AVT 323 Drawing II Instructor: Helen C. Frederick Fall 2014, M/W 4:30 –7:10pm Office: SOA 2016 Email: [email protected] Office Hours: M/W: 8:30-9:30am/7:30-8:30pm

This syllabus is posted on the SOA website at soa.gmu.edu under academics.

Graduate students must pursue their own course of study with pre-ordained projects throughout the semester. The graduate student to their professor may propose desired objectives and mediums in addition to those in the course. The professor and graduate student work together to finalize a plan of advanced study.

Graduate students will attend all reviews and critiques of student work, adding their voice and commenting on individual progress and solutions in bookmaking.

Graduate students will honor the AVT 346 schedule. Please see syllabus and schedule of classes attached.

GRADING: Graduate student work will be reviewed during the semester and a final grade of A+/A/A-/B+/B/B-/C/F will be submitted for work produced.

Purpose: This course is intended as an upper level and graduate level collaboration to blow open drawing possibilities. While sustaining dialogue about the standards and attitudes of drawn media to provide ways of developing concepts and technical approaches for creating works of art, students will also test alternate drawing approaches. First we will work on several projects to acquire skills for materials, process and equipment. Students may practice reductive and additive techniques in preparing paper surfaces for non-objective and representational imagery. Students will develop ways to explore their imagery through presentations by visiting artists. Students will also investigate how drawing and printmaking cross-pollinate, will develop a series of works, and will advance personal narrative content, with increased familiarity with historical and contemporary aesthetics.

General Course Description: This is an upper division course that is usually taken in the junior or senior year by those art majors who are considering drawing as an area of access, or graduate level. Drawing I would be useful, but on permission of the instructor, it is not required The course will link drawing, painting, photography into printed media. Collaboration will be practiced.

Course Content: Projects, readings, lectures, documentary presentations, group discussions, individual reviews, critiques and field trips will introduce the history, tools, equipment, materials and processes and application of drawing. Demonstrations will cover techniques in surface preparation, image development transfer concepts, color development, and combining multi- media applications.

Text: Suggested: Idea Bank: Select a hardbound blank book of a convenient size and have it with you at all times. This is to be used for ideas and note taking in class and on field trips and to aid to your development as an artist. I will ask to see your ideas and preparations in this book as we begin each project. This book will be handed in as part of your portfolio and is required in every class/field trip. Also have a small 3 ring binder for handouts.

Field Trips and Art Events: Course research will include the study of exhibitions in DC museums and other sites and one required Saturday bus trip to New York. ArtsBus trips to New York are scheduled for 9/20, 10/18, 11/15. Tickets: GMU Center for the Arts, 703.993-888 or http://www.tickets.com. Image ideas generated from each of these experiences will be required as entries in your idea bank. Information on recommended trips and art events will be announced and distributed. If employment prevents attendance (proven by a note from your employer) a substitute assignment will be given.

Attendance is imperative. If you are not present within the first 20 minutes of class, you will not be counted as present. More than 2 classes missed will automatically reduce your grade. Each missed deadline, scheduled review or meeting will lower your grade by 10%. Your absence diminishes the

1 potential for learning in the class for the rest of us. You will be counted 1/2 present if you come to class unprepared for assigned work. If you are absent you must call a classmate to learn what is missed and what to do in preparation for the next class session. Your contributions include: a) full class attendance with any preparation for assignments, the possession of the text, your idea bank, necessary tools and materials b) completion of assignments on time c) willingness to participate in class discussions, this includes preparation both in terms of completion of projects and coming to class with ideas and opinions that will promote discussion d) participation in orderly function of the classroom including clean-up, care of equipment, and proper return of borrowed equipment.

Projects: 1. Monotypes (complex figure/ground relationships) 2. Paper Substrates (Looking in /Looking Out) 3. Collage and Re-purposing Objects 4. Architectural Findings / Constructions 5.Individual Final Project - Any size, any surface, printed, performed or assembled 6. Field Trip reports

CLASS SCHEDULE Week Date Class Content 1. 8/25 Discuss semester’s plan and course requirements. Orientation: studio areas. Discuss tools, materials, sources and purchases. For next class bring in 3 concept sketches (drawn or digital) exploring your own interests to create a modern day cultural icon, as influenced by collective memory. Weekend Field Trip: Three exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery- American Portraits/American Cool/Face Value (see Field Trip Listings) at the National Portrait Gallery

1 8/27 2 Presentation of Concepts for Assignment: Trace monotypes and subtractive monotypes - drawing thru the press. Work on drawings and concepts for your monotype plate.

2 9’3 3 Visiting artist Walter Kravitz, Complex figure ground imagery

3 9/8 4 Work session. Exchange ideas with a partner

3 9/10 5 Work session –individual reviews

4 9/15 6 Group Review of Project 1.

4 9/17 7 Visiting artist Nikki Brugnoli, Knowing Surface

9/16 - The following program is scheduled during the major “Fall for the Book Festival” at George Mason University:

POETIC AND INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM :Introducing The al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Project DC 2016 Moderator: Helen Frederick

Tuesday September 16, 4:30pm

9/17 Exhibition: “In 24 hours, everywhere the dawn rises again” Call and Response Collaborative Exhibition presented by the School of Art and English Departments - Fenwick Library / Fenwick Gallery

Gallery Talk by the artists and writers on Wednesday September 17 3-5pm 9/20 Arts Bus to New York (go at least once this term).

2 5 9/22 8 Papermaking as a substrate for drawing Weekend Field Trip: NEO-IMPRESSIONISM AND THE DREAM OF REALITIES, The Phillips Collection 5 9/24 9 Work session

6 9/29 10 Work session –individual reviews

6 10/1 11 Group review of Project 2

7 10/ 6 12 Visiting artist Maria Karametou, Collage and Re-purposed Elements

7 10/8 13 Drawing on a zinc plate and added textural elements

8 10/13 14 Work session. Continue Project 3 on your own (for final review)

8 10/15 15 Visiting artist Navigation Press – Carmon Colangelo 10/18 Arts Bus to New York (go at least once this term)

9 10/20 16 Drawing and applying digital imagery on a Pronto plate

9 10/22 17 Work session

10 10/27 18 Group review Project 4

10 10/29 19 Visiting artist Beverly Ress - Project 5, Architectural Findings Weekend Field Trip: The Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art , 3rd floor North, Smithsonian American Art Museum

11 11/3 20 Work session 11 11/5 21 Work session

12 11/10 22 Work Session

12 11/12 23 Group review Project 5

11/15 Arts Bus to New York (go at least once this term)

13 11/17 24 Begin your final project with schedule and goals. Bring materials.

13 11/19 25 Work session.

14 11/25 26 Work session. Individual reviews.

11/26 to 30 Thanksgiving Vacation 14 12/1 27 Work session

3

15 12/3 28 Final Group Crit- all projects due

15 12/6 29 Final Group Crit – celebrate.

AVT 323-007 DRAWING II Helen C. Frederick

The class is organized with visiting GMU faculty members and others to allow you to explore a broad range of drawing approaches. By creating images through various processes and often times a press, you will experience and contemplate concepts of transferring images with direct drawing, and intensify your hand approaches.

DRAWING WITH MASTER ARTISTS AND EXPLORING PRINT AND PAPERMAKING

September 3: Walter Kravitz MONOTYPES: Complex figure/ground relationships. Exploring personal marks to find images

September 17: Nikki Brugnoli PAPERMAKING AS A SUBSTRATE FOR DRAWING: Looking In/ Looking Out Knowing, Surfacing, Allowing Interior Vocabulary

October 6: Maria Karametou SOFT GROUND ETCHING/ DRYPOINT Re-purposed materials and collaged approaches

October 15: Visiting Navigation Press Artist Carmon Colangelo DIGITAL IMAGING/ PRONTO PLATE LITHO Photographic and mixed media approaches

October 29: Beverly Ress ARCHITECTURAL FINDINGS Cut Constructions and Delicate Renderings Dimensional Drawing

November 12 –BEGIN FINAL PROJECT Any size and approach

4 DRAWING II FIELD TRIPS

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, 8th and F Streets NW

YOUSUF KARSH: AMERICAN PORTRAITS May 2 to November 2, 2014 In celebration of a major gift to its collection of more than 100 portraits created by renowned photographer Yousuf Karsh (1908–2002), this exhibition features iconic photographs of Americans who have distinguished themselves in fields as diverse as business, medicine, entertainment, politics and the arts. Among the portraits included are those of artist Georgia O’Keeffe, physician and virologist Jonas Salk, singer Marian Anderson, actress Grace Kelly, businesswoman Elizabeth Arden, architect I. M. Pei and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. “Yousuf Karsh: American Portraits” is the museum’s first exhibition devoted entirely to the work of this internationally recognized portrait photographer.

AMERICAN COOL, February 7, 2014 through September 7, 2014

What do we mean when we say someone is cool? Cool carries a social charge of rebellious self-expression, charisma, edge and mystery.

Cool is an original American sensibility and remains a global obsession. In the early 1940s, legendary jazz saxophonist Lester Young brought this central African American concept into the modern vernacular. Cool became a password in bohemian life connoting a balanced state of mind, a dynamic mode of performance, and a certain stylish stoicism. A cool person has a situation under control, and with a signature style. Cool has been embodied in jazz musicians such as Miles Davis and Billie Holiday, in actors such as Robert Mitchum, Faye Dunaway, and Johnny Depp, and in singers such as Elvis Presley, Patti Smith, and Jay-Z. “American Cool” is a photography and cultural studies exhibition featuring portraits of such iconic figures, each of whom has contributed an original artistic vision to American culture symbolic of a particular historical moment. They emerged from a variety of fields: art, music, film, sports, comedy, literature, and political activism. “American Cool” is the zeitgeist taking embodied form.

“American Cool” is captured by a roll call of fine-art photographers from Henri Cartier-Bresson to Annie Leibovitz, from Richard Avedon to Herman Leonard to Diane Arbus.

This exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue with essays by Joel Dinerstein, the James H. Clark Endowed Chair in American Civilization and Director of the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South at Tulane University, and Frank H. Goodyear III, co-director of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and former curator of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery.

5 “Face Value: Portraiture in the Age of Abstraction” February 7, 2014 through September 7, 2014 features mid-20th century artists who were reinventing portraiture at a moment when most agreed that figuration was dead as a progressive art form. Chuck Close recalled that during this time, “the dumbest, most moribund, out-of-date, and shopworn of possible things you could do was to make a portrait.” And yet, with startling freshness and a touch of defiance, a group of young artists demonstrated the value of exploring the face and figure. With more than 50 paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture from approximately 1945 to 1975, “Face Value” highlights the innovations of American portraiture hiding behind the vogue for abstraction. Artists such as Alice Neel, Elaine de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Beauford Delaney, Alex Katz, Romare Bearden, Fairfield Porter, and Andy Warhol, along with lesser-known artists, pushed the boundaries of portrait traditions. Inspired by the theories and ambitions of the Abstract Expressionists and keenly attuned to the themes of their own turbulent times, they reinterpreted human portrayal, reinventing portraiture for the next generation.

Andrew Wyeth: Looking Out, Looking In

May 4 – November 30, 2014, National Gallery of Art, West Building, Main Floor In the spring of 2009 the National Gallery of Art was given one of ’s most famous paintings, Wind from the Sea (1947). Completed early in the artist’s career, the painting captured the moment when an ocean breeze flowing through an open window gently lifted tattered curtains. During the course of the next sixty years, Wyeth returned repeatedly to the subject of windows, producing more than three hundred works on this theme. Spare and elegant, these paintings are free of the narrative element associated with the artist’s better-known figural compositions. The abstract qualities of his work are therefore more readily apparent, and Wyeth emerges as an artist deeply concerned with the visual complexities posed by the transparency, symbolism, and geometric structure of windows.

Andrew Wyeth: Looking Out, Looking In gathers together — for the first time — a select group of Wyeth’s images of windows. Included in the exhibition are watercolor studies quickly executed to capture a momentary impression as well as tempera paintings created over an extended period of distillation and simplification. The exhibition begins with Wind from the Sea and proceeds to galleries of images that reflect his extended study of windows at other sites of particular interest, including the Olson house in Maine, the in Pennsylvania, and his own Brandywine studio.

Once heralded for his virtuoso draughtmanship and poetic sensibility, Wyeth was later regarded by critics as an isolated, conservative figure out of step with his

6 age. Believing that his work was misunderstood, he repeatedly described himself as an abstract painter and asserted that critics judged only the surface realism of his paintings, overlooking their underlying structure.

NEO-IMPRESSIONISM AND THE DREAM OF REALITIES The Phillips Collection PAINTING, POETRY, MUSIC SEPTEMBER 27, 2014 - JANUARY 11, 2015 Around 1890, Neo-Impressionist painters including Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, and Theo van Rysselberghe created pictures that accentuate subjectivity and an inner world of experience, approaches they shared with their contemporaries, Symbolist painters, writers, and composers in Paris and Brussels. This focus was different from the movement's beginnings in 1886, when it was hailed as an alternative to Impressionism, offering a fresh opportunity to focus on light and contemporary life. With more than 70 paintings and works on paper this exhibition demonstrates how the Neo-Impressionists employed stylization and a deliberate orchestration of color to create landscapes and figures that went far beyond observed nature.

The Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art 3rd floor North, Smithsonian American Art Museum (8th and F Streets, N.W.) October 31, 2014 – February 22, 2015Fred Tomaselli, Migrant Fruit Thugs, 2006, leaves, photo collage, gouache, acrylic and resin on wood panel, Glenstone. © Fred Tomaselli. Image courtesy Glenstone

Birds have long been a source of mystery and awe. Today, a growing desire to meaningfully connect with the natural world has fostered a resurgence of popular interest in the winged creatures that surround us daily. The Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art examines mankind’s relationship to birds and the natural world through the eyes of twelve contemporary American artists, including David Beck, Rachel Berwick, Lorna Bieber, Barbara Bosworth, Joann Brennan, Petah Coyne, Walton Ford, Paula McCartney, James Prosek, Laurel Roth Hope, Fred Tomaselli, and Tom Uttech. The opening of the exhibition dovetails with two significant environmental anniversaries—the extinction of the passenger pigeon in 1914 and the establishment of the Wilderness Act in 1964. Inspired by the confluence of these events, the exhibition explores how artists working today employ bird imagery as a conduit for understanding contemporary culture. While artists have historically created images of birds for the purposes of scientific inquiry, taxonomy or spiritual symbolism, the artists featured in The Singing and the Silence instead share a common interest in birds as allegories for our own earthbound existence. In their artworks, birds are complex symbols that mirror back to us different facets of our own behavior, habits and values. The 46 artworks on display ask viewers to consider what birds can tell us about

7 ourselves, examining our changing connections with the natural world, the ways in which birds symbolize our impulses to both conquer and conserve nature, and how searching for and identifying birds has become an almost sacred ritual in our secular society. Rachel Berwick’s large-scale, mixed-media installation, “Untitled (Blue),” will be on public display for the first time as part of the exhibition, as will a temporary, site-specific mural James Prosek has created for the exhibition’s gallery space. Behind-the-scenes views of the installation of these and other artworks will be posted online once installation begins later this fall. SOURCES FOR ART SUPPLIES:

Plaza Art 3045 Nutley Street Pan Am Shopping Center Fairfax (703) 280-4500

Pearl Discount Centers Utrecht Art Supply 5695 Telegraph Road 1250 Eye Street, NW Alexandria Washington, DC (703) 960-3900 (202) 898-0555

University Bookstore Digital Art Supplies Johnson Learning Center 1.877-534-4278 GMU Campus www.digitalartsupplies.com (701) 993-2668 Cartridges and special papers (Harukaze)

Epson Inks and Papers Piedmont Plastics (Sintra Plates – 1/8”) www.epsonstore.com 1 800.638-6651 Phone:1-800-873-7766 301.881-7900 (Beltsville, MD) Fax: 1-800-241-5749 Epson America, Inc. Penscore (Molding Material) Corporate Information Center http://www.outsidethemargins.com/pensexample.html P.O. Box 93012 Long Beach, California 90809-9941

SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS + indicates the supply will be provided hardbound blank book (idea bank) traditional drawing supplies from Drawing I drawing pencils: 2B-6B,woods less graphite, white conte,12-piece pack soft charcoal compressed charcoal- vine and jumbo, soft charcoal, ebony pencil, kneaded eraser sharpee permanent markers (fine and bold) small bottle of black India ink scissors and ordinary drawing tools roll of transparent tape - 1/2” 1” masking tape, clear packing tape and blue painter’s tape break away exacto blade 2 inking (good quality putty) knives -2” wide 2” wide inexpensive white hardware store brush (a couple) 1 flexible 1” brush (one that will not shed and will be your workhorse brush for glue & other media) several good quality brushes (very small, small, medium, large) 2 U-HU (large size) glue stick

8 1 pint gloss gel acrylic medium Pronto Plates+ apron or work shirt/ printing gloves portfolio to hold drawings for mid-term and final review garbage bags 1 18X24 Pad White Drawing Paper 1 18X24 Pad Newsprint 2 sheets Arches 88 paper (22”x30”) 1 roll of white drawing paper.Quality is up to you, but it needs to be a minimum of 42” in height. Utrecht sells rolls for approx. $16) found papers, start collecting interesting papers to use for collage Speedball lino cut linoleum complete set $12-$14 sheet of mylar for registration, drawing.and stencils (24” x 36”) 1-2 packages of Playtex blue long Nitrile disposable gloves (no powder) Giant 8 ROLLS OF WHITE PAPER TOWELS USB 2.0 Memory Stick Digital or 35mm camera

GRADING SHEET: Grades: Evaluation of your projects (all projects) will constitute 50% of your grade - 15% will be for improvement and 35% will be for all over quality of concept, craft and expression. Your level of class participation will constitute the remaining 50% of the grade. F= 1/3rd of the course assignments have not been successfully completed - your level of participation is not acceptable for university study; D= most assignments have been competed - your level of success and/or class participation is below average; C= all assignments have been completed on time - your level of success, attendance and class participation is average for GMU; B= assignments have been completed at levels above average for GMU, work shows some initiative, is very well presented & demonstrates a clear understanding of the assignment, regular attendance, your class participation raised the level of the class; A= a remarkable achievement measured on a national scale - achieved extraordinary initiative, original thought and extra effort - you demonstrated leadership in the class

* The percentage of each assignment in the final grade will be individualized and determined during the mid-term portfolio review. MID-TERM FINAL

Art/Workmanship Art/Workmanship

1. Monotypes (Complex figure/ground relationships) 2. Paper Substrates (Looking in /Looking Out) 3. Collage and Re-purposing Objects 4. Architectural Findings / Constructions 5. Individual Final Project 6. Field Trip reports

Portfolio Of Projects - Overall (50%) General Improvement (25%) Class Participation (20%) Absences / Shop Care (Diminished grade)

9 NOTES: A requirement of this course is one ArtsBus trip to New York. . Purchase tickets (for $ 50.00) as soon as you can at the Concert Hall. Trips sell out weeks before each date. Bring about $ 30 for food, museum admissions, subway or cab. For more information see www.avt.gmu.edu/artbus.

SOA EVENTS “Between My Selves”Margery AmdurMarch 20, 2014SPRING FIELD TRIPS: VISUAL VOICES PROFESSIONAL LECTURE SERIES Harris Theater 7:30 pm. Doors open at 7:15 pm.Lectures begin at 7:30 pm. sharp! August 28, 2014 Grad Students: “Here and Now: Praxis in the MasonStudios Anne Smith Jay Hendrick Sarah Irvin Patrick Sargent September 4, 2014 Ron Graziani “E(ART)H History”” September 18, 2014 Dale Culleton “Improvising a Living Beyond the Studio” October 16, 2014 Carmon Colangelo “Psychogeographies: Jack Kerouac, Sputnik & Disney World” October 23, 2014 Ann Fessler “A Girl Like Her”

“In 24 hours, everywhere the dawn rises again”

Call and Response Collaborative Exhibition presented by the School of Art and English Departments Fenwick Gallery September 6 - October 3, 2014 Gallery Talk, Wednesday September 17- 3-5pm

Call and Response: a succession of two distinct phrases played or sung by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as direct response to or commentary on the first. Common to African, African-American, American folk, and Indian classical traditions. Pervasive in military cadences. In West Africa: also a mode of democratic participation in ritual, and in public discussion of civic affairs. ------The following program is scheduled during the major “Fall for the Book Festival” at George Mason University:

POETIC AND INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM

Introducing The Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Project DC 2016

Fall for the Book Festival, September 2014 George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, Tuesday September 16, 4:30pm

The panel includes:

● Elliott Colla, author BAGHDAD CENTRAL, Director of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Georgetown University

10 ● Sumaiya Hamdani, George Mason University, Middle Eastern Studies

● Sarah Browning, Director of Split This Rock

● Zein El-Amine, Maryland's Young Scholars Program, Assistant Director of the Jimenez-Porter Writers' House at the University of Maryland

● Mousa Al-Nasseri, Merchant from al-Mutanabbi Street, Baghdad, Iraq

● Helen Frederick and Terry P. Scott, Moderators

University and School of Art Policies

In accordance with George Mason University policy, turn off all beepers, cellular telephones and other wireless communication devices at the start of class. The instructor of the class will keep his/her cell phone active to assure receipt of any Mason Alerts in a timely fashion; or in the event that the instructor does not have a cell phone, he/she will designate one student to keep a cell phone active to receive such alerts.

Commitment to Diversity This class will be conducted as an intentionally inclusive community that celebrates diversity and welcomes the participation in the life of the university of faculty, staff and students who reflect the diversity of our plural society. All may feel free to speak and to be heard without fear that the content of the opinions they express will bias the evaluation of their academic performance or hinder their opportunities for participation in class activities. In turn, all are expected to be respectful of each other without regard to race, class, linguistic background, religion, political beliefs, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, veteran’s status, or physical ability.

Statement on Ethics in Teaching and Practicing Art and Design As professionals responsible for the education of undergraduate and graduate art and design students, the faculty of the School of Art adheres to the ethical standards and practices incorporated in the professional Code of Ethics of our national accreditation organization, The National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).

Open Studio Hours SOA teaching studios are open to students for extended periods of time mornings, evenings and weekends whenever classes are not in progress. Policies, procedures and schedules for studio use are established by the SOA studio faculty and are posted in the studios. ArtsBus - Dates for Fall 2014: 9/20. 10/18. 11/15 ArtsBus Credit • Each SoA major must have up to 5 AVT 300/Artsbus credits before graduation. For credit to appear on your transcript you must enroll in AVT 300. This also applies to anyone who intends to travel to New York independently, or do the DC Alternate Assignment.

11 • If you plan/need to go on multiple ArtsBus trips during a semester and need them towards your total requirement, you must enroll in multiple sections of AVT 300. Please go to the ArtsBus website: http://artsbus.gmu.edu "Student Information" for additional, very important information regarding ArtsBus policy.

• Non-AVT majors taking art classes do not need Artsbus credit for graduation BUT may need to go on the Artsbus for a class assignment. You can either sign up for AVT 300 or buy a ticket for the bus trip at the Center of the Arts. Alternate trips must be approved by the instructor of the course that is requiring an ArtsBus trip.

Students with Disabilities and Learning Differences If you have a diagnosed disability or learning difference and you need academic accommodations, please inform me at the beginning of the semester and contact the Disabilities Resource Center (SUB I room 234, 703-993-2474). You must provide me with a faculty contact sheet from that office outlining the accommodations needed for your disability or learning difference. All academic accommodations must be arranged in advance through the DRC. Official Communications via GMU E-Mail Mason uses electronic mail to provide official information to students. Examples include communications from course instructors, notices from the library, notices about academic standing, financial aid information, class materials, assignments, questions, and instructor feedback. Students are responsible for the content of university communication sent to their Mason e-mail account, and are required to activate that account and check it regularly. Attendance Policies Students are expected to attend the class periods of the courses for which they register. In-class participation is important not only to the individual student, but also to the class as a whole. Because class participation may be a factor in grading, instructors may use absence, tardiness, or early departure as de facto evidence of nonparticipation. Students who miss an exam with an acceptable excuse may be penalized according to the individual instructor's grading policy, as stated in the course syllabus.

Honor Code Students in this class are bound by the Honor Code, as stated in the George Mason University Catalog. The honor code requires that the work you do as an individual be the product of your own individual synthesis or integration of ideas. (This does not prohibit collaborative work when it is approved by your instructor.) As a faculty member, I have an obligation to refer the names of students who may have violated the Honor Code to the Student Honor Council, which treats such cases very seriously. No grade is important enough to justify cheating, for which there are serious consequences that will follow you for the rest of your life. If you feel unusual pressure about your grade in this or any other course, please talk to me or to a member of the GMU Counseling Center staff. Using someone else’s words or ideas without giving them credit is plagiarism, a very serious Honor Code offense. It is very important to understand how to prevent committing plagiarism when using material from a source. If you wish to quote verbatim, you must use the exact words and punctuation just as the passage appears in the original and must use quotation marks and page numbers in your citation. If you want to paraphrase or summarize ideas from a source, you must put the ideas into your own words, and you must cite the source, using the APA or MLA format. (For assistance with documentation, I recommend Diana Hacker, A Writer’s Reference.) The exception to this rule is information termed general knowledge—information that is widely known and stated in a number of sources. Determining what is general knowledge can be complicated, so the wise course is, “When in doubt, cite.”

12 Be especially careful when using the Internet for research. Not all Internet sources are equally reliable; some are just plain wrong. Also, since you can download text, it becomes very easy to inadvertently plagiarize. If you use an Internet source, you must cite the exact URL in your paper and include with it the last date that you successfully accessed the site. Writing Center Students who are in need of intensive help with grammar, structure or mechanics in their writing should make use of the services of Writing Center, located in Robinson A116 (703-993-1200). The services of the Writing Center are available by appointment, online and, occasionally, on a walk-in basis. The Collaborative Learning Hub Located in Johnson Center 311 (703-993-3141), the lab offers in-person one-on-one support for the Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, Blackboard, and a variety of other software. Dual monitor PCs make the lab ideal for collaborating on group projects, Macs are also available; as well as a digital recording space, collaborative tables, and a SMART Board. Free workshops are also available (Adobe and Microsoft) through Training and Certification; visit ittraining.gmu.edu to see the schedule of workshops and to sign up.

NOTE: The instructor may adjust or change the syllabus in response to the needs of the class or to make use of learning opportunities that may present themselves during the course of the semester.

13