GEO135--Syllabus--Spring 2010--1.4.2010.doc

David B. Johnson Spring 2010 Jessica Hall World Geography GEO135, sec. 01, Tuesday & Thursday, 9:35am Current a/o January 4, 2010 Introduction. GEO135, World Geography, is an introduction to two different things?first, to geography as a discipline, and second, to some of the major geographic regions of the world. As we go through the many and varied regions of the world, we will be addressing some of the elements that make up the discipline of geography?the physical attributes of the land, the culture and lifestyles of the people who inhabit it, the economic forces that result from and define their activity, and the political organizations that result from or define their interaction as peoples. To give flesh to these concepts, we will look in some detail at specific realms and regions of the world. (See ?Rough Schedule? for dates and locations.) Textbook. H. J. de Blij, et al., The World Today: Concepts and Regions in Geography, 4th ed. Policies and Procedures. You have the right to expect me to be in class, prepared, awake, not making cell-phone calls or reading a newspaper, and attentive for every class period, and I expect the same from you. If you use your cell phone, read a newspaper, etc., you may be asked to leave, and you may be penalized by having a zero (0) factored into your participation grade. From time to time we may have short writing assignments (quizzes) in class; these are part of your ?participation? grade and cannot be made up. (Alternative arrangements?usually a ?bye??can be made for officially excused absences, of course; but if you ?just weren?t there,? well, you just weren?t there, and will miss the credit.) You will be expected to be prepared for, and to take part in, any class discussions, planned or spontaneous, in class. Proper social decorum is expected of all?even those with whom you may not agree. Since we have an expensive classroom, and not a lot of money to replace or repair it, only bottled water will be permitted in the classroom; if you have other things to eat or drink, keep them in your backpack (or wherever); if you violate this rule, you may be asked to leave for the remainder of the period and a zero (0) will be factored into your participation grade. (This will do your grade no good at all.) CAS-IT Site. Class materials, e.g., reading and/or writing assignments, syllabus changes, etc., can be found at the CAS-IT website. You are responsible for all materials, assignments, and changes posted on the CAS-IT site or announced in class, whether you were in class that particular day or not. CAS-IT can be accessed at HYPERLINK "http://www.casit.ilstu.edu" http://www.casit.ilstu.edu . Then, Find STUDENT RESOURCES Click on INSTRUCTOR FOLDERS. Enter your ulid and password when asked. Select Department HISTORY. (That?s okay; it?ll work.) Click on JOHNSON, DAVID. Material pertinent to GEO 135 will have a title ?AllGEOG135?? or ?GEO135?.? Feel free to read any of the other material on the website. Exams and Research Paper. General. There will be three (3) exams, two (2) in class and a final exam. All exams will be comprehensive, but the strongest emphasis will be on the material since the previous exam. If sufficient demand exists, the in-class exams will be presented in both multiple-choice and short-answer/essay versions. (You will be asked to choose before the exams are printed, so we don?t waste the paper for hundreds of unused exams.) See ?GEO135 Rough Schedule? on the CAS-IT site for the date of the in-class exams, currently scheduled for February 16th (Exam #1) and April 6th (Exam #2)..The final exam will be held on the day (and time) specified by the University. Note: Exam dates may change, due to the exigencies of the class, etc. If an exam is postponed for any reason, the next practicable class date will be its probable time. Research Paper. There will be an optional 5 ? 8-page research paper, on a topic to be assigned. A list of approximately 15 topics (to be determined) will be provided, from which you may choose what interests you. The research paper will substitute for Exam #2 (NOT Exam #1), simply by not taking the exam, but NOT, under any circumstances, after the exam has already been taken. (If you take Exam #2, you have closed off the paper option.) Papers are due April 6th; late papers will be penalized one (1) letter grade. No papers will be accepted after the final regular class period. (Final Exam Week is not within the last regular class period.) I will try to have the papers that were turned in on time graded before the last day of classes, but this is not guaranteed; this is not true for late papers. Details will be posted on the CAS-IT site. NOTE: If you choose the research-paper option, you cannot pass the course without a passing-grade research paper, regardless of other grades. (But, with due diligence, failing the research paper is hard to do.) Grades. Grades will generally follow the ISU standard letter-grades, with adjustments at the discretion of the professor, as appropriate. [See ?Points,? below.] In-class exam(s) (1 & 2 @ 30 percent) 30 or 60 percent Paper (in place of Exam #2) 30 percent Quizzes and participation (includes professor?s subjective evaluation) 10 percent Final exam ____ 30 percent TOTAL 100 or 105 percent . ?Points.? This course is not an exercise in accumulating points, so the question, ?How many points do I have?? is of limited usefulness. (Besides, if you are diligent and have picked up your exams, etc., you already know how many points you have.) As important as the absolute number of points accumulated is the way in which those points accrued. For example, two students whose grades averaged out to the exact same number could get different grades, for a grade trend of increasingly good performance will yield a better grade than a trend of decreasing performance. (Therefore, a lousy grade on Exam #1 does not presage doom, but the same cannot be said of a less than sterling performance on the Final Exam.) Grades are calculated only after all the exams (including the final) and paper are graded, so there is no ?grade to this point.? Academic and Personal Integrity. Honesty. The University expects that all the work you turn in as your own is, indeed, your own. By putting your name on the paper, you are saying that it actually is yours, and unless you give us reason to believe otherwise, we shall consider it such. Questions relating to honesty and integrity?cheating, plagiarism, and the like?will be handled according to University policies. By turning in a paper, you are giving implicit permission to scan and otherwise operate on its contents with software designed to catch phrases, etc., that have already appeared in others? work. Intellectual property. A part of academic integrity that students often overlook is that of using sources without adequately crediting them. Contrary to what you may have been taught in junior high, it is NOT sufficient to cite (with footnotes, etc.) only that material that is directly quoted from a source. What a person writes in a book or article or says in a speech, for example, is their ?intellectual property,? and they can, and sometimes do, take serious umbrage (and legal action) at your using it and calling it your own. So can the University. (Material an author publishes is now legally considered to be copyrighted, even if it doesn?t say so. It is not necessary to even mention the word ?copyrighted.?) Cite (properly) every use of others? intellectual property, even if you only ?borrowed a phrase or two,? put their ideas into your own words, or simply used their data. Besides keeping you out of trouble, this will lend an air of greater credibility to your work. (Example: To which would you give more credibility, a description of the surface of the Moon by Dave Johnson or one by Neil Armstrong? Pretty obvious, right?) Teaching Assistant. The Teaching Assistant (TA) has full authority to deal with situations and issues that may arise in the day-to-day operation of the class and will assist the professor in grading the objective portions of examinations, schedule and administer quizzes, and track participation and attendance, as necessary. The TA may grant excusals and due-date exceptions, etc., at her discretion. Special needs. Anyone needing accommodation for a disability should contact the office of Disability Concerns at 350 Fell Hall, 438-5853 (voice) or 438-8620 (TDD). Office Hours. Professor Johnson?s office hours are Monday and Wednesday, 12:45 ? 4:30pm, but usually available Monday through Thursday, and usually Friday, at those hours. (Fridays are iffy; if business is slow and the weather is nice?.) If you haven?t made an appointment and it?s not during office hours, it?s a good idea to call ahead to avoid a wasted trip. The office is SCH 309; phone is 438-8274; and e-mail is HYPERLINK "mailto:dbjohns@ilstu.edu" dbjohns@ilstu.edu ; ISU e-mail is rarely read on weekends, so plan accordingly. Ms. Hall?s office hours will be Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 ? 11:30, and Wednesdays, 10:00 ? 11:00, in SCH 309.