After the first class meeting, students may not use computers in class.

Students must put away cellphones during class and may not use them for any reason.  The instructor will ask students who use cellphones or smart watches to leave the class.

Assignments:

Class members must submit written assignments (on Turnitin/Moodle) in docx form (not PDF).  

The instructor does not accept late assignments.

Absences:

The instructor does not have the authority to excuse student absences.  Such authority belongs to the Dean of Students.

If, due to absence, the student misses a graded, in-class activity (essay or quiz), there is no make-up; the absent student will receive a zero for graded, in-class activities that s/he misses due to absence.

Absences will affect the student's final course grade significantly, as indicated below.

- First absence: the instructor lowers the final grade by 1%. 

- Second absence: the instructor lowers the final grade by an additional 2%.  

- Third absence: the instructor lowers the final grade by an additional 3%.

- Each subsequent absence will lower the student's final grade by an additional 5%

Students may not make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the prior permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization, or death in the immediate has caused the absence. 

The instructor will not excuse absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings, or personal convenience.  

Instructors normally will excuse absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday. 

Individual students who will miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any relevant work.

The Course Theme:

Reading, writing, and discussion will center on the problems of moral relativism, which the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines as "the view that moral judgments are true or false only relative to some particular standpoint (for instance, that of a culture or a historical period) and that no standpoint is uniquely privileged over all others."

Several readings, as well as a field walk to the "Ghetto" section of Rome, will focus on the moral problems surroundings the actions of Pope Pius XII during the deportation of Roman Jews to Auschwitz (World War II, Oct. 1943).

Weeks I --> III

Critical Reading and Summary

Annotation (informal and formal) 

The Research Paper: Topic Selection

Pitching a Topic (oral presentation)

Finding and Evaluating Sources:

- Peer-reviewed Sources (scholarly articles and books, both in print and online)

- Informational sources (newspaper articles, websites)

Documentation in MLA style: In-Text (Parenthetical) Citation of Sources

Zotero (bibliographical tool)

The Works Cited

Plagiarism and Paraphrasing

Paragraphs and Topic Sentences

Grammar Review 

In-class Writing Assignment #1

Weeks IV --> VI

The Annotated Bibliography

The Works Cited

Grammar Review (II)

The Writer's Voice (I)

The Literature Review

Organization of the Research Essay

 In-class Writing Assignment #2

Weeks VII --> IX

 The Argumentative Academic Research Paper: Refining the Topic

The Argumentative Thesis Statement

Development of Ideas

Organization of the Argument

The Full-sentence Outline

Research / Argument / Opinion: Finding the correct balance

In-class Writing Assignment #3 

Grammar Review (III)

First Draft of the Argumentative Academic Research Paper

Weeks X --> XII 

The Writer's Voice (II)

Drafting and Editing

Adding / Eliminating Sources

Grammar Review (IV)

Transitions 1 (sentence to sentence)

Transitions 2 (paragraph to paragraph)

In-class Essay #3

Weeks XIII --> XIV

Peer-editing

Final Draft of the Argumentative Research Paper  

Preparation of the Final Presentation (oral presentation of the research paper)

Week XV

Written Final Exam