J. David Stark

Standard Course Information

Much goes into an academic course that can be left to lie in the area of unspoken assumptions or expectations. In my courses, I try as much as possible to avoid this dynamic and make expectations as clear as possible.

This page is the primary clearinghouse for this kind of material. You should, of course, always consult the syllabus and any other supplementary instruction documents the syllabus or Canvas might point you to. But for ease of access and reference, I’ve tried to collect here into a “one stop shop” as much as is feasible.

General Guidelines and Expectations

Before Your Course

Before your course starts, please go to the syllabus page in your course site (sometimes titled “Syllabus and Assignment Instructions,” “Syllabus and Other Materials,” or “Syllabus and Policies”), and read the information contained there so that you can refer back to it as needed throughout the course. If you are not familiar with your institution’s learning management system (e.g., Blackboard, Moodle, Google Apps Sites), please review the appropriate technical tutorials, paying special attention to those covering the topics of discussion board interaction and assignment submission. To ensure that you will have the necessary time and other resources to devote to the course, once you have examined the course’s requirements, please carefully assess these requirements within the context of your other academic, occupational, and personal commitments and any other situational constraints.

During Your Course

During your course, you should work in accordance with the following assumptions and expectations.

Doing Your Best and Making That Better

Intentionally devote yourself to the course as an act of obedience to God’s calling, do your utmost to honor him with it, and understand course assessments—even those that might happen to be less favorable than you would ideally desire—within this larger framework. Despite my mentioning this last element, I have every confidence in your ability to do well in our courses together. I explicitly mention this point, however, because it emerges from personal experience as a student and an instructor.

Not seeing the results I wanted for a given assessment was always one of the biggest obstacles to—but also one of the biggest opportunities for growth and formation in—referring coursework to God’s honor as an act of obedience to his calling. That you have done your best work always helps make your submissions as strong as they can be, but it doesn’t necessarily translate into any particular letter grade or letter grade range.

That is, as in life outside this class, that you or I do our best sometimes does and sometimes doesn’t meet the standard against which our work is assessed as well as we would like. When it does, we can rejoice and give thanks that our labors have proven fruitful. Especially when it doesn’t, however, we need to be careful to avoid feeling entitled to a different result because we tried really hard and instead look to what we might have done differently or how we can improve our efforts in similar situations in the future.

Time Zones

Unless explicitly stated otherwise,

  • All times specified in your course materials (e.g., for assignment deadlines) refer the time zone for Faulkner University’s main campus (i.e., Central Standard or Central Daylight time depending on the time of year).
  • All assignments are due at 11:59 pm on their respective due dates.

Checking Your School Email

Regularly review your class’s announcements and school email for important communications, announcements, or assignment feedback. Each week, I will send an announcement with our agenda for the week and any other housekeeping items that need to be noted.

How to Communicate with Me

Regard me as your first point of contact for any instructional issues you may encounter during a course we have with each other. For technical issues, you should contact the appropriate helpdesk personnel.

When you communicate with me, you should do so with the same honesty that you would want me to exhibit if our situations were reversed. I am always delighted to have additional interaction with you, but especially in largely asynchronous online communication modes (e.g., threaded discussions, emails), the lack of nonverbal communication makes all the more important your initiating additional interaction if you think it would prove beneficial.

Please feel free to call me simply “David” or “[Mr./Prof./Dr.] Stark,” whatever is most comfortable for you. Email is my preferred default communication method, and I will respond to your message within two business days.

If it should prove helpful in a given instance, instead of emailing, we can find a convenient time to talk on the phone or over Zoom. To send start scheduling a live meeting with me, begin a new meeting request in Google Calendar, and find a time that is open on my calendar and that works for you as well.

Respecting Your Classmates

I will always devote the necessary time to answering your questions, but if you repeatedly ask questions that have already been answered or ask questions that are not clear enough to answer the first time around, answering your question(s) will, to that extent, necessarily delay or impede my interaction with your fellow students.

So, please respect your fellow students by

  • communicating courteously,
  • reviewing the syllabus and other course instructions for answers that have already been provided before contacting me with a procedural question, and
  • clearly and concisely stating any questions that you have when contacting me.

Feedback on Assignment Drafts

Recognize that, simply because of the time involved, I cannot provide substantive feedback on preliminary writing assignment drafts (e.g., presubmission versions of an essay). If you have a specific question about work you are doing for a writing assignment, as always, I am happy to try to help and clarify.

For substantive feedback about your writing, however, you should request assistance from TutorMe through Canvas or ACE. However “good” or “bad” you think your writing is, you’ll almost certainly benefit from having someone look it over and give you feedback.

How to Submit Assignments

Submit assignments promptly via their specified submission methods. Unless explicitly noted otherwise, the submission must be made within Canvas rather than by email, and all the material for a given submission must be included in a single file.

For assignments that require you to transmit text, files, or other information, you are solely responsible for ensuring that

  • you transmit the proper content to fulfill the assignment,
  • your content will be conveniently identifiable as yours when I retrieve it (e.g., by placing your name in the submission), and
  • your content is successfully transmitted or otherwise stored in Canvas for my retrieval.

How I Understand Material You Submit

When you submit an assignment, I understand that you have fully comprehended the assignment’s instructions and have already addressed with me any points of confusion you might have about them. I also understand this submission to represent your best work for that assignment and will assess the submission as such. These conventions hold whether you submit the assignment early, on time, or late.

Grading Turnaround Time

Anticipate that I will have graded all on-time assignment submissions within 7 days of that assignment’s due date, unless otherwise noted. When I have return your submission for a particular graded component, Canvas will notify you of this fact. I will grade late submissions and submissions made to meet extended deadlines as promptly as possible, but since these submissions fall, by definition, outside the normal grading rotation, I cannot guarantee a 7-day turnaround for them.

This turnaround time applies also to biblical language proficiency examinations. Since I allow significant latitude for when you and your proctor can schedule a given examination, however, I cannot know ahead of the examination’s deadline in a given term you may take your examination. Therefore, even if you take the examination well before the deadline, your results may only arrive later, within the 7-day period following the deadline.

Grading Methodology

Subject to any applicable rubrics or other grading conventions specific to particular assignments, you can expect that

  • For more objectively-assessable assignments and components (e.g., multiple-choice examinations, writing assignment lengths), the resulting grade will reflect as best as possible the portion of that assignment or component that was satisfactory. I will assign a letter grade based on the tabulated point value for the assignment. Thus, for instance, a percent grade of 86.00% would yield a B letter grade based on the expanded grade scale.
  • For more subjective assignments and components (e.g., forum posts, essays, compositional issues), the resulting grade will reflect as best as possible how far above or below average (a grade of “C”) that particular assignment or component stands. I will give these assignments a letter grade that the expanded grade scale correlates with a given point value. Thus, a letter grade of A- would yield a percent value of 91.50%.

Percent value grades alone will be used in calculating the final letter grade for a course. Thus, assuming an examination on which you have an 86.00% and an essay on which you have a 91.5% are evenly weighted and assuming that these scores are your only grades for a course, your final grade would be 88.75% [= (86.00% + 91.50%) / 2], which would give you a B+ letter grade as your final course letter grade.

In keeping with general university practice, however, the Registrar will only tabulate the letter portion of the grade (B) and not any quality notations (+/-) in calculating your program GPA.

No extra-credit assignments will be available. For other assessment information, please see Faulkner’s graduate catalog.

Multiple Submissions for Assignments

If you make multiple submissions on a given assignment (e.g., because you realized only after submitting your file that it was the wrong version), I will only grade one file.

To ensure you have the best version of your submission graded, therefore, you should be sure to submit that version and only that version. If you submit multiple versions, the version you want to have graded might be the one that gets graded, but it also might not.

Hardware and Software Requirements

The following linked lists of computer hardware and software that you will need for each or many seminars across the curriculum at KGST. You should, therefore, ensure that you have ready access to all these tools and resources.

Hardware

  1. Webcam
  2. Microphone

Software

  1. Microsoft Word 2019. You may obtain Word 2019 as a stand-alone program, as part of the Office suite, or as part of an Office 365 subscription. Through your (or a family member’s) employer, you may even qualify for a discount through Microsoft’s Home Use Program.
  2. Keymaps that will allow you to type biblical language and text critical characters in Unicode. (You do not need these keymaps if you are a MA-level student taking a textual elective based on the English Bible.) One set for Windows is available from Logos Bible Software and can be used whether you use Logos or not.1 To start using this set of keymaps, you can walk through this setup guide. From Mac users, I welcome input about what keymaps have proven most convenient and will be sure to share that with future Mac-using students.

Writing Resources

You will need the following writing resources for each seminar across the curriculum at KGST because they are necessary for understanding and properly applying the writing style of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). You should, therefore, ensure that you have ready access to all of these tools and resources.

  • Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2014. ISBN: 978-0-87779-809-5 
  • Nogalski, Melanie Greer, James D. Nogalski, Sophia G. Steibel, and Danny M. West. Student Supplement for The SBL Handbook of Style, Second Edition. Edited by Joel M. LeMon and Brennan W. Breed. Rev. ed. Atlanta: SBL, 2015. 
  • “SBL Handbook of Style: Explanations, Clarifications, and Expansions.” Weblog. SBL Press. 
  • Schwertner, Siegfried M. Internationales Abkürzungsverzeichnis für Theologie und Grenzgebiete. 3rd ed. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014. Choice of paperback (ISBN: 978-3-11-020576-3) or hardback (ISBN: 978-3-11-020575-6).2 
  • Society of Biblical Literature. The SBL Handbook of Style. 2nd ed. Atlanta: SBL, 2014. ISBN: 978-1-58983-964-9 or ATLA Religion Database with ATLA Serials 
  • Stark, J. David. “SBL Style Checklist.” J. David Stark, 2019. 
  • Stark, J. David. Secrets of SBL Style: What You Need to Know That Hides in Plain Sight. J. David Stark, 2019.3 
  • Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. Edited by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. FitzGerald. 9th ed. Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018. ISBN: 978-0-226-43057-7 
  • University of Chicago Press. The Chicago Manual of Style. 17th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017. ISBN: 978-0-226-28705-8

Live Meetings

For courses in the Kearley Graduate School of Theology (KGST), attendance at all scheduled live sessions carries special importance for your interaction with the course’s content and with the other members of your class. Typically, accredited PhD programs in biblical or theological fields will require students’ physical presence at the institution. The same is sometimes also true of MA programs.

KGST’s program is distinctive in allowing you to complete your degree without relocating or regular travel to the Montgomery area. But KGST believes live interaction remains an essential component of quality graduate or postgraduate education. This value is shared by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), which accredits KGST.

Consequently, attendance at all live seminar meetings is mandatory. These meetings occur in Zoom on days where the syllabus’s course calendar indicates a “live seminar meeting.” But outside these scheduled meeting times, you can work on the course at the time(s) of day that best suit your schedule within the boundaries of the specified deadlines.

See your syllabus for the dates when live meetings are scheduled. For BI 7100, see your syllabus also for the times. For all other courses, live meetings are scheduled at the following times:

  • 9:00 am–3:30 pm with approximately a half-hour break for lunch for seminar meetings and
  • 3:00 pm–4:00 pm with no break for tutorial meetings. (These meetings only occur where explicitly scheduled in BI 8320.)

Access Instructions

Each live seminar will proceed as outlined in the agenda for it made available in Canvas with appropriate modifications as needed. To join a seminar,

After you connect to the shared Zoom calendar for the first time, it should be available directly on your Faulkner Google Calendar for all future seminars in all future classes you have with me.

If you have difficulty adding the shared Zoom calendar to your own Faulkner Google Calendar, you may be logged into one or more non-Faulkner Google accounts. If so, you may need to (a) log out of all of your non-Faulkner Google accounts or (b) reopen this page in an Incognito or InPrivate window. Then, you should be able to click this link to connect your Faulkner Google Calendar to the shared calendar containing all the Zoom session details.

How to Use Your Webcam and Microphone during a Live Seminar

Webcam

You are expected to have your webcam on throughout our live seminar meetings to help enhance our communication and interaction. If you do not have a webcam connected or have one but do not have it on, you may be considered absent from the meeting.

Microphone

During a live seminar meeting, you should turn your microphone on and off according to whether you are speaking or listening. Doing so helps minimize unnecessary background noise or echo on the line.

Live Seminar Recording Policy

Live seminar meetings will be recorded. These recordings will primarily be kept on file for your reference if you want to re-watch part of the meeting or if you need to make up a missed seminar as described below. Recordings from prior classes may also be used in other contexts including, but not necessarily limited to, independent or individualized studies.

What Missing a Live Seminar Means

Live sessions are considered to be missed if you are

  • not connected to the session,
  • you are connected to the session but your webcam is not connected or is turned off,
  • connected to the session but are apparently asleep, or
  • connected to the session but are otherwise not able or willing to participate actively during the session.

In either of the last two cases of live session absences, you may be administratively removed from the video conference session and need to reconnect. You will be responsible for making up the missed portion of the session according to this policy.

Unexcused absences from live sessions or absences that are excused but are not made up will reduce your final course grade by the percentage of live seminar time you have missed. So, for example, if a course has 30 hours of live seminar time and you miss 5, your final course grade will be reduced by 16.67% (= 5 ÷ 30).

Live Seminar Makeup Policy

In extenuating circumstances, a given live meeting may be missed. But whenever possible (excluding, e.g., serious and sudden emergencies), you should excuse for missing a particular live meeting before that meeting’s scheduled start time. Excuses for live meetings are handled similarly to extensions for assignments.

If your request to be excused from a live meeting is approved, you must make up your missed participation in that meeting in order to be counted present for the session. This make up process entails completing all of the following steps:

  1. Review the live session’s archived recording and follow along in this recording with any handouts to which the meeting’s discussion may be indexed (e.g., lectures, classmate’s papers).
  2. Write a 300-word interaction for each hour of the live session that you missed. So, for example, if you missed 5 hours, you would need to write a 1500-word interaction (= 5 × 300) to be counted fully present for that portion of the seminar.

Your written interaction with the live session recording must

  • Discuss the content provided during the live meeting.
  • Interact with the discussion among the meeting’s live participants (e.g., additional questions asked and responses given).
  • Identify some further point(s) that helps extend the content and discussion in the live meeting but was not mentioned there. If your own body of knowledge does not extend beyond what was covered in the discussion, you may need to do some minor research to satisfy this requirement.

Once you have completed your written interaction with the video, you must post this document in the “Live Session Makeups” discussion board forum. Your document is due there one week from the time the missed live meeting recording(s) become available inside our Canvas course on the Echo360 page. If this document is not available by that time, your interaction with the session will be treated in accordance with the late assignment policy.

Assignment Length Policy

Rationale

The need to meet specific length requirements is a necessary part of writing in biblical studies even outside the confines of academic degree programs. Monograph, journal, or periodical submissions that fall outside the acceptable range for that venue can easily be returned for additional editing or rejected wholesale.

Because of this fact, the vast majority of your assignments have definite length parameters specified. And submitting material falls outside these parameters (whether by being too short or too long) will results in corresponding reductions that material’s grade.

Applicable Material

Front and back matter (e.g., title page, table of contents, bibliography, TutorMe feedback) do not count toward an assignment’s length requirement, even if they must be numbered according to particular local formatting conventions. The assignment’s main text, headers, footers, footnotes, and appendices do count toward this length requirement.

How to Apply Different Kinds of Assignment Length Measurements

Unless otherwise specified in your institution’s applicable catalogs and handbooks or in your course syllabus, the following conventions assignment will be applied to assessing assignment lengths of various kinds.

Numbers of Pages

For assignments of a specific number of pages (e.g., 8), the page length requirement refers to that number of full pages and only this number of full pages. For instance, for an 8-page essay to fulfill its length requirement, the last word of the essay must appear somewhere on page 9. Thus, the essay would fill 8 pages, but it would not exceed page 9.

Similarly, for assignments a “half-page” long, the length requirement refers to a full half page. Thus, the assignment would conclude somewhere in the second half of the page on which it appears, but it would not exceed one full page.

Ranges of Pages

For assignments requiring a range of pages (e.g., 8–10), the minimum and maximum page length requirements both refer to that number of full pages. For instance, for an “8–10-page” assignment to fulfill its length requirement, the last word of the essay must appear: (1) somewhere on page 9, (2) somewhere on page 11, or (3) anywhere in between.

Numbers of Words

For assignments requiring a specific number of words, unless otherwise noted, the word length requirement is the minimum number of words for the assignment, but your assignment may be up to 10% or 100 words longer than this total, whichever is larger.

Almost all word processors will have a “Word Count” feature, often included under a menu like “Tools,” which will allow you automatically to calculate the number of words in a document. To find the number of words in a particular section, highlight that section using your computer’s mouse, and then run the “Word Count” tool.

For instance, for a “5000-word” assignment to fulfill its length requirement, the assignment’s total length must be 5000–5500 words (5500 words = 5000 words + 10%).

Ranges of Words

For assignments requiring a range of words (e.g., 500–600), the lower end of the specified range is the minimum number of words for the assignment. The upper end of the specified range is the maximum number of words for the assignment, subject to the convention described for assignments whose length is specified in numbers of words.

For instance, for a “500–600-word” assignment to fulfill its length requirement, the assignment’s total length must be 500–700 words (600 words + 100 words because 600 words * 10% < 100 words).

What to Expect with Overly Long or Short Assignments

If the assignment is short of its minimum required length, the assignment will be graded as is, and the percentage by which the assignment is short of this minimum length will be deducted from that assignment’s overall grade.

If the assignment is too long for its maximum allowed length, the assignment will be graded as is up to its maximum allowed length. The percentage by which the assignment overruns this length will then be deducted from that assignment’s overall grade.

For major essay draft presentations, the length of the draft will factor into the final presentation grade if

  • the draft is shorter than is required for the final project or
  • the presentation takes longer than its allotted time because the draft is overly long.

If your draft is overly long but you make your presentation within your allotted time, I will not deduct the draft’s length overage from the presentation grade. But you will also not receive comments on the portion of the draft that exceeds the final project’s maximum length.

Late Assignment Policy

Rationale

Timeliness is an essential part of professional interactions within biblical studies. Developing a habit and reputation for delivering material on time will help colleagues enjoy working with you on projects that much more. And that enjoyment will spill over into making them much more eager to work with you in future projects.

By contrast, when individuals are less timely, that lack of timeliness tends to close doors. Colleagues are busy as well, and the last thing they want to have to add to their plates is chasing down work that’s late. So, those who develop a habit and reputation for tardiness—particularly tardiness that they don’t take the initiative to remediate or renegotiate—will tend to find themselves with fewer opportunities to contribute.

That said, deadlines rarely have zero flexibility, although what flexibility they do have might not be very much at all. And having made a good faith effort to meet a deadline, you might sometimes find you’re unable to do so. In such circumstances in the world outside your degree program, taking the initiative to communicate promptly with those to whom you owe material tends to go a long way in softening various impacts of that tardiness—not only to your own professional reputation but also, and perhaps more importantly, to the schedules and workflows of those to whom you owe material.

Conventions

Given these factors with timeliness and tardiness in the world of biblical studies outside your degree program, I adopt some straightforward conventions within my courses of having that coursework imitate the world outside. Admittedly, these conventions are all more straightforward than how things unfold in the professional world outside your degree program. But they’re designed to give you practice and help you build habits for timelines and proactive negotiation around tardiness that you can carry with you after graduation.

These conventions are that

  • I will generally accept late work unless an assignment is so late that your course’s late policy specifies for it a grade of 0%.
  • Late assignments will have their grades penalized by 5% per calendar they are day late. In determining the penalty to be assigned to a late assignment’s grade, any part of a calendar day late will count as a whole calendar day. Penalties for late assignments do not accrue during university-scheduled breaks.
  • For an examination, each additional 10 minutes of testing time beyond the limit specified for that examination will cause the examination to be counted as one calendar day late. Penalties for additional testing time accrue even if the additional time occurs during a university-scheduled break.
  • If you feel a situation warrants it, you are welcome to work with me to negotiate an extension on any assignment as described in my policy on extensions.
  • These allowances for late work are, however, only in force until the end of the term as identified in the course syllabus or other applicable document(s). Any work submitted after the term has ended will automatically receive a grade of 0% unless an extension has been previously arranged for it during the term.

If any of these conventions does not apply in a given case, the corresponding syllabus, assignment instruction, or rubric documents will provide explicit notice of any alterations.

Extensions

For Assigments with No Classmate Prerequisites

Should you have a valid reason to submit an assignment late, with rare exceptions, contact me at least one business day before that assignment’s submission deadline and clearly identify why you believe you should be allowed to submit the assignment late without penalty. An extension must be requested for each affected assignment individually. Whether to grant an extension request and how much of an extension to grant will be at my sole discretion.

If you are substantively hindered from requesting an extension before the assignment’s submission deadline, you must do so within 7 days after that deadline. Requests for extensions more than 7 days past an assignment’s submission deadline will automatically be denied. Days do not accrue toward this 7-day deadline during university-scheduled breaks.

Irrespective of whether a full 7 days has lapsed since the assignment’s submission deadline, requests for extensions made after the term has closed will also automatically be denied. In no case should you hope to receive an extension unless you have requested one and I have approved that request.

For Assignments Requiring Material from a Classmate(s)

A Particular Classmate’s Submission Is Late

If you are assigned to reply or respond to work from a particular classmate (e.g., a major essay draft) and that draft is not submitted on time, you may respond to any other classmate you choose. If no classmate has submitted a draft on time, then the situation becomes the same as that in the following section for when all classmates’ submissions are late.

All Classmates Submissions Are Late

If you are assigned to reply or respond to work from any given classmate (e.g., discussion boards), your deadline for submitting your reply or response will automatically be extended by the number of days during which you had no classmates’ work to reply or respond to.

If no classmate submits work for you to use as a basis for your reply or response within

  • 24 hours for a major essay draft or
  • 7 days for any other assignment type

then the situation becomes the same as that in the following section for when no classmates’ submissions are available.

No Classmates’ Submissions Are Available

If no classmate submits work for you to use as a basis for your reply or response within

  • 24 hours for a major essay draft or
  • 7 days for any other assignment type

you will not need to supply a reply or response to that assignment. You may choose to forego submitting a response to any classmate’s draft—even if one should subsequently be submitted. In this case, I will increase the grade weight of a related component by the weight originally assigned to your reply or response to your classmate. For instance, if you are unable to submit

  • a reply to a classmate’s discussion board post, I will increase the weight of your own post(s) to include the weight for the reply.
  • a response to a classmate’s major essay draft, I will increase the weight of your own major essay to include the weight for the response.

In this case, for some assignment types, Canvas may still show separate grade columns for the different. But if so, I will enter the same total in both columns so that the calculation of your overall course grade will happen properly.

Academic Bibliography

Primary literature always provides good academic source material, although biblical texts are generally not included or counted in bibliographies.

Distinguishing between “academic” (or “scholarly”) and “popular” sources, however, is not always easy and can take some practice. But in general, an academic source will

  • be written, endorsed, or both by people with recognizable credentials in the writing’s field and who may currently hold positions at a higher educational institution. If you’re unfamiliar with a given person’s name, you might Google him or her to find more information and see what other publications and professional activities that person has had.
  • devote relatively more space to footnotes (or endnotes) and bibliographies. Not infrequently in academic sources, you will see side issues handled in a one- or two-paragraph footnote rather than simply seeing footnotes used for citing sources.
  • reflect a valid perspective within contemporary scholarship on a particular point. Some sources may have been good, scholarly ones for their time, but the particular subjects to which they speak have seen advances that have marginalized the value of this older scholarship.
  • appeal to broad audiences by concentrating on publicly available evidence and arguments (e.g., appeals to literature and history as such).
  • avoid loaded or derogatory language even when differing with another author.

These criteria are not hard-and-fast, but generally, good academic sources will exhibit these characteristics more clearly. Some representative non-academic sources are available in this handout.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious academic and ethical matter. Unless otherwise specified in your institution’s applicable catalogs and handbooks or in your course syllabus, if you are found to have committed plagiarism in any assignment during the semester, you will receive an “F” for the course and have any administrative action taken that is appropriate.

For a good summary of what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, please see the Council of Writing Program Administrators’ guide. As defined by this guide, “plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source.”

“Language, ideas, or other original … material” are “someone else’s” when you have not directly produced them yourself. As such, this definition encompasses traditional plagiarism (work produced directly by one person and submitted by another as that other’s own). But it also includes technologically-enabled plagiarism produced, for example, by machine learning, artificial intelligence, or research bot tools that are themselves the work of other people.

Therefore, submitting material generated through the use of artificial intelligence without either (1) my explicit permission or (2) proper citation of material derived from artificial intelligence is a form of plagiarism. Technical tools are permissible if their sole function is to assist in the editing of work that you have produced (e.g., spelling and grammar checkers). But use of technical tools crosses the boundary into plagiarism when the tools themselves produce material rather than simply helping you edit your own.

Consequently, if you submit material derived from artificial intelligence in a manner that constitutes plagiarism, the submission will be handled as such and result in the sanctions described above. For further discussion, see Faulkner University’s current policy on artificial intelligence.

Other General Information

All written work must be formatted according to SBL style as articulated in its current authorities. All written work must be submitted in the designated place in Canvas and, unless otherwise indicated, in DOCX format. No work will be accepted by email. Work submitted in an improper location or file format may be considered absent until it is submitted properly. 

Once your course grade has been processed, you may access it through MyFaulkner. If you have difficulty logging in or viewing your final grade on this site, please contact the IT helpdesk for assistance.

  1. Logos does not appear to provide an accessibility statement about their original language keyboards. ↩

  2. Depending on availability, either the paperback or the hardback may be more cost effective. Sometimes, copies of IATG3 will sell for hundreds of dollars. With a little shopping, however, you should be able to find one for less than $60. If you are unable to obtain a reasonably-priced copy of IATG3, you may (1) request this text via ILL at a library near you or (2) utilize the copy that the graduate school’s Kearley Resource Room has on file. To access information in the Kearley Room copy of IATG3, please use the “Ask-a-librarian” portal. In your question, note that it is a “KGST request,” and supply the full series or work titles for which you want to consult IATG3 for an abbreviation. Please note that the Kearley Room is only staffed about 10 hours weekly, so you should make any IATG3 request at least 72 hours ahead of when you need that request to be completed. ↩

  3. To supplement this guide, you may also want to download the condensed SBL style checklist. ↩