Assumption: We learn within a community of learners.
Policy: Attend every class session prepared to assist others and yourself in learning.

Assumption: Some degree of organization and accountability is need to maintain a community.
Policy: Meet your obligations in the contract and syllabus in a timely manner.

Assumption: Cheating in any form is wrong.
Policy: Follow the department's published policy on cheating and plagiarism; i.e. do your own work and when using other's ideas, give credit where credit is due.  For a definition of plagiarism, see: http://webster.commnet.edu/mla/index.shtml
and scroll down the left frame to the term; click on "Plagiarism."  Also, see the tutorial on the CSUS Library page.

Any student proved guilty of plagiarism in this course will be failed for the entire course, not just for the piece of work in which the plagiarism occurs. It is important, therefore, to understand exactly what plagiarism is.

Plagiarism is literary thievery: the use of somebody else's material as you own in a speech, film, or research paper without giving credit to the author. It includes, particularly, the following:

1. Use of somebody else's exact wording, whatever the material, without indication of the source and quotation marks or other accepted typographical devices. Changing a few words here and there is not sufficient to avoid plagiarism.
2. Borrowing the whole pattern of organization and points of view of a source without giving credit via standard in-text written citation.
3. Borrowing facts, figures, or ideas with originated with and are the property of a particular source, rather than a matter of common information available in many sources.

Collaborating with other students to the extent that two or more assignments are identical in pattern of organization, points of view, or wording.

During the first two weeks of the semester, Communication Studies classes may be added only by using an Add Permit (obtained on the 5th floor of Mendocino) signed by the instructor and brought to the Department Office in MND-5014. It is the student's responsibility to make sure that the form is filled out correctly -- using the correct 5-digit course call no., the department and course number, and section number. During this same time period, classes may be dropped using CASPER.

During the 3rd and 4th weeks of the semester, students must obtain a Petition to Add/Drop After Deadline form to add or drop a class. This form must be signed by the instructor and by the Department Chair. Attached to the petition is a student statement to be completed by the student explaining the reason for dropping or adding after the deadline. This statement must be completed before the petition can be processed in the Department Office.

Please be aware that, after the 4th week of the semester, all adds must also be signed by the Dean of Arts and Letters and then processed through Admissions and Records. The same is true for all drops requested after the 6th week of the semester.