Course Description
This third unit in the first-year New Century College curriculum explores the construction of the social world across cultures and across time. Through the interdisciplinary study of history, literature, art and philosophy, you will investigate how the multiple worlds we inhabit (and inherit) both explain and constrain social behavior.

Individually, in groups and in small seminars, we shall probe questions fundamental to an understanding of the contemporary world: the creation of histories, the relationships between states and individuals, the crossing of cultural and geographical borders and the confrontations between the haves and have-nots within the global economy.

Throughout this learning community, we also interrogate cultural artifacts through site visits, film and the Internet to gain knowledge and expertise in the discovery, interpretation and analytical application of evidence to illuminate our understanding of the world.

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Required Texts
The campus bookstore stocks the following texts, including course readers that faculty prepared.

Texts that carry over from other units:

• Hacker, Diana, A Writer's Reference, Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1995
• Bloom, Lynn Z. and Louise Z. Smith, The Arlington Reader, New York: Bedford St. Martin's, 2003

Winter Break Reading:

• Satrapi, Marjane, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, New York: Pantheon Books, 2003.

New Texts:

• Tignor, Robert and Jeremy Adelman et al., Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, New York: W. W. Norton, 2002.
• Overfield, James, Sources of Twentieth-Century Global History, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002.
• NCLC 130 Course Reader available only in the bookstore. (If the bookstore is out of the readers by the time you are ready to purchase your course reader, please place your order and pay for a copy of the reader, and it will be available within 24 hours.)

Online Readings:
Each week you will also need material online, either from the Unit III web page or from the World Wide Web. The day-by-day schedule includes the titles of online readings, and both the online day-by-day schedule and the weekly overviews include direct links to these readings. You will retrieve some readings for this course from academic databases maintained by the library, and faculty may also place additional readings on reserve in the Johnson Center Library.

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Course Requirements and Grading
The specific assignments for this unit appear later in the day-by-day schedule. In their grading, instructors may use different point systems, but all instructors will adhere to the following grade breakdown:

*Please note that your portfolio must include a reflection on your EndNote work during this unit. Faculty will not submit your final grade without that reflection. See portfolio description for details.

Class participation
Before each seminar, you should read the assigned texts carefully and write comprehensive discussion notes. You should come to seminar intellectually prepared to engage with all the material for that session. Your participation grade will assess your active involvement in seminar and small-group discussions (as speaker and as listener), and a wide range of in-class assignments, including writing, facilitating and presenting. Since discussion and in-class assignments cannot be made up, you should also be prepared to attend class every day. Faculty will schedule individual mid-term conferences to review your progress with you and to suggest ways of developing your work.

Integrative Projects
Each week you will complete, either individually or collaboratively, an integrative project. Each completed project should demonstrate your ability to analyze and synthesize the materials covered during the week and to present creatively your own original conclusions. The projects include:

• Four five- to six-page individual essays
• One group art installation, accompanied by a six-page collaborative essay
• One group oral presentation and presentation CD ROM, which you turn after your presentation.

Begin each essay with a clear and compelling thesis, and construct the essay so that you develop an argument that supports this thesis. Although the questions you encounter contain several parts, you will only create a successful response if you integrate all the separate parts into a single analysis.

In all your assignments, remember to refer to the texts (readings, lectures, films, site visits, etc.) you have studied during the week. If you cite specific passages directly or paraphrase ideas or arguments, explain the meaning of the cited passage/paraphrase and relate that meaning to the overall argument of your essay. If, at any point, you use words or ideas not your own, you must acknowledge them with a specific in-text citation and entry into your list of works cited.

Discovery Project
In this Unit, you research and write Chapter III of the year-long Discovery project. This chapter should analyze a critical social context that clearly shaped your subject's life. Faculty expect you to apply constructively to your analysis the ideas and texts you encounter during this Unit.

Site Visit
We will make a primary field research trip to the American Indian Museum in Washington, DC. You will incorporate your discoveries and analyses into your integrative projects.

Portfolio
In the Unit III portfolio, you will create a final, integrative essay (6-8 pages) synthesizing the work of the entire course, and reflect both on your development as a learner and your fluency in the NCC competencies. Your work in this portfolio should interpret "text" in its widest sense, and include well-supported conclusions drawn from readings, lectures, workshops, films, videos, visual arts, site visit and class discussions.

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Goals and Objectives
In Unit III, we want to encourage and facilitate three scholarly activities:

• Discovery and interrogation:
  NCC encourages students to become thoughtful, close readers of texts and active participants in seminar discussions. Through readings, facilitated discussions and collaborative group work, students and faculty will interrogate such concepts as progress, the historical record, and personal and national identities.
  
  
• Interpretation and analysis:
  Students will read widely from literature, history, philosophy and reportage across a range of cultures. Students also will participate in field trips, view international films and documentaries, and encounter visual and performance art that will help develop and hone skills of critical analysis. Students will learn how historians, philosophers, poets and artists present and support their arguments and how one makes sense of opposing views.
  
  
• Synthesis of ideas and theoretical concepts:
  Students will collaborate with colleagues and faculty in intense discussion of textual materials and will write and revise formal essays and informal in-class essays. Through the creation of texts, facilitated discussions and group projects, students will learn to synthesize their readings and to understand the world as based on culturally specific patterns that are socially constructed and that differ across cultures and time. Students will also further develop their analytical reasoning skills and their ability to use evidence to support their own ideas.

Course Objectives
Students will demonstrate their fluency in Unit III course material by:

• Building or adding substantively to an EndNote Library, which they will use to create annotated bibliographies, in-text citations, key word and concept notes, and a record of their own writings.
• Identifying the major themes and theories associated with texts (visual and written) through in-class quizzes and writings.
• Participating in class discussion focused on analyzing and interpreting a wide variety of written and visual materials that include readings, film, television, traditional art and performance art.
• Writing integrative essays that successfully synthesize the materials and that demonstrate genuine knowledge of the materials covered in the readings, in-class discussions and presentations.
• Working collaboratively on a group art project and essay that illustrates an understanding of the concepts in the readings, in-class discussions and presentations.
• Assembling a course portfolio that includes reflective writing highlighting the major ideas from the course that the student found most useful and discussing the competencies achieved through this learning community. This learning community stresses:
  • Global perspective: understand, respect and appreciate economic and social differences around the globe.
  • Critical thinking: analyze written and visual texts.
  • Valuing: recognize different value systems.
  • Group interaction: collaborate on project and negotiate roles.
  • Aesthetic response: appreciate, interpret and create art.
  • Communication: write, speak and read.

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Notes and Suggestions
On Participation
Not everyone is equally comfortable with participating in classroom discussion. Still, we do encourage you to try your best to voice your ideas and to respond to the comments of your colleagues. Whether in small or large groups, discussion enhances the learning experience and provides fresh perspectives on the texts you are studying. Each individual possesses unique personal experiences and unique patterns of readings, thinking and learning that will help all of us (faculty included!) to understand more thoroughly the materials we are studying. At the same time, we share an equal responsibility to foster an atmosphere conducive to productive collaboration, in which everyone feels safe to express openly ideas, opinions, questions and doubts. In a collaborative learning community, we each carry a responsibility share those ideas.

On Reading Texts
We learn to read at the beginning of our education, and reading forms so much of the foundation for almost all subsequent learning that we are barely conscious of the process of reading. But academic success requires active, reflective reading, and a set of tools, skills and questions to guide that reading.

In Unit III, faculty ask you to "read" a challenging range of texts: primary documents, a graphic novel, poetry, short stories, social and political commentary, scholarly and popular articles, as well as films, documentaries, visual art, and social and cultural spaces. Faculty will review in seminar some of the skills necessary to read such works successfully, but you will find below a quick checklist to guide your reading.

Remember to read actively, not passively, and enter into dialogue with your text. Take notes (don't simply highlight and move on), write down connections between texts and formulate questions to guide your reading. Knowledge of the author, her/his social context and the time and place of a text's creation all influence the way we make meanings from a text.

• Who wrote the piece you are reading? For what purpose? For whom?
• Where did it appear originally?
• What are the main themes of the piece? What are its main arguments? How do they relate to the themes of the week and the Unit? How does it connect with the other readings for the day or week?
• How would you describe the tone and style of the reading?
• How convincing is the reading? What methods do the authors use to convince the reader?
• What kind of "evidence" do the authors marshal to support their contentions? Is this evidence appropriate, sufficient and effective?
• What is your own reaction to the reading? Why do you react that way?

On Viewing and Writing about Art
Many people feel intimidated when they are asked to evaluate a piece of art. They often believe that "geniuses" create "art" and only a specialized education available to select individuals can unlock the mysteries of art. Nothing could be farther from the truth. "Reading" a piece of art requires the same skills as "reading" a literary work or a film. Viewers "crack the code" by understanding the vocabulary and following a few, simple guidelines.

• Look deeply at the work of art. Think about what you are experiencing. Does the picture evoke any sensation of temperature, space, light, sound, smell, taste, speed, etc.? Does it call forth any associations, memories or thoughts for you personally? How does it do this?
• Think about the visual elements that the artist used to create that experience. How does she use color? What kind of light is created in the painting? How does the artist achieve it? How would you describe the space of the artwork? Is there a particular area of focus? How does the way the artist uses the material contribute to your experience of the artwork? For example, if you are looking at a painting, how does the artist apply the paint-large, loose brushstrokes or small, tight ones? And what effect does the way the paint is applied have on you? If the work of art is something other than a painting, think about the media that are used and ask why that particular form might have been chosen for that piece.
• Consider what the art work is "about." What is the subject matter? Do you sense a particular attitude or perspective on the subject matter? Is there something underlying the subject matter that you could say the work is about? How does the picture participate in the particular social/historical/cultural/psychological milieu? How is the art gendered? Why do you think this work of art has been chosen for collection or discussion over others created at the same time.

On Viewing and Writing about Film
When you watch a film (any film), pay attention to the form the director chooses for her/his work, as well as to content. The form often offers subtle clues both about ideologies (gender, racial, national, economic) the film endorses and about the ways in which you might read the characters who enact that plot. Remember, once you have made observations about the form, you must interpret them. How do these formal features construct a film's meaning? This short checklist will help you with your analysis.

• Mise en Scéne:
  Where is the film set? What does the location (in time and space) tell you about the type of plot you might expect? What functions do the props serve? What information do these props give you about the characters who possess or use them? What do the costumes tell you about the characters? Why are certain characters dressed in light colors? In dark colors? What kids of lighting does the director employ? What kids of mood does the lighting style create? Which characters are well-lit and why? Which characters are shaded, or only partially lit? What does that lighting convey about the character and her/his potential actions within the film?
• Cinematography:
  How mobile is the camera? Does it move toward the characters within a scene, or does it remain relatively static, allowing the actors to move instead within a steady frame? How does the camera treat the different characters? Does the camera view the character from below (low-angle shot) or from above (high-angle shot)? What purpose does the camera angle serve? For example, what cue might a camera angle offer you about how the director wants you to view a particular character? What do the camera angles tell you about the relationships between the characters? Do the angles from which characters are shot change over the course of the scene, or a sequence, or the film as a whole? How does such a change influence your view of a character? How frequently are close-ups used? Why? What is the effect of the close-up?
• Music and Sound:
  How does the degree of familiarity with the music influence your understanding of the plot or your reading of the characters? What cues does the music give you about what to expect? What kind of mood does the soundtrack create? What kind of sound effects are used in the film? Do they arise from the action or are they added to the action? How does the use of music and sound influence your interpretation of the plot or your attitudes toward particular characters?
• Editing:
  How does the director choose to tell her/his story? Does she/he cut quickly from shot to shot, or let shots run longer and compose them into more leisurely sequences? Does the director use different editing styles at different times in the film? Why? What is the effect of juxtaposing one image or scene with another? If the director uses flashbacks, what function do they fulfill aside from the filling in of information from the past? What insights might we gain from flashbacks (or from the director's decision to use flashbacks)? Which characters develop through point-of-view shots (when we see through a particular character's eyes)? What purpose do point-of-view shots serve? How do point-of-view shots affect our experience as spectators?
• Identification:
  With whom do we identify when we watch a film? What techniques does the director deploy to guarantee that identification? What are the ramifications of our identification? For example, what ideas about the world, about good and eveil, about race, class or gender do we assume as the result of our identification with a particular character? Is this experience of identification thought-provoking (i.e., one that makes us think critically about sexism or racism) or does it simply reinforce the status quo?
• Closure:
  Does the film reach an ending you have anticipated/wanted? Are all the threads of the plot tied up? What hasn't been resolved? For example, are there any characters who are not paired up into a romantic couple at the end? Why or why not?
• Non-American Films:
  When you are watching a film from another part of the world, think about the ways in which the film departs from those of your own culture. Is the film dubbed or does it include subtitles? What is the effect of these forms of communication? Do the decision of the characters match the decisions you would make? Do these decisions tell you anything about the ideologies present in the culture (yours or theirs)? Do the music, editing, and/or lighting differ from your expectations? What does this tell you about the aesthetics of the culture (yours and theirs)? Do the story, themes, and/or tones transcend any individual culture and still touch your life?

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Academic Policies
Participation and Attendance
A learning community depends on active and sustained participation by all members. Participation includes attendance and engagement during cohort and seminars, and it means being on time and remaining for the entire class period. If you miss a class, you cannot earn credit for the discussions, in-class exercises and group work undertaken at that particular session. Your absence also penalizes your group members, who have to work without your input. Remember that participation in seminar discussions and group work counts in your final grade. If you know you will miss a class on a particular date, tell your seminar leader in advance.

Late Work
Major assignments turned in late will lose one letter grade per day up to five days after they are past due. Students will automatically receive a zero after five days past the due date. Faculty have established a "life happens" rule, which allows you to submit one assignment one day late during the semester. Under this rule, you simply turn in a page with "life happens" written on it, and you may turn in your assignment the following day. Although the "life happens" rule is a no-questions-asked rule, you will be wise to save your "life happens" for serious problems. Remember, you may submit only one piece of work one day late, without penalty, once during the Unit. The "life happens" option cannot be applied to the course portfolio or to group work. Portfolios will not be accepted after the due date. In the case of bona fide emergencies (for example, your hospitalization), your seminar leader will work with you to determine alternative due dates for daily writings and major assignments.

Honor Policy
We take the Honor Code, as stated in the George Mason University Undergraduate Catalog, very seriously in the New Century College learning communities. It is your responsibility to study it carefully and ask your professors for further explanation of any part you do not understand. University faculty are obliged to refer the names of students who may have violated the Honor Code to the Honor Committee, which treats such cases very seriously.

Plagiarism
According to the University catalog, plagiarism includes the following:

• Presenting as one's own the words, the work, or the opinions of someone else without proper acknowledgement.
• Borrowing the sequence of ideas, the arrangement of material, or the pattern of thought of someone else without proper acknowledgement.

Be particularly careful to credit work through citations. In addition to direct quotations, you must also provide an in-text citation and an entry in your list of works cited for paraphrases and summaries of opinions or factual information you did not know before. The only exception to this rule is information termed "general knowledge," information that is widely known to the population at-large. Please be cautious in applying the general knowledge exception. When in any doubt, cite!

If you decide to use another person's ideas, you must either quote the idea verbatim or completely rephrase the ideas in your own words and voice. But you must still cite the original source of the information (in-text and in your list of works cited). In class and in seminar discussions, you should also acknowledge the ideas you have acquired from others. Please give credit where credit is due, whether to a family member or friend with whom you have discussed the readings, to a seminar colleague or a group member, or to a faculty member or guest lecturer.

When creating your major portfolio essay, be careful not to do a "cut and paste" version of your own weekly essays for Unit III. The essay should be wholly original work, and if you use portions of earlier essays, be sure to cite your own papers.

In academic work, you should follow a standardized format for your in-text citations and lists of works cited (for example, the formats created by the Modern Language Association [MLA] or the American Psychological Association [APA] Both A Writer's Reference by Diana Hacker and The Longman Guide to the Web, by Lester Faigley explain these formats in precise detail. In NCLC 130, we do expect you to provide accurate and professional citations.

Appropriate Collaboration
In NCLC 130, you will complete major projects and in-class assignments as a group. The professional world increasingly rewards employees who possess sophisticated team-building and team-participation skills. These group projects form part of the first-year NCC program that challenges students to collaborate successfully in work groups engaged in problem-solving and project development.

The major group projects (the collaborative art installation/essay and the oral presentation/CD ROM) constitute 20% of your final grade. Academic integrity is critical. Each member of the group should participate fully in the formal collaboration and feel equally responsible for the results. Names of all the participants should appear on the work. If a group member does not participate in completing the project, his or his name should not appear on the project.

We have designed other assignments (for example, the integrative essays) as individual projects. You may discuss your ideas informally with others and receive feedback from peers on your drafts. However, it is not appropriate to ask someone else to rewrite, revise or finish your final paper. It is not appropriate for you to allow others access to your computer files or to allow others who have not already written their essays to read yours "for ideas."

If your name appears on an assignment, your professor has the right to expect you to submit your own, original, unaided work. When others have significantly contributed to your research, development and writing on an individual assignment, you must recognize their contribution and credit them in your paper. You should follow three fundamental principles at all times:

• All work submitted under your name must be your own and unique to this course (i.e., you must not have submitted it for a grade in any other context).
• When using the work or ideas of others, including your fellow students, you must give appropriate credit.
• If you are uncertain about the ground rules on a particular assignment, ask your instructor for clarification (by email, for example). No grade is important enough to justify cheating, which incurs serious consequences, including suspension from the university.

If you feel unusual pressure or anxiety about your grade in this or any other learning community, talk immediately to your seminar leader or a member of the Counseling Center staff. The university provides a range of services to help with text anxiety, writing skills, study skills and related concerns.

Learning Differences
If you have a learning or physical difference that may affect your academic work, you should furnish appropriate documentation to the Disability Resource Center (DRC-- see Campus Resources below). If you qualify for accommodation, the DRC staff will give you a form detailing appropriate accommodations for your instructor. In addition to providing your professors with the appropriate form, please take the initiative to discuss accommodations with them at the beginning of the semester and as needed during the term. Faculty learn from you the most effective ways to assist you. If you have contacted the Disability Resource Center and are waiting to hear from a counselor, please tell your seminar leader.

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Campus Resources
Writing Center 703-993-1200, Robinson A, Room 114. (There also is a satellite office on the ground floor of Enterprise) http://writingcetner.gmu.edu
The University Writing Center provides, at no charge, tutors who will help you brainstorm, structure, revise and edit written work (and help you compile and check your citation of sources!). Although the Writing Center may sometimes accommodate walk-in appointments, you are more likely to see a tutor at a time convenient to you, and your assignment deadline, if you telephone in advance for an appointment. You may also consult the Writing Center online. For further information, email wcenter@gmu.edu.

Counseling Services 703-993-2380, SUB I, Room 364. http://www.gmu.edu/departments/csdc
Professional counselors provide individual and group sessions for personal development and assistance with emotional and relational issues. In addition, the Learning Services Program (703-993-2999) offers academic skill-building workshops and a tutor referral service.

Disability Resource Center (DRC) 703-993-2474, SAUB I Room 234. http:///www.gmu.edu/student/drc
The staff of DRC assist students with learning differences or physical conditions which may affect their academic work.

Student Technology Assistance and Resource Center (STAR) 703-993-1430, Johnson Center, Room 229. http://media.gmu.edu

• STAR mentors help students learn new software packages and improve their command of familiar software.
• Web*STAR (703-993-3838, Johnson Center, Room 311) http://media.gmu.edu/web/webstar.html helps students create, revise and enhance web pages
• STAR*T training (703-993-1385, Johnson Center, Room 344) http://media.gmu.edu/start/start.html offers free multimedia application (Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop, etc.) workshops throughout the semester.

Center for Service and Leadership 703-993-2900, Enterprise Hall, Room 442. http://www.gmu.edu/student/csl
The Center for Service and leadership promotes positive change and civic responsibility by combining academic study, leadership development and direct community service. CSL is your resource at GMU for leadership development and service-learning initiatives.

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Important Dates