system. This honor system is part of the way the University attempts to assist both students and faculty to do work and live lives characterized by integrity. The Honor Code Pledge which students must write out and sign on every piece of written work submitted reads as follows: "I have neither given or received nor have I tolerated others' use of unauthorized aid." Every instructor is responsible for clarifying what constitutes unauthorized aid in his or her course. In this Valpo Core course, the following will be considered violations of the Honor Code:
1. Unauthorized giving, receiving, or use of material or information while writing examinations or quizzes.
2. Fraudulent or deceptive generation of data or the knowing use of data gathered in such a manner.
3. One person taking a quiz or examination, or producing a paper, for another.
4. The use of ideas, data or specific written passages of others that are unacknowledged or falsely acknowledged.
5. Presentation of a paper or other work for credit in two distinct courses without prior approval of both instructors.
6. Theft or destruction of library materials or other materials which are meant to be accessible to all other students and faculty.
7. Knowingly presenting false accusation or testimony before the Honor Council or its representatives.
8. Presenting a draft and/or paper which is someone else's work.
9. Tolerance of any of the above.
Some kinds of aid and collaboration are strongly encouraged and are NOT violations of the Honor Code in this course. These include:
1. Making use of the services of the Writing Center.
2. Discussion or brainstorming about written or oral assignments, movies, or other TBA events with other students, faculty, or staff.
3. Getting other students' reactions to written or oral work prior to submitting or presenting it.
4. Working with classmates to revise drafts of assigned papers.
The Honor Council student officers work hard to uphold the system's integrity and confidentiality. A student wishing to report an Honor Code violation may call the Honor Council Office in Huegli Hall Room 14, phone 464-6019. The telephone is connected to the University's Phone Mail system so that a confidential message may be left at that number at any hour of the day or night. Only a member of the Honor Council will have access to the message.
If a student becomes aware that someone has made plans to use unauthorized aid on an examination, that student has a right to request that the examination be proctored. Forms for requesting a proctored examination may be picked up in the office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Huegli Hall Room 130. Such requests must be made at least 24 hours prior to the time of the examination. If any student in this course has a question regarding whether or not some means of preparation is a violation of the Honor Code, please consult the instructor.