Grading and policies

Final grades will be comprised of

20%: Written homework assignments.
25%: Discussion question submission + in-class participation
30%: Exam (in-class)
25%: Presentations of assigned papers

Late policies:

Late policy: everyone will get two late days to use for homework assignments. After all two late days have been exhausted, no more late submissions will be accepted.
For unforeseen health and personal emergencies, please contact the instructor. Job interviews / other schoolwork are not excuses for late homework or missed discussion questions.

AI policies:

Using assistance from AIs such as ChatGPT to complete coursework is allowed, excluding the exam.
If you take advantage of any sort of AI assistance for an assignment, you will be required to submit the specific prompts you used as well as a description of how the AI helped (or did not help) you complete the assignment.
This should go without saying, but please don't argue about your grades because "the AI generated the wrong answer". If you are using AI assistance, you are also responsible for making sure it is correct before submitting it.

Collaboration policies (with humans):

Other than the aforementioned AI assistance, all of the content you submit needs to be produced on your own. For group presentations, work must be produced only by members of the group.
For homeworks, you may discuss problems with others, but any work you submit must be your own.
If you find, use, or build off of published material, for example on the web or from a textbook, you must cite the source.

We follow the university’s Code of Academic Integrity. If you have questions about a particular situation, please ask.

Accommodation statement:

If you have a documented physical, psychological, or learning disability on file with the Accessibility & Disability Service (ADS), you may be eligible for reasonable academic accommodations to help you succeed in this course. If you have a documented disability that requires an accommodation, please notify me within the first two weeks of the semester so that we may make appropriate arrangements.

Disability statement:

Since the integrity of the academic enterprise of any institution of higher education requires honesty in scholarship and research, academic honesty is required of all students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Academic dishonesty is prohibited in all programs of the University. Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to: cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and facilitating dishonesty. Appropriate sanctions may be imposed on any student who has committed an act of academic dishonesty. Instructors should take reasonable steps to address academic misconduct. Any person who has reason to believe that a student has committed academic dishonesty should bring such information to the attention of the appropriate course instructor as soon as possible. Instances of academic dishonesty not related to a specific course should be brought to the attention of the appropriate department Head or Chair.