PSC 100 the Nevada Constitution

GREAT BASIN COLLEGE

PSC 100—The Nevada Constitution

Fall 2017 Semester

Course Syllabus

1. Course Number & Title:

PSC 100: The Nevada Constitution (1 credit)

Days: Online Class — Refer to Web Campus for class information

1. Prerequisites:

No prerequisites are required for this course.

III.Catalog Description:

PSC 100: The Nevada Constitution. An introduction to the political history of Nevada through an in-depth examination of the basic law of the state, the Nevada Constitution as originally written and subsequently amended. This course is a self-paced reading program. The course satisfies the Nevada Constitution requirement for out-of-state students who have already satisfied the three-credit U.S. Constitution requirement and are transferring into a GBC program.

1. Course Description:

This course provides a basic overview of the Nevada Constitution and the fundamental features of Nevada government and politics. The course examines the functions of political institutions and how individuals affect and are affected by these institutions. It also explores the changing political landscape.

1. Instructor Information:

Andrew M. Mierins, Esq. (Adjunct Instructor)

Great Basin College

1500 College Parkway

Elko, Nevada 89801

Work Phone: 775-738-1551

E-mail: or or E-mail on Web Campus.

Office Hours: No designated office hours, students should call or email with any concerns.

1. Required & Recommended Textbooks and Other Materials:

Bowers, Michael B. 2013. The Sagebrush State: Nevada's History, Government, and Politics (4th Edition). University of Nevada Press. ISBN 978-0-87417-923-1.

Additional reading materials and Web Links may be distributed to the class via Web Campus.

VII. Grading Policy/Point System:

Grades will be based on the following Grading Scale:

PercentageLetter

94-100 A

90-93 A-

87-89 B+

83-86 B

80-82 B-

77-79 C+

73-76 C

70-72 C-

67-69 D+

63-66 D

60-62 D-

<60 F

VIII. Attendance & Class Participation

This class is an online, self-paced reading program.

1. Select Student Learning Outcomes

Upon the successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1. Course Assignments, Content, & Schedule

Three examinations cover the required text: Exam 1 covers Ch. 1-3; Exam 2 covers Ch. 4-6; and Exam 3 covers Ch. 7-11 and the Appendix (the Nevada Constitution). There are also two short written assignments. Both exams and written assignments are located at the Assignments Tab in the course menu on the first page of the site.Grades will be available on Web Campus under the My Grades tab in the same menu. ALL EXAMS AND ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE DONE IN MICROSOFT WORD FORMAT AND MUST BE TURNED IN ON WEBCAMPUS. YOU MAY NOT COLLABORATE WITH OTHER STUDENTS AND YOU MUST SUBMIT YOUR OWN WORK. ALL WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE DONE IN COLLEGE ESSAY FORMAT WHICH REQUIRES AN INTRODUCTION, SUPPORTING PARAGRAPHS AND A CONCLUSION. If you are unfamiliar with the college essay format please email myself and ask specifically what I require.

Policy of Academic Integrity

Academic honesty is expected in this course and all college courses. Acts such as cheating and plagiarism are violations of the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Code of Conduct as well as violations of the standards of intellectual dishonesty. All student work must be original and authentic. YOU MAY NOT COLLABORATE WITH OTHER STUDENTS. Any acts of cheating, copying, and/or plagiarizing are violations of the NSHE Code of Conduct and will be taken seriously. Students who cheat, copy another’s work, or plagiarize from the Internet or other sources are subject to consequences ranging from dismissal from and failure of a class to dismissal from the college. Tutors are available in the GBC Academic Success Center for assistance with appropriate documentation and citations.

1. Examinations & Written Assignments:

Examinations are posted on Web Campus under “Assignments” and cover the material in the assigned chapters. Examinations are in essay questions. Taking the examinations is an individual exercise, and collaboration with others is not permissible. In order to receive the maximum number of points on the three-point questions, it is expected that you respond with detail and substance. Answers must be written using a college essay format, in Standard English with a minimum of avoidable errors, and they should be carefully proofread. The same standard applies to the written assignments.I will deduct points for multiple, repetitive errors that could have been detected by a thorough proofreading and corrected.

You must pay attention to all submission deadlines which are listed on Web Campus. I will accept late submissions but with a 2 point deduction. All submissions must be submitted on Web Campus. I will not accept any submission emailed, faxed or otherwise delivered. If you are having difficulty submitting an assignment or exam you must contact the Help Desk.

Web Campus cannot read some of the lesser-known word processing programs. Microsoft Word works best with Web Campus. If you do not use Word and are new to Web Campus courses, I suggest that you contact the Help Desk as soon as possible so that you understand how to save and submit work in a way that is compatible with Web Campus.

1. Class Attendance & Online Participation Using Web Campus

The nature of this online class is a self-paced reading program.

Political Cyber Café

Using appropriate net etiquette, you are encouraged to respond to and contribute in the Political Cyber Café Bulletin Board Discussion (BBD) where current political events and government activities pertaining to the State of Nevada can be discussed. Online resources may also be posted in this area. Please report any inappropriate content or activity to the instructor immediately. Participation on the Political Cyber Café is not required but will reflect positively if you have a borderline grade. It is meant as a forum for class members to discuss relevant issues related to the course in place of an actual meeting of class members.

1. PSC 100: Tentative Course Schedule

For the Fall 2017 semester, the PSC 100 schedule is as follows:

Class Begin Date End Date

PSC 100-1001September 4, 2017 October 6, 2017

PSC 100-1002October 30, 2017 December 1, 2017

Refer to Web Campus for updated information on class schedule. The instructor reserves the right to modify the syllabus during the semester.

Plagiarism – AVOID IT!

(With thanks to the Dr. Robert Griswold, University of Oklahoma)(a lack of this acknowledgment would make me guilty of plagiarism)

Each student at Great Basin College is supposed to know what plagiarism is and to be aware that to plagiarize the work of another person is a serious academic offense. This handout will give you some formal definitions of plagiarism but more important, it provides you with some concrete examples of writing which meet the definition of plagiarism so you can avoid plagiarism.

What is Plagiarism?[1]

Plagiarism: the representation of the words or ideas of another as one's own, including:

1. Directly quoting from another work without letting the reader know that the words are not your own. In this case, the writer generally fails both to use quotation marks around the quoted passages and to mention the name of the original author of the words.
2. Paraphrasing without attribution is another common form of plagiarism. In this case, the student paraphrases the original passage, but the student does not give credit to the original author from whose work the paraphrase derived.
3. Plagiarism can also be committed when a student paraphrases with or without attribution and in so doing uses much of the original wording, thereby passing off the original prose as the student's own.
4. A more tricky case of plagiarism involves students who use entirely their own words but borrow the ideas, arguments, facts, or reasoning of another without giving attribution. Such cases do not involve general knowledge--The Civil War started in 1861--but rather material that is not part of general knowledge but rather comes from the special efforts of the original author.
5. Another form of plagiarism, which is simply fraud, is the submission of work under your name which is not yours. Such work could be by another student, friend, or family member or by a company that writes papers for hire. A number of companies on the Internet sell papers to students, and buying such a paper and submitting it as your own is a serious breach of academic honesty and a vile form of plagiarism.

In short, plagiarism consists of failure to give proper credit for ideas and writings that come from others, but some concrete examples will help clarify its meaning.

In order to avoid even unintentional plagiarism, here are two good rules to follow:

1. Place anything you copy verbatim from another writer--whole sentences, phrases, and a single distinctive word--within quotation marks and identify the source of the quotation, normally in a footnote or an endnote.
2. Always give credit for ideas that are not your own. If you are summarizing the basic idea of an article you have read, give credit to the author for those ideas in a footnote or endnote. You should do this even if you do not use any of the author's original words in writing your summary. If you are uncertain whether or not to cite an author, the safest course to follow is to offer a citation.

As a rule, avoid an extensive use of quotations. Papers should never be long quotations strung together with a few words of your own. Use quotations only for the telling phrase, the unbeatable metaphor, the perfect description, or the controversial point of view that deserves expression in the original. Most of what you take from other sources should be paraphrased, and it is at this point that many students get into trouble. When paraphrasing, you must be certain that you express the ideas from your source in your own words. You cannot change a few conjunctions or articles, throw in or cut out a few words here and there, alter the syntax a bit and pretend that it is your writing. It is not. The structure and most of the phraseology remains that of the author, and your paraphrase is a kind of plagiarism. One basic rule might help: never take five consecutive words from a source without placing them within quotation marks. Even fewer words, of course, should be placed in quotation marks if these words are distinctively the authors.

The following example will help you better understand plagiarism and thus avoid it: below you will find a quotation, followed by an improper and a proper example of paraphrasing.

The quotation: "Most of the time a child who knew no English would be placed in a "sink-or-swim," total-immersion class when first entering school. After six months a student who did not "sink" would graduate to a class appropriate to his or her ability to cope with English. Bilingualism was not an option, and as a result many of the children schooled under this policy recall that their initial experiences were intensely traumatic." (1)

1. Selma Berrol, "Immigrant Children at School," in John Cary, et al., eds., The Social Fabric: American Life from the Civil War to the Present, 8th ed., vol.2 (New York: Longman, 1999): 111.

Paraphrasing that would be considered plagiarism: Much of the time, children who knew no English would find themselves in a "sink-or-swim" immersion class when entering school. After a half-year, students who did not sink would join a class suitable to their ability to deal with English. Bilingualism was not permitted, and therefore many children under this policy remember that they found school initially intensely traumatic. (1)

1. Selma Berrol, "Immigrant Children at School," in John Cary, et al., eds., The Social Fabric: American Life from the Civil War to the Present, 8th ed., vol.2 (New York: Longman, 1999): 111.

Proper paraphrasing: Immigrant children who could not speak English often found schools a hostile environment. "Bilingualism," as Selma Berrol has observed, "Was not an option," and thus immigrants often remembered their school days as anxious, frustrating times. (1)

1. Selma Berrol, "Immigrant Children at School," in John Cary, et al., eds., The Social Fabric: American Life from the Civil War to the Present, 8th ed., vol. 2 (New York: Longman, 1999): 111.

The author of the improper example of paraphrasing does cite the Berrol argument, but the writing too closely tracks the original to escape the charge of plagiarism. While many words are changed, many are not, and the structure, phrasing, and vocabulary too closely resemble the original. Such a student would be guilty of committing plagiarism. The second example is a true paraphrase.Berrol's ideas are summarized accurately but in the writer's own words, and Berrol is properly quoted where appropriate via the use of quotation marks. Note that the entire statement is covered by footnote 1.

Plagiarizing ideas:

Another form of plagiarism involves using your own language but appropriating someone else's ideas as your own. Suppose, for example, you had been asked to write a paper on the experience of immigrant children in American schools at the turn-of-the-century. If you properly paraphrased Berrol (as above in the "proper" example) but gave her no credit in a footnote or endnote, you would be pretending that this analysis was based on your research, that these were your conclusions, and that these were your own ideas about immigrants and schooling. But such is not the case. Your words are really a proper paraphrase of Selma Berrol's ideas, conclusions she reached after extensive research on the history of immigrant children in U.S. schools.

Taking notes and avoiding plagiarism:

One of the easiest ways to fall into the trap of plagiarism--deliberate cheating aside--is to write your paper while you have library books and journals or the photocopies of such lying next to your computer. If you write directly from the original authors' works, you may indulge, quite innocently, of improper paraphrasing, but such behavior is plagiarism nonetheless. One of the best ways to avoid plagiarism is to take careful notes, preferably on note cards or note slips. On your note card, place quotation marks around all material you copy verbatim. Check to make sure you have copied this material accurately, and write down the page number and the source on the note card. Read carefully the material you wish to paraphrase, then close the book or journal and write your paraphrase. By not looking at the original source while you paraphrase it, you should avoid the temptation of relying too heavily on its sentence structure and vocabulary. If an author uses a particularly memorable or apt phrase, put that in your summary with quotation marks around it and the page number beside it.

A final word:

Plagiarism is a serious violation of academic integrity and is to be avoided at all costs. Outright cheating--i.e. using another student's paper, buying a paper on the Internet, copying long passages of an article verbatim and passing this work off as your own work--is the most egregious violation of the rule against plagiarism and also the easiest to catch. But even students with no ill intent can sometimes commit plagiarism, most often by incorrectly paraphrasing another author's ideas, sentence structure, and/or vocabulary. In general, remember that your paper should be comprised of your ideas, your interpretations, and your arguments. It should never consist of a string of long, undigested block quotations linked together with a few well-placed conjunctions. Likewise, it should not consist of a string of improperly paraphrased paragraphs or a series of unattributed ideas that originated with another author. You can refer to other sources and quote them where appropriate, but remember that plagiarism is most likely to happen when your paper emphasizes the ideas of others rather than your own. Give credit where credit is due, when in doubt provide the reader a citation, and remember that plagiarism in any of its forms is a serious breach of academic honesty.

[1] Title 2 of the University and Community College System of Nevada CODE, Chapter 6, section 6.2, (q) states, “Acts of academic dishonesty, including but limited to cheating, plagiarism, falsifying research data or results, or assisting others to do the same” is prohibited activity. For these definitions and the system’s disciplinary procedures and your rights see the GBC general catalog.