CRNs: 52447 & 52448
Class Meeting Schedule:
Monday & Wednesday 10:55 am – 1:25 pm – Petit Science Center: Room 171

Instructor: Erik Clabaugh
Office: Sorry, I don’t have one. The department assigned my cubicle to someone else while I was on vacation.
Office Hours: It’s hard to keep ‘office hours’ without an office, but I will make myself available to meet by appointment on Monday and Wednesday between 1:45 pm – 2:45 pm. Shoot me an email and we will figure out a place and time to meet.
Primary Email: eclabaugh1@student.gsu.edu
Alternate Email: erikclabaugh@gmail.com or erikclabaugh@yahoo.com
Twitter: @ErikClabaugh
Website: www.erikclabaugh.com

Course Description:

Popular culture surrounds us. In today’s media rich environment, it is seemingly inescapable. Yet, we rarely stop to think critically about its genesis, content, or consequences.

This class provides a framework for analyzing the social and political implications of popular culture as it is made manifest through mass mediated entertainment. Over the course of the semester, we will grapple with a series of challenging questions: What is popular culture? Who generates it? How have others tried to understand it? How does it spread? What are its underlying assumptions? What modes of thinking and behavior does it encourage? Who benefits from these ways of thinking and being? How does popular culture impact our lives and identities? How does it influence the way we perceive both ourselves and others? In examining these questions, this course is designed to develop the theoretical tools and critical perspective necessary to interrogate the TV programs, advertisements, films, books, songs, games, videos, and websites that saturate our daily lives.

Required Readings:

All readings will be made available here or distributed in class.

Grade Scale: A+: 100- 98, A: 97-94; A-: 93-90; B+: 89-86; B: 86-83; B-: 82-79; C+: 78-76; C: 75-72; C-: 71-69; D: 61-68; F: 60-0

Graded Assignments: Information on graded assignments may be found here.

Attendance:

Attendance is mandatory. Each student is allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence will have a negative impact on your final grade. Excused absences include documented medical and family emergencies, as well as the legal, religious, and school related obligations contemplated in the GSU policy on student attendance: http://webdb.gsu.edu/policies/policy_index.cfm?view_policy=4125

Schedule:

The full weekly schedule may be found here.

**Please note, this is a tentative schedule and is subject to revision.

General Policies:

Make-Up Exams
Students who cannot take an exam as scheduled because of documented serious illness or compelling, unexpected circumstances may submit a request (to the instructor, in writing) for a make-up exam. The following are examples that are not considered compelling reasons to grant a make-up exam: lack of preparation, negligence, misinformation, or planned vacations and other events.

Make-up requests are considered only for students who provide documentation of a compelling reason for missing the exam, owe no other work in the course than the exam, and have good records of attendance and participation.

Original documentation must accompany the request. Two pieces of documentation are required, except in cases of personal illness (in these cases, one piece of documentation is sufficient). Documentation should be written in English and must be on letterhead paper. It should confirm the reasons for missing the exam, be signed by the appropriate person in an official capacity, and include travel information if relevant. Medical documentation must be in the form of a letter on the medical provider’s letterhead and based on a physical exam within two days of the missed exam. Documentation written on prescription pads will not be accepted.

Late Assignments
Students are expected to meet all deadlines. Late assignments will not be accepted unless arrangements are made before the due date.

Incompletes
Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

Assessment
Your constructive assessment of this course plays an indispensable role in shaping education at Georgia State. Upon completing the course, please take time to fill out the online course evaluation.

Disability
Students who wish to request accommodation for a disability may do so by registering with the Office of Disability Services. Students may only be accommodated upon issuance by the Office of Disability Services of a signed Accommodation Plan and are responsible for providing a copy of that plan to instructors of all classes in which accommodations are sought.

Changes to the Syllabus
This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

Georgia State University Policy on Academic Honesty
REPRINTED FROM THE FACULTY HANDBOOK | July 2010

Introduction
As members of the academic community, students are expected to recognize and uphold standards of intellectual and academic integrity. The university assumes as a basic and minimum standard of conduct in academic matters that students be honest and that they submit for credit only the products of their own efforts. Both the ideals of scholarship and the need for fairness require that all dishonest work be rejected as a basis for academic credit. They also require that students refrain from any and all forms of dishonorable or unethical conduct related to their academic work.

The university’s policy on academic honesty is published in the Faculty Affairs Handbook and the On Campus: The Undergraduate Co-Curricular Affairs Handbook and is available to all members of the university community. The policy represents a core value of the university and all members of the university community are responsible for abiding by its tenets. Lack of knowledge of this policy is not an acceptable defense to any charge of academic dishonesty. All members of the academic community — students, faculty, and staff — are expected to report violations of these standards of academic conduct to the appropriate authorities. The procedures for such reporting are on file in the offices of the deans of each college, the office of the dean of students, and the office of the provost.

In an effort to foster an environment of academic integrity and to prevent academic dishonesty, students are expected to discuss with faculty the expectations regarding course assignments and standards of conduct. Students are encouraged to discuss freely with faculty, academic advisors, and other members of the university community any questions pertaining to the provisions of this policy. In addition, students are encouraged to avail themselves of programs in establishing personal standards and ethics offered through the university’s Counseling Center.

Definitions and Examples
The examples and definitions given below are intended to clarify the standards by which academic honesty and academically honorable conduct are to be judged. The list is merely illustrative of the kinds of infractions that may occur, and it is not intended to be exhaustive. Moreover, the definitions and examples suggest conditions under which unacceptable behavior of the indicated types normally occurs; however, there may be unusual cases that fall outside these conditions which also will be judged unacceptable by the academic community.

A. Plagiarism: Plagiarism is presenting another person’s work as one’s own. Plagiarism includes any paraphrasing or summarizing of the works of another person without acknowledgment, including the submitting of another student’s work as one’s own. Plagiarism frequently involves a failure to acknowledge in the text, notes, or footnotes the quotation of the paragraphs, sentences, or even a few phrases written or spoken by someone else. The submission of research or completed papers or projects by someone else is plagiarism, as is the unacknowledged use of research sources gathered by someone else when that use is specifically forbidden by the faculty member. Failure to indicate the extent and nature of one’s reliance on other sources is also a form of plagiarism. Any work, in whole or in part, taken from the Internet or other computer-based resource without properly referencing the source (for example, the URL) is considered plagiarism. A complete reference is required in order that all parties may locate and view the original source. Finally, there may be forms of plagiarism that are unique to an individual discipline or course, examples of which should be provided in advance by the faculty member. The student is responsible for understanding the legitimate use of sources, the appropriate ways of acknowledging academic, scholarly or creative indebtedness, and the consequences of violating this responsibility.

B. Cheating on Examinations: Cheating on examinations involves giving or receiving unauthorized help before, during, or after an examination. Examples of unauthorized help include the use of notes, computer based resources, texts, or “crib sheets” during an examination (unless specifically approved by the faculty member), or sharing information with another student during an examination (unless specifically approved by the faculty member). Other examples include intentionally allowing another student to view one’s own examination and collaboration before or after an examination if such collaboration is specifically forbidden by the faculty member.

C. Unauthorized Collaboration: Submission for academic credit of a work product, or a part thereof, represented as its being one’s own effort, which has been developed in substantial collaboration with another person or source, or computer-based resource, is a violation of academic honesty. It is also a violation of academic honesty knowingly to provide such assistance. Collaborative work specifically authorized by a faculty member is allowed.

D. Falsification: It is a violation of academic honesty to misrepresent material or fabricate information in an academic exercise, assignment or proceeding (e.g., false or misleading citation of sources, the falsification of the results of experiments or of computer data, false or misleading information in an academic context in order to gain an unfair advantage).

E. Multiple Submissions: It is a violation of academic honesty to submit substantial portions of the same work for credit more than once without the explicit consent of the faculty member(s) to whom the material is submitted for additional credit. In cases in which there is a natural development of research or knowledge in a sequence of courses, use of prior work may be desirable, even required; however the student is responsible for indicating in writing, as a part of such use, that the current work submitted for credit is cumulative in nature.

FILM MAJOR INFORMATION ABOUT POTENTIAL ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT ISSUES

The classroom is a place that is granted special legal protections in handling words, images, and sounds created by others. The “fair use” doctrine ensures that teachers and students can include a limited portion of other people’s work when they do academic criticism and analysis. In addition, film/videomakers participate in the long artistic tradition of creating “transformative works” that can interrogate or parody existing images. The Film program of the Department of Communication values these traditions and invites students to continue in these practices with the advice and consent of your instructor. With these freedoms come certain ethical responsibilities, however, and the following guidelines must be followed in using material created by others for film classes:

PLAGIARISM
Much research work in media studies takes place online, whether through a browser’s search function (generally called “the web”) or on databases accessed through the library. Just as it is important to note the differences between scholarly research and general online searching (popular sources), we note, as well, that plagiarism pertains to the unacknowledged submission of any work that is not expressly that of the author. As stated in GSU’s Code of Conduct: “Plagiarism is presenting another person’s work as one’s own“ (7). Such a claim covers any information, specific or general word use taken from any source, including blog posts, tweets, wiki-sources and other such online content. That is, the expectation of authenticity extends uniformly across all source material, whether scholarly or popular. Again, from the Student Code of Conduct: “Any work, in whole or part, taken from the internet without properly referencing the corresponding URL may be considered plagiarism. An author’s name and the title of the original work, if available, should also be included as part of the reference” (7).

Such expectations include more than direct citation (quotation): “Plagiarism includes any uncited paraphrasing” (Code 7). Hence, getting specific ideas, whether for a project or for a paragraph’s development, from another source (website, blog post, tweet, etc) without proper citation is plagiarism. Plagiarism can range from copying into an essay even a very short but compelling phrase that frames a discussion (sometimes a first author’s greatest contribution is to offer a succinct metaphor or memorable catchphrase, and presenting that as one’s own is unjustified appropriation) to more dramatic cutting-and-copying, such as when a book or article abstract is copied wholesale into an annotated bibliography or response essay exercise.

An author owns responsibility for proper attribution, whether in quotation or paraphrase. That is, ignorance of the rules of proper citation is not a defense. Plagiarism frequently involves “a failure to acknowledge in the text, notes or footnotes the quotation of the paragraphs, sentences, or even a few phrases written or spoken by someone else” (Code 7). Such a failure lies squarely with the author and is easily avoidable by using one of many of the online guides available.

The expectation of authenticity extends to artistic production, whether written or visual, in the same manner as with research/creative writing. Further, plagiarism pertains to submitting “another student’s work as one’s own” (Code 7). Plagiarism ecompasses using another student’s project(s) or words as if they were original to the writer/producer.

Where the project requires, all material used in a student project must either be photographed by the student or student crew, or be acquired by license. Exception: Archival footage can be used if licensed or owned by the student, or if the purposes of the use fit the current interpretation of the Fair Use Doctrine.

CHEATING ON EXAMINATIONS
Cheating on examinations involves giving or receiving unauthorized help before, during, or after an examination. Examples of unauthorized help include the use of notes, computer based resources, texts, or “crib sheets” during an examination (unless specifically approved by the faculty member), or sharing information with another student during an examination (unless specifically approved by the faculty member). Other examples include intentionally allowing another student to view one’s own examination and collaboration before or after an examination if the faculty member specifically forbids such collaboration.

 
FALSIFICATION
It is a violation of academic honesty to misrepresent material or fabricate information in an academic exercise, assignment or proceeding in which authentic results are required. (e.g., false or misleading citation of sources, the falsification of the results of experiments or of computer data, false or misleading information in an academic context in order to gain an unfair advantage).

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS
It is a violation of academic honesty to submit substantial portions of the same work for credit more than once without the explicit consent of the faculty member(s) to whom the material is submitted for additional credit. In cases in which there is a natural development of research or knowledge in a sequence of courses, use of prior work may be desirable, even required; however, the student is responsible for indicating in writing, as a part of such use, that the current work submitted for credit is cumulative in nature.

The policy on academic honesty applies so that the student’s work can be evaluated as a 100% authentic representation of the thinking process and creative labors of each student and the classmates that assist each student.

UNAUTHORIZED COLLABORATION
Submission for academic credit of a work product, or a part thereof, represented as one’s own effort, which has been developed in substantial collaboration with another person or source, or computer-based resource, is a violation of academic honesty. It is also a violation of academic honesty knowingly to provide such assistance in cases where collaboration has been disallowed.

In many cases, media-making benefits from, or even requires, wide collaboration. However, in the context of an educational setting where a grade is at issue and shared credit may be hard to document accurately, collaborative work must be approved by the course instructor. Collaboration might range from soliciting the technical advice of non-classmates as a part of a student’s pre-production research, which is usually permitted, to the rarely (if ever) permitted presence of non-student professionals (gaffers, electricians, directors of photography, sound recordists/mixers, lighting directors, best boys, acting coaches or acting teachers) on a student production set. To maintain the integrity of the educational experience, students must receive written approval of the instructor for collaboration with non-students. (Such approval may take the form of a policy in the syllabus covering collaboration. If no such policy appears, approval must be requested on a case-by-case basis.) Once approval is given, the student must ensure that the professional collaborator works in ways consistent with the instructor’s advice. Only these exceptions are allowable without prior instructor approval: non-classmates may assist the student as: (A) actors, dancers, musicians; (B) craft service persons; (C) transportation service persons; (D) grip or dolly grips; and, (E) production assistants. Any other form of collaboration requires advance written approval from the instructor.

GSU Department of Communication Journalism Major
Academic Honesty Information

GSU expects students to show integrity, fairness, and honesty in their class performance. Therefore, in accordance with university policy for any class, you are subject to academic penalty (failing grade in the class) as well as a disciplinary penalty (up to the discretion of the instructor) if you exhibit dishonesty in the following ways:
1) cheat on a test/quiz, or
2) turn in work that is not your own (example: handing in a paper or test that someone else wrote for you or that you took with or without permission from the author), or
3) collaborate with others on an assignment that is meant to be done individually/solely by the student who is getting graded, or
4) misrepresent your attendance (or that of others) on attendance registers in class.

To help you succeed, the Department of Communication seeks to add more clarity to what constitutes academic dishonesty specific to the journalism major with the following recommendations.

Due to the prevalence of writing assignments in the major, issues of plagiarism become central to academic honesty. Plagiarism is more nuanced than stealing a whole paper/essay (claiming credit for something you didn’t write) – it can simply be using ideas and facts for even one sentence without giving proper/clear credit to the author/source there. Make sure that all aspects and phrasing in the work you turn in is your own and is properly cited to avoid plagiarism in writing assignments. These writing assignments may be of an academic nature (research papers, responses to readings, and essays) or they may be practitioner-oriented/skills-based (news stories and press releases).

For practitioner-oriented/skills-based writing assignments:
It is a form of plagiarism if you fail to directly reference the author or source of information immediately upon using it in the body of the text. As reference sections/bibliographies are not typically used in this format of writing, you must make it clear to the reader the source of any information/quote as they are reading it, whether you are paraphrasing or using direct quotes. If you are using the source’s direct phrasing, you must put quotes around it.

For academic or research-based assignments:
It is a form of plagiarism if you fail to directly cite author information (immediately within the body of the paper) for info you got from a source or if you copy a phrase or sentence verbatim without putting it in quotations and including author/year citation info.

An example of a commonly used and appropriate citational system is the American Psychological Association (or, APA) guidelines. An individual professor may require or recommend some other citation system. Here are some common ways APA deals with citation issues:
• If you are paraphrasing an idea you read about from any source, cite the specific author and year of his/her publication in parenthesis at the end of the sentence where you first start using the source…ex: (Garcia & Jackson, 2008).
• If you copy some words verbatim, then put those words/phrases/sentences in quotations. For quoted material, you must add to the in-text citation the page number (for a book) or paragraph number (for web citation), so readers can easily verify the quotation… ex: (Garcia & Jackson, 2008, p. 209) or (Poynter Institute, n.d., para 3).
• Have a reference section at the end of your paper with the full text/book citation for ALL sources used in paper (with the alphabetized author’s name matching the author you cited in the body of the paper). If a source is listed in the reference section, it should be cited somewhere in the body of the paper to pinpoint its exact contribution.

If you have any questions about academic honesty matters, please ask your professor for clarification.