Preparing to Teach your FWS

Instructor responsibilities

If you are a graduate student teaching a FWS, remember that you are fully responsible for this course—for grades, attendance standards, book orders (usually), and so on. This also means meeting every scheduled session of your course: if you fall ill and have to miss a class, for instance, you are responsible for making arrangements to cover that class. Your department’s support staff, your DGS, and your course leader are appropriate people to help you.

Students in your seminar

Students placed in a particular First-Year Writing Seminar will come from all undergraduate schools and colleges, will rarely be majoring in that particular subject, and will have selected your seminar as one of their top choices.

Scheduling of class rooms and times

Your department arranges teaching times and rooms; contact the appropriate administrator for information in these areas. Final examinations are not normally given in FWSs. Rather, you might hold final conferences during exam week, collect final drafts of essays, or have students submit portfolios of finished work. Certain hours shall be free from all formal undergraduate class exercises, including film screenings—4:25 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; after 4:25 P.M. on Friday; after 12:05 P.M. on Saturday; and all day Sunday. In addition, classes may not meet on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. These times are reserved for activities such as prelims, sports, clubs, music, and eating.

Submitting syllabi

The Knight Institute should receive a copy of your syllabus by Wednesday of the first complete week in each semester. Please include not only the required reading list but also a schedule for having students read, write, and revise. This information is useful when students inquire about courses, and it helps us to keep abreast of the state of the Institute. If you are a graduate student, you should also give a copy of your syllabus to your course leader.

Ordering books

If you are designing your own FWS, you are responsible for ordering books. The support staff of your department can help you with this process and may be available to assist you to obtain desk copies. These individuals can also advise you about compiling course packets of readings through The Cornell Store or other vendors. Be sure to keep track of how much students will have to spend on texts for your First-Year Writing Seminar. Given that these are 3-credit courses, costs should normally not exceed $200 at most.

If you have not taught a seminar before, it makes sense to consult someone about which books to choose. If you are a graduate student instructor, your course leader will be able to advise you in this area.

You might either choose a handbook for use in your seminar, or plan to show students how to make effective use of online materials relating to matters of form, grammar, style, and documentation: first-year students need to know how to deploy such resources, and you will need to use these with them actively during the semester. For possibilities, consult the libraries in the Knight Institute (M101 McGraw) and the Writing Workshop (174 Rockefeller Hall). Free online resources include comprehensive websites such as the Purdue Online Writing Laboratory (OWL). Please be aware that some handbooks can be quite pricey; you may find that a smaller, less expensive version will serve your purpose. The Knight Institute library includes a collection of handbooks designed for use with specific disciplines.

Books on style

• Lanham, Richard. Revising Prose, 5th ed. Longman, 2006.
• Trimble, John R. Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing, 3rd ed. Longman, 2010.
• Williams, Joseph M and Joseph Bizup. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, 12th ed. Pearson, 2016.
• Williams, Joseph M. and Joseph Bizup. Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace, 5th ed. Longman, 2014.

Handbooks and other resources

• Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, 4th ed.Norton, 2017.
• Bullock, Richard, Michael Brody, and Francine Weinberg. The Little Seagull Handbook. 3rd ed. Norton, 2016
• Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. 9th ed., MLA Update, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017
• Raimes, Ann. Keys for Writers, 8th ed., MLA Update,Wadsworth Publishing, 2017.
• Hjortshoj, Keith. The Transition to College Writing, 2nd ed. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010.
• Rosenwasser, David and Jill Stephen. Writing Analytically, 8th ed. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2018.

Books and websites on use of sources

• The Code of Academic Integrity and Acknowledging the Work of Others. To download copies to use in class go to: https://theuniversityfaculty.cornell.edu/academic-integrity/
• Cornell’s Library website includes a Citation Management link on the home page in the Research column:  https://www.library.cornell.edu/research/citation. This excellent site provides links to APA, Chicago, and MLA citation style guides. Students will find information and examples for each of the citation styles. This page also contains information about citation management software that is currently used and supported at Cornell—Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote—and a link to information about the Code of Academic Integrity.

Course packets

If you are designing your own coursepack of readings, ask the Custom Publishing Department at The Cornell Store to estimate costs. Permissions fees can be prohibitive.

Canvas

Canvas is a web-based course management system that makes it easy for instructors to manage distribution of materials, assignments, communications, and other aspects of instruction for their courses. Go to https://login.canvas.cornell.edu/ to get started.

Copyright and fair use of documents

It is important that you follow legal guidelines for texts that you post on Blackboard, put on electronic reserve, or collect for a course packet.

For Canvas, you should, every semester, for each text, complete the “Fair Use Checklist” that can be downloaded from http://copyright.cornell.edu/. When you reteach a course, it is better to create a coursepack than to put texts protected by copyright online for a second and subsequent semesters. When you put texts on Canvas, be sure to set controls to limit access only to students in the course—excluding guest, observer, and self-enroll privileges. This step is an important means of avoiding copyright infringement.

Collecting and returning papers

Do not collect or return papers by asking students to deposit them in or gather them from boxes, mailrooms, or other unattended stations. Such procedures are illegal because they do not protect students’ confidentiality (and, alas, can invite cheating.) Do not ask your department’s office staff to collect your papers unless you are certain that they have agreed to this procedure.

You should collect and return papers individually and in person, in class or office hours. It is acceptable to collect papers in electronic format, such as email attachments or Canvas posts, and you may decide to provide feedback for revision electronically as well, such as emailing comments or inserting them in Microsoft Word. However, no grade information or other identifying information such as ID numbers should ever be communicated over email or seen or heard by anyone other than the recipient. Please exercise vigilance for the security of private information and anything that could be construed as the student’s educational record. Do not speak to parents about a student’s coursework without express written permission from the student. See Cornell’s policies at https://www.dfa.cornell.edu/policy/policies/access-student-information.

Grades

Graduate students and temporary lecturers who offer First-Year Writing Seminars are the ultimate arbiters of the grades their students receive. They are the official instructors of the courses they teach, whether or not those courses are sections of a larger instructional entity with a single name (e.g., “True Stories”). Only they can decide to change the grades they award. Considerations of equity nonetheless suggest that the grading standards in a multi-sectioned course should be reasonably uniform—as indeed they should be in First-Year Writing Seminars as a whole. Students who wish to lodge a formal protest about the grades they receive should be directed to the Chair of the department in which a course is given (though even a Chair cannot overrule an instructor). Course leaders and the Director of First-Year Writing Seminars can sometimes help to defuse such problems informally.

When you are helping students improve their writing, the comments you make on papers are more important than the grades you assign; comments also take more time and more effort. If you would like to know more about how to comment on essays (and about grading), you should, if you are a graduate student instructor, consult your course leader. You can also consult Gottschalk and Hjortshoj’s The Elements of Teaching Writing, available in M101 McGraw Hall. 

Scheduling

No one forgets to prepare the substance of a course, but remembering other nuts and bolts types of preparation can be just as crucial for getting the course off to a strong start. Here’s a checklist of “things to do before the first class”:

• Your scheduled teaching time: Find out–early– when you have been scheduled to teach (the administrator of your department knows). Don’t assume you got what you asked for: find out.
• Your room: Find out–early–what room you are teaching in and look it over. If you need a table, and your room has chairs bolted into rows, you need to make a change. Earlier, not after the first day!

Find out whom to contact in case your room is ever locked or you have other physical plant difficulties (overhead projectors, DVD players, and so on). This is especially important if you have an early morning or evening class when other offices are closed. The contact can be found at: https://www.fs.cornell.edu/fs/fs_facilFind.cfm.

Books and materials

• Your books: Order your books, including desk copies. Check with your departmental administrative aide about when and how to do this. Make sure you know the deadline for getting in the order.

If you are creating a course packet, start early. Check on the cost of the packet: copyright costs can be prohibitive, and you may need to change your mind about some selections.

Go to the bookstore a week before classes start to make sure the books for your course have come in.

• Course materials: Find out how to get copies of materials made for your class and make sure you know the department’s regulations for using the copier. Practice using the copier.

Prepare all the necessary materials for the first day of your class at least a week or two early. Proof them. Wait at least two or three days, reread, and proof again—only then make copies for the class. Don’t wait until just before the first class to make your copies: everyone else will be doing the same thing, and you’ll be late.

• Student questionnaire: Prepare a questionnaire that will give you helpful information about each student. Administer the questionnaire at the first or second meeting.
• The first class session: Plan a really interesting set of activities for the first day. What happens on the first day sets the tone for the rest of the semester. If you do all the talking, you’ll set a pattern. Begin the course not just with rules and regulations but with a taste of the work you’ll be doing all semester. Have a relevant handout or text on the blackboard that will encourage conversation: students are eager on the first day of class, so build on that eagerness.

Attendance

Please do not allow anyone who has not officially added your seminar to sit in on the class; and do not indicate that there is “still room” in your class. Even though your class may appear to have open spaces, other students may already have enrolled electronically. Check your roster frequently.

Most enrollment problems arise when students are allowed to sit in on classes in hope that a space will open up. Because of the electronic system, they may never actually be able to add; in the meantime, they feel they have earned a place in your course and have not found a different one. Students are guaranteed a FWS of limited size. Please help us to keep this guarantee by telling students that they can attend your seminar only after they have officially enrolled.

• Attendance: Learn students’ names as quickly as possible; make sure they learn your name and each other’s as well. (It’s startling how often students don’t know the name of their instructor or of other students; it doesn’t speak well for the intellectual community of the course.) Small groups, insistence on students’ referring to each other by name rather than as “she” or “he,” naming games—use any approach that works for you. Treat preferred pronouns sensitively.
• Syllabus: On the first day hand out a general syllabus plus a detailed calendar for at least the next three or four weeks. Keep several extra sets on hand for students who may add the course later.
• Final grades: Check with the administrator of your department about how to enter final grades for your seminar and about the deadlines for submission of final grades.

The first paper you assign in a First-Year Writing Seminar provides a unique opportunity to capture student attention and interest; to set a tone for the class; and to help students experiment with the writing and thinking practices you hope will characterize student work throughout the semester (and beyond). The first paper can provide insights into what your students can and cannot do as writers; these insights may help you adjust your learning goals, lesson plans, and assignments. Finally, the first paper serves the larger diagnostic needs of the FWS program as we work to identify students who may need help securing tutoring or mentoring support or finding a FWS that is a more comfortable fit. 

Follow this link to Guidelines for First Assignments

Learning Management System

Canvas: Cornell recommends and supports the secure learning management system called Canvas. To set up a Canvas site (a highly useful and recommended step to take) go to http://canvas.cornell.edu and follow the instructions.

Resources at the Libraries

The Instruction Librarians in Olin and Uris Libraries Use a regular class session to introduce students to the organization and use of library resources at Cornell. Librarians work with instructors in advance to plan sessions; their objective is to integrate their teaching with the individual instructor’s teaching goals and with the subject focus of each section. Typical elements of a session include a brief orientation to the physical library, a live demonstration of searching in a variety of databases, and hands- on time on the computers in the Uris Library Classroom. In support of this instruction, students are provided with a tailored online library guide of reference resources together with handouts or websites that explain how to use computerized and print resources and library services. Other handouts explain how to critically evaluate and properly cite the information students find. It is best to contact the library at least two weeks in advance of a preferred session date. To arrange a session please fill out the request form at: https://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/services/instruction or for more information, contact Tony Cosgrave at 5-7148 or email him at ajc5@cornell.edu.

The Division of Rare Book and Manuscript Collections Located in Kroch Library, the Rare Book and Manuscript Division offers an extensive program of instruction and support for all faculty and classes. Class presentations, consultations, and classroom use of materials are all easily arranged through the Division. All materials—antiquarian and modern, printed books, manuscripts, photographs and ephemera—are available for students’ use. Seminar rooms are also available for facilitated access with a curator. The Division has worked extensively with the Knight Institute in the past and urges instructors to contact Lance Heidig (ljh5@cornell.edu) to learn more.

The Human Sexuality Collection On the lower level (2B) of Kroch Library, Division ofRare and Manuscript Collections, is open to all researchers.Brenda Marston is Curator of the Collection and may be consulted about using it (5-3530; or e-mail bjm4@cor- nell.edu). She has worked with a number of instructors, designing appropriate assignments for First-Year Writing Seminars, and will make arrangements for an entire class to visit the archives. Also available is Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies: A Research Guide https://rare. library.cornell.edu/collections/sexualityandgender.

Services for Faculty and Instructors... www.library.cornell.edu/svcs/serve This website serves as a directory of library services, providing faculty and instructors with contact information, online forms, policies, procedures, and directions for making purchase requests for materials needed for classes (books, films, etc.), how to place items on Reserve (including E-Reserves), and how to request a library instruction session for their classes. www.library.cornell.edu/svcs/serve

Olin Library Media Center...  http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/collections/media The Olin/Uris and Kroch Asia DVD collections are housed in the south alcove of the Dean Room in Uris Library. Playback equipment, including equipment for multiple formats, also is housed in Uris Library. Portions of the Olin/Uris media collections are housed at the Library Annex, including video and audio cassettes and LP sound recordings. The location is reflected in the catalog records for the items, and circulating media can be requested for library delivery. Olin holds a variety of materials in micro formats (cards, film, fiche),including newspapers, historic sets, government documents, etc. The collections are housed in the B (lower) level of Olin and at the Library Annex; holdings are reflected in the library catalog, and print guides for large sets are available in the Olin Reference area. The Micrographic equipment is located in Room B12 in the Lower Level of Olin Library and is maintained by the Maps Unit staff. The machines support all formats found in the collection (microfilm, microfiche, microprint/cards). Users have the option of scanning/saving and/or emailing the documents they are viewing. For a list of the available equipment and brief descriptions, please visit https://olinuris. library.cornell.edu/collections/micrographic.

Reading Materials

Reference materials are in the Knight Institute, M101 McGraw and in the Writing Workshop, 174 Rockefeller. These range from samples of handbooks, to source books for teachers, to other related topics: pedagogy; the analysis of style; education and the sciences; education and issues of diversity.

Assignment sequences, writing exercises, and student essays. The Knight Institute keeps hard copies of all prize-winning assignment sequences and student essays in its library in M101 McGraw Hall. Cornell instructors may also access files of the essays, exercises, and sequences by going to the Knight Institute website (http://knight.as.cornell.edu/) and choosing the “Archive of Teaching Materials” link at the "Teaching Support" tab. The archive is hosted by the Cornell University Library in the eCommons Digital Repository http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu.

Discoveries, the Knight Institute’s journal of award- winning student essays, is regularly made available to all students enrolled in First-Year Writing Seminars. Containing essays which can be used for class discussion, copies are delivered to each first-year student’s residence hall room. Issues are also available at our website and in M101 McGraw.

Resource books for teachers available in the Knight Institute:

• Keith Hjortshoj and Katy Gottschalk’s The Elements of Teaching Writing.
• Purdue Writing Lab's Faculty Guide for Working with Multilingual Student Writers.

Issues of diversity

Instructors of First-Year Writing Seminars must be aware of issues of race, sexuality, gender, and class, all of which are inevitably present in discussions, in course readings, in student essays, and in the interaction between student and teacher. The Institute maintains a selection of readings that may be useful to teachers of writing on issues of race, gender, sexuality, and class. Feel free to browse through our collection (and make suggestions for additions); you can check out materials you would like to read.

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art

The staff of the Johnson Museum will work with instru tors to develop class sessions which use the museum’s global collections and exhibitions to explore course-related themes and concepts, and to strengthen writing skills. To arrange a class visit, contact contact Leah Sweet, Lynch Curatorial Coordinator for Academic Programs, at lgs82@cornell.edu, and allow three weeks to arrange a visit (first-come, first-served).

Proposing FWSs

FWS teaching assignments are made by individual departments. Seminar topics must be proposed and designed under the auspices of the sponsoring department. That department, after its own review, then submits them for final Knight Institute and Education Policy Committee review.

The Knight Institute may edit course descriptions for publications in the FWS brochure and the eCommons site; if extensive editorial changes are required, the instructor and/or the course leader will normally be consulted.

Many syllabi, assignment sequences, exercises, and prize-winning student essays are available for review in the Knight Institute office, M101 McGraw.

When discussing class attendance with your students, you may find the following excerpts from University policies helpful:

Class attendance

From the Cornell University Courses of Study,

Students are expected to be present throughout each term at all meetings of courses for which they are registered. The right to excuse a student from class rests at all times with the faculty member in charge of that class.

Class schedule and absences

From the Cornell University Faculty Handbook, available at https://theuniversityfaculty.cornell.edu/the-new-faculty-handbook/. 

Students have an obligation to be present throughout each term at all meetings of courses for which they are registered. In some courses, such as physical education and courses in which participation in classroom discussion is considered vital, there may be penalties for absences per se or defined limits to absences, the exceeding of which leads to the student failing the course or receiving a grade of Incomplete. These rules are set by the department or instructor.

[...] It is harder to make up missed work if the class that was missed was a test or a laboratory session or field trip. Such makeups involve the direct cooperation of the instructor. If the instructor feels the absence was unjustified, he or she is not required to provide the student with the opportunity to make up the missed work.

There is no such thing as a “university excuse” for absence from class that frees a student from responsibility for the missed work. Only the instructor of a course can provide such an exemption to a student. And even the faculty member is not permitted (by legislation of the University Faculty) to cancel classes just before or after academic recesses without special approval of the dean of the school or college concerned. Each faculty member and instructor has the special responsibility of maintaining the regular quality and content of instruction in classes just before and after university vacations, regardless of the number of students present in the classroom.

There are some circumstances, however, in which faculty members are not supposed to penalize students directly for missing classes and are urged to try to make opportunities for the students to make up work that was missed. These circumstances include, but are not limited to, the following:

Illness, or family or personal emergency. The University expects that students will be honest with their professors about routine illnesses, injuries, and mental health problems that may lead to missed classes, labs, studios, exams, or deadlines. Academic advising staff and associate deans are available to provide assistance to students or faculty members who have concerns about attendance issues. See also the CU Health Excuse Policy at https://health.cornell.edu/sites/health/files/docs/Health-Excuse-Policy.pdf.

Religious observances. The university is committed to supporting students who wish to practice their religious beliefs. Students are urged to discuss religious absences with their instructors well in advance of the religious holiday so that arrangements for making up work can be resolved before the absence. Faculty are urged to announce at the beginning of the semester all activities which, if missed, would require make up work. Please see complete statement at https://scl.cornell.edu/religiousaccommodations.

Weather. During winter weather, “snow days” occasionally cause delay or cancellation of activities at the university. Times for making up missed activities in a coordinated way are publicly announced on such occasions. The local radio stations, The Cornell Daily Sun, the Cornell Chronicle, and other media convey the news.

Athletics and Extracurricular Activities. Students whose participation in varsity athletics or other recognized extracurricular activities requires occasional absences from the campus may present an appropriate slip or letter with the signature of a responsible official, attesting that the proposed absence is in connection with a recognized activity. In the case of athletics, the Faculty Advisory Committee on Athletics and Physical Education must approve the schedule of events and associated athletic leaves of absence each year, thus assuring that the athletic absences are kept within approved limits and guidelines.

From the University Council on Physical Education and Athletics:

General rules governing athletic events and leaves of absence

If your concerns are not addressed here, contact Jen Gudaz, Associate Director of Athletics and Physical Education (see College Contacts).

Each athletic event, whether individually or one of a season schedule, must be approved by the Faculty Advisory Committee on Athletics before the event is contested. Compliance with the following regulations may be assumed as requisite for such approval:

1. 1Leave time shall be defined as follows:
   • Leave before 10:00am = 1 day leave
   • Leave between 10–12noon = 3/4 day leave
   • Leave between 12–2pm = 1/2 day leave
   • Leave between 2–4:30pm = 1/4 day leave
   • Leave after 4:30pm = No leave
2. No home context shall be scheduled during regular weekday daytime class hours (8:00 – 4:30) unless leave time is taken. This restriction does not apply to evening classes. Individual excuses will be issued for students missing evening prelims, evening classes, and Saturday morning classes. These excuses are not to be construed as leave and will not affect the total leave granted to any team.
3. Leave of absence for any varsity team shall not exceed five days in any one term, or eight days if the season extends over two terms. In the latter case, no more than five of the eight days of leave may be taken in one term. The interpretation of leave days shall exclude the counting of Saturday.
4. Exclusive of championship play, no more than one and one-half days leave shall be granted in any one calendar week for any sport.
5. No more than three dates of competition in a given sport shall be scheduled in any one week.
6. Travel to away contests shall ordinarily be scheduled so that buses and vans do not leave the campus on weekday afternoons until after regular class and laboratory hours, unless leave time is taken.
7. Not more than two away events involving leave of absence for an individual may be scheduled within any two calendar week period. This will be interpreted also as not permitting more than two consecutive weekend trips for any individual. Post season championship events are excluded from this policy.
8. Classes shall not be missed in order for a team to practice, unless leave time is taken.

Faculty Policies of Scheduling Academic Activities

Afternoon and evening scheduling

Certain hours shall be free from all formal undergraduate class exercises, including film screenings—4:25 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; after 4:25P.M. on Friday; after 12:05 P.M. on Saturday; and all day Sunday. In addition, classes may not meet on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

Summary for Instructors

Sources of information and assistance

Cornell’s Code of Academic Integrity is legislation adopted by the university faculty (in its form previous to the University Faculty Senate) and is under the purview of the Dean of the Faculty. A website with complete information on how to handle academic integrity charges is available at Academic Integrity: Guidelines for Instructors. You can find guidance for communicating with students here: Template Letters for Academic Integrity-Related Communications. The Code is available, and students can take a quiz and a tutorial in academic integrity, at: Recognizing and Avoiding Plagiarism. All first-year students receive a detailed booklet called The Essential Guide to Academic Integrity at Cornell. You can download a pdf of it at: http://theuniversityfaculty.cornell.edu/dean/the-rules/academic-integrity1/code-of-academic-integrity/.

The university faculty website contains instructions for notifying a student you suspect of a violation, conducting a primary hearing, and reporting findings. It also contains form letters you can simply copy and use. Further, you can always consult the faculty leader of your course, the chair of your college’s Academic Integrity Hearing Board (AIHB), an advising dean for advice about how to proceed. The colleges try to make the unpleasant but necessary business of dealing with such situations as painless as possible. The best way to keep situations from “back-firing” is to follow procedures.

Procedures—a summary

In essence, the code places responsibility and authority for handling suspected cases of cheating in individual courses into the hands of instructors. If you suspect a student has cheated, you conduct a “primary hearing” and make a decision about guilt or innocence. If you find a student guilty, you assign an appropriate grade penalty and report the finding and penalty to the secretary of your college’s AIHB—no matter what the student’s college. A list of college contacts can be found here. If you think the grade penalty you have assigned is sufficient and if the student accepts culpability, both of which are usual, the case is closed.

If you think an offense in your course is so severe that a penalty beyond a grade penalty might be appropriate, you ask the chair of your college’s Academic Integrity Hearing Board to convene a hearing and consider the case. Only college deans may impose penalties beyond grade penalties (for example, notations on the transcript, suspensions, or dismissals). Deans almost always implement the recommendations of the AIHBs; if they do not, they are obligated to explain why.

Reporting findings; repercussions

Reporting the findings is crucial to the system. The secretary to your college’s AIHB forwards guilty findings to the counterpart in the student’s college. These findings are kept in a file separate from the student’s college record and never see the light of day unless the student asks to have them released (for example for a security clearance or for an application to law school). However, if a student is found guilty of cheating more than once, the AIHB of the student’s college will consider recommending to its dean a penalty in addition to the individual grade penalties. When this happens, the convictions that led to this review are not reconsidered, only the appropriateness of an additional penalty. In fact, the instructors who convicted the students may never even know this further review occurs.

Appeals

After a primary hearing, students can appeal your finding of guilty or your penalty to your college’s AIHB. If they do, the whole case (evidence and finding) will be reviewed de novo. The AIHB can uphold or reverse an instructor’s finding. Assuming it upholds your finding, it can recommend (but not require) that an instructor adjust the grade penalty—make it either more or less severe.

A footnote, about collecting evidence

Usually the most burdensome part of dealing with suspected cases of cheating is finding the document that has been plagiarized. If, after looking in the obvious places (introductions to standard works, web sites, students’ papers on the same topic who are in other sections of the course), you can’t locate the source, you can talk with students about how they wrote the paper, ask for drafts or notes, discuss where ideas came from and how they evolved. If a student has in fact stolen a paper or large parts of one, these questions will often reveal that. If they do not, no matter your lingering suspicions, you should probably drop the case and simply reiterate the importance of doing one’s own work.

Written by L. S. Abel, February, 2000.

Students with Disabilities

Student Disability Services (SDS) facilitates disability services and accommodations to ensure equal access as required by federal disability laws. Students must register with the SDS office and submit disability documentation from an appropriate health care professional to be eligible for disability services. Examples of accommodations include course materials in an accessible format, testing accommodations, transportation assistance and removal of access barriers. SDS will consult with you about disability access issues at sds_cu@cornell.edu or 254-4545.

Harassment: Advisors, Procedures

Harassment Advisors are designated individuals within academic units, colleges, and professional schools who are available to advise persons with concerns related to harassment based upon EEO- protected class status, i.e., race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion, creed, disability, ex-offender status, sex/gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, and marital status.

Within the College of Arts and Sciences, call the Advising Office at 5-5004 for the appropriate contact. For the complete list of Cornell University Harassment Advisors, please contact the Office of Workforce Policy and Labor Relations, telephone 254-7232, email equalopportunity@cornell.edu, or go to http://hr.cornell.edu/diversity/reporting/harassment_advisors.html.

Staff and Faculty Duty to Consult

It is University policy that Cornell faculty and staff (with important confidential exceptions) are required to consult with the Title IX Coordinator or a Deputy Title IX Coordinator when they become aware of an alleged incident that if true might be prohibited conduct under Policy 6.4 involving a student.  Be prepared with the name, date, time, location, and description of incident (if known).

For Policy 6.4, see https://www.dfa.cornell.edu/policy/policies/prohibited-bias-discrimination-harassment-sexual-misconduct

On the Duty to Consult and Confidential Resources, see
https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.cornell.edu/dist/6/7016/files/2017/06/Duty-to-Consult-Handout-Rev.-6.8.17-rsq71h.pdf

For online reporting form, see biasconcerns.cornell.edu

Indispensable Reference for FWS Instructors