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MC391/HST 319 Professor Anna Pegler-Gordon
Fall semester 2004 Email: gordonap@msu.edu
Office: 309 South Case Hall Work: 355-6548
Office hours: Mon 2-3pm, Th 9-11am & by appt. Home: 706-0671 (9am-9pm)
Asian American History
Since the mid-nineteenth century, people of Asian descent have migrated to, worked in and
fought against discrimination by the United States. This course explores the histories of
Asians in the United States from 1850 to the present, linking this longstanding presence
with issues of contemporary significance.
This course covers a broad range of topics, reflecting the diversity and complexity within
Asian American communities, both past and present. We will study the shared and different
experiences of immigrants and Americans with origins in China, Japan, Korea, the
Philippines, India, and Vietnam. Together, we will explore: processes of colonialism,
migration and exclusion; issues of citizenship; racial and ethnic identity formation; practices
of resistance; work and labor relations; acculturation, family and community formation;
transnational networks; and, representations of Asian Americans. Our historical topics will
include: Chinese and Asian exclusion, Asian independence movements, World War II,
Japanese internment, the Cold War, the Model Minority myth, the Asian American
Movement, post-1965 Asian American communities and multiracial identities. Throughout
the course, we will pay close attention to the ways that gender, class, and sexuality
intersect with racial, national and generational identities.
In addition to learning the histories of Asian Americans, this course will also consider how
these histories have been told and what these ways of telling reveal about contemporary
Asian American concerns. We will study aspects of Asian American experience that have
been ignored in traditional narratives of American history, but we will also ask: What
changes when we look at American history through Asian American eyes? How does Asian
American history transform American history? And how has Asian American history itself
been transformed over time? We will study the history of Asian Americans, but we will also
critically interrogate the term, “Asian American.” We will ask: What is a pan-ethnic Asian
American identity? What is the history of this identity and how has it been constructed?
Under what conditions and for whom is this identity meaningful?
In this course, you will not only become familiar with the key themes and topics in Asian
American history, you will also learn skills that are important to becoming a thoughtful and
self-reflexive interpreter of historical and contemporary events. In addition to readings
from cultural, social and oral histories, we will review a broad range of primary sources,
such as laws, court rulings, newspaper reports, memoirs and poems. We will also pay
special attention to visual media, such as films, photographs and cartoons. Our class
assignments are designed to help develop your skills as historians: you will not only learn to
analyze secondary histories, but also to research and write histories.
Course Materials
All required books are available for purchase from the College Store and the Student Book
Store and are on reserve in the Madison library and the University Library. The coursepack
is available for purchase from the College Store and is on reserve in the Madison Library and
the University Library. Some readings are also available online. However, I recommend
that you read the texts in hard copy as it is generally easier to read hard copy more actively
and efficiently. If you have special circumstances which make it difficult to purchase the
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books or access them at university reserves, please discuss these with me as I may be able
to loan you books from my library.
Required Texts
Chan, Sucheng. Asian Americans: An Interpretive History. Boston: G.K. Hall and Co.,
1991.
Chin, Tung Pok with Winifred C. Chin. Paper Son: One Man’s Story. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 2000.
Lee, Robert G. Orientals: Asian Americans in Popular Culture. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1999.
Okubo, Miné. Citizen 13660. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1946 [1983].
Espiritu, Yen Le. Homebound: Filipino American Lives Across Cultures, Communities and
Cultures. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
Coursepack.
Course Requirements, Assignments and Expectations
Participation (20%)
Reading response papers (20%)
Primary source essay and interpretation (20%)
Oral history (20%)
Final exam (20%)
Participation (20%)
Class sessions will use both lecture and discussion to strengthen your understanding of the
course themes and to improve your critical historical skills. Each session will be organized
on the assumption that you have carefully read the assigned texts and that you are
prepared to discuss them thoughtfully.
The requirements are as follows:
Regular class attendance. More than two unexcused absences from class sessions will
affect your final grade. Students with more than four unexcused class absences will not
be eligible to receive a grade.
Careful reading of all required materials and preparation for class meetings. Your daily
response papers will help you prepare for discussion. However, if you have concerns
about speaking in class, you may also want to prepare by formulating one or two
questions or comments in advance of the class.
Informed, thoughtful contributions to discussions and debates throughout the semester.
Attendance at one or more film screenings. During the three weeks that we are reading
Robert Lee‟s Orientals (9-20, 11-8 and 12-1), we will screen a film featured in the text.
You are required to attend at least one film screening and you have one free class
(Wednesday, October 20) to compensate for this time.
Please feel free to raise questions in class, whether during lecture or discussion. All
questions are welcome, no matter how basic, complex or confused! If you would prefer
to ask your question privately, you can come to my office hours or email me.
Although it is not related to your participation or to your grade, I also encourage you to take
advantage of the opportunity to meet with me outside of class. It is especially important
that you come to my office hours if you feel that you are having difficulties with the course.
However, I strongly encourage each of you to attend office hours at least once during the
semester to talk about issues related to the course or about your outside interests. You
may come individually or, if you prefer, with other students. If you cannot make my
assigned office hours, I would be happy to make an appointment with you for another time.
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I will also be getting together with small groups of students for coffee in the Barista coffee
shop on Wednesday after class, so that we can get to know one another in a more informal
setting.
Reading Response papers (20%)
Each week (starting September 8), you will be required to submit a short, informal response
to the readings. This 1-2 page response paper may focus on key themes from one reading,
from one day‟s readings or from the week‟s readings. This assignment is due in the Angel
electronic drop-box before class on either Monday or Wednesday. Every three weeks, I will
review 10 students‟ reading response papers and return them with comments and an
interim grade. During the course of the semester, students will receive four sets of
comments and grades.
Primary source analysis (20%)
All historians work not only with secondary texts, but also with primary sources (original
documents). Therefore, this project will help you learn how to conduct archival research
and to analyze a primary source in the context of one of our course readings: Robert Lee‟s
Orientals. In your primary source research and analysis, you will:
Attend a research session at the Appel Collection of Ethnic and Immigrant Caricature.
The curator will review appropriate techniques for handling primary documents and
guide you to the relevant sections of the collection.
Select an image or images for analysis and, if necessary, file a reproduction request.
Write a 4-7 page analysis of the image in historical context, following the guidelines that
will be provided for the assignment.
If you would prefer to work with a primary source document or documents that are not
located in the Appel Collection, please contact me in advance of the scheduled research
sessions.
Oral history project (20%)
Oral history plays a central role in Asian American history, both because of the field‟s focus
on the significance of ordinary lives and because many Asian Americans do not have the
access to write their histories more formally. Therefore, one of your assignments is to
conduct your own Asian American oral history. As the assignment approaches, we will
study examples of oral histories and learn about good practices. However, you should think
about who you might want to interview and make sure that you have their consent well in
advance of the assignment.
The components of the oral history assignment are as follows:
Select an interviewee, secure their consent and notify me of your subject.
Conduct a tape-recorded interview of your subject.
Transcribe at least 4 pages of your interview.
Write a 4-7 page history of your subject, which places their own words and your
description of their history within an analytical framework.
Final exam (20%)
In addition to the writing assignments, there will be a final exam worth 20% of your grade.
This will be cumulative essay-based exam, covering all the materials reviewed previously in
the course.
All written assignments must be typed and double-spaced with one-inch margins. Whether
formal or informal, all written assignments should be carefully reviewed, revised and
proofed. All assignments MUST be handed in on time, unless you have made prior
arrangements with me.
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Calendar of Assignments
These are the dates by which your various assignments must be completed. If any of the
assignments are not completed, you will not be able to receive a final grade.
Ongoing Participation
Weekly Reading response papers
Week of 9-20 Primary source research at Appel Collection
10-4 Primary source analysis due in class
10-18 Select oral history subject and notify professor
11-8 Oral history transcript due in class
11-24 Oral history analysis due in class
12-13 12:45pm Final exam
Grading policies
Grading criteria
Participation, written and other work will be graded according to the criteria listed below.
As these criteria show, once the minimum requirements are met, it is the quality rather
than the quantity of your contributions that will be considered in grading. That is, you will
not get a better grade simply for speaking a lot during class or for handing in long papers.
Rather, it is important that you think carefully and take the time to convey your thoughts
effectively. In those cases where participation and written work shows a marked
improvement during the course of the semester, later grades will carry more weight.
Grades
4.0 Exceptional work
Offers exceptional insights during class discussions; outstanding written work makes
an original contribution to the field through sophisticated argument.
3.5 Excellent work
Makes consistent contributions to class discussions which demonstrate full and careful
reading of assigned materials; written work is original, clearly written and carefully
argued.
3.0 Good work
Makes contributions to class discussions; however, these contributions are not always
consistent in terms of quality or quantity; written work makes a persuasive argument
that is clearly written and reasoned.
2.0 Sufficient work; meets minimum requirements
Occasionally contributes to class discussion; written work reveals knowledge of course
themes and familiarity with the assigned materials; however, it is not always clearly
written and does not develop a consistent argument.
1.0 Below average work; does not meet minimum requirements
Rarely speaks during class discussions, despite regular attendance; written work does
not always demonstrate an understanding of the course themes or familiarity with the
assigned readings; written work does not make an argument and is not clearly written.
Academic honesty
Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty are extremely serious matters and will
be dealt with accordingly. We will follow James Madison College and Michigan State
University policy on academic dishonesty. These policies and additional information are
provided in the statement on academic honesty at the end of the syllabus. If you have any
questions about academic honesty, please consult Professor Pegler-Gordon or Professor
Constance Hunt, Director of Academic and Student Affairs.
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CALENDAR Date No. T=Textbook
CP=Course Pack H = Handout
F=Film
8-30 1 Introduction
9-1 2 Introduction: Asian American identity
U.S. Census Bureau, “The Asian Population: 2000,” (February
2002) http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/c2kbr01-16.pdf
Renee Tajima-Pena, dir., My America (… or Honk if You Love
Buddha) (1988). (87 minutes)
F
9-6 Holiday: no class
9-8 3 Introduction: Asian American history
Sucheta Mazumdar, “Asian American Studies and Asian Studies:
Rethinking Roots,” in Asian Americans: Comparative and Global
Perspectives, edited by Shirley Hune, et. al. (Pullman: Washington
State University Press, 1990), 29-44.
Roger Daniels, “No Lamps Were Lit for Them: Angel Island and the
Historiography of Asian American Immigration,” Journal of
American Ethnic History 17 (1997): 2-18.
Sylvia Yanagisako, “Transforming Orientalism: Gender, Nationality,
and Class in Asian American Studies,” in Naturalizing Power: Essays
in Feminist Cultural Analysis edited by Sylvia Yanagisako and Carol
Delaney (1995), 275-298.
H
H
H
Recommended:
Gary Okihiro, Margins and Mainstreams: Asians in American History
and Culture (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994), esp.
3-63.
Lisa Lowe, Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics
(Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1996), esp. 37-59.
1850-1940
9-13 4 Origins of immigration
Sucheng Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (1991), 3-
23.
Yong Chen, “The Internal Origins of Chinese Emigration to
California Reconsidered,” Western Historical Quarterly 28 (winter
1997): 520-546.
Catherine Ceniza Choy, “„Exported to Care‟: A Transnational History
of Filipino Nurse Migration to the United States,” in Immigration
Research for a New Century edited by Nancy Foner, et. al. (New
York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2000), 113-133.
T
CP
CP
9-15 5 Work and social organization
Sucheng Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (1991),
25-42; 63-78.
Judy Yung, “Unbinding the Feet, Unbinding Their Lives: Chinese
Immigrant Women in San Francisco, 1902-1931,” in Asian
T
CP
6
Americans: Comparative and Global Perspectives, edited by Shirley
Hune, et. al. (Pullman: Washington State U. Press, 1990), 69-85.
9-20 week Research images at Appel Collection for primary source paper
9-20 6 Popular Representations (1)
Robert Lee, “The „Heathen Chinee‟ on God‟s Free Soil,” and “The
Coolie and the Making of the White Working Class,” in Orientals,
15-82.
Bret Harte, “Plain Language from Truthful James” [The Heathen
Chinee], The Overland Monthly Magazine (September 1870).
T
H
9-22 7 Popular Representations (2)
Robert Lee, “The Third Sex,” and “Inner Dikes and Barred Zones,”
in Orientals, 83-144.
T
9-27 8 Discrimination and Resistance
Sucheng Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (1991),
45-61; 81-100.
Erika Lee, “The Chinese Exclusion Example: Race, Immigration, and
American Gatekeeping, 1882–1924,” Journal of American Ethnic
History 21, no. 3 (2002): 36-62.
K. Scott Wong, “„The Eagle Seeks a Helpless Quarry:‟ Chinatown,
the Police, and the Press,” in Asian American Studies: A Reader
edited by Jean Yu-wen Shen Wu and Min Song (New Brunswick:
Rutgers University Press, 2000), 67-83.
T
CP
CP
Recommended:
Sucheng Chan, ed., Entry Denied: Exclusion and the Chinese
Community in America, 1882-1943. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1991.
Erika Lee, At America’s Gates: Chinese Immigration During the
Exclusion Era, 1882-1943. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 2003.
9-29 9 Colonialism and Resistance
Robert Rydell, “The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Saint Louis,
1904: „The Coronation of Civilization,” in All the World’s a Fair
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), 154-183.
Jane Singh, “The Gadar Party,” in Asian American Studies: A
Reader edited by Jean Yu-wen Shen Wu and Min Song (New
Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2000), 35-46.
Lili Kim, “Korean Independence in Hawai‟i and the Continental
United States,” in Major Problems in Asian American History edited
by Lon Kurashige and Alice Yang Murray (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
2003), 172-178.
CP
CP
CP
10-4 10 Primary source paper due in class
Citizenship (1)
Ian Haney López, White By Law: The Legal Construction of Race
(New York: New York University Press, 1996), 49-109.
H
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10-6 11 Citizenship (2)
Gail Nomura, “Within the Law: The Establishment of Filipino Leasing
Rights on the Yakima Indian Reservation,” Amerasia Journal 13, no.
1 (1986/1987): 99-117.
Eiichiro Azuma, “Racial Struggle, Immigrant Nationalism, and Ethnic
Identity: Japanese and Filipinos in the California Delta,” Pacific
Historical Review 67 (1998): 163-199.
CP
CP
10-11 12 Women, Families and the Second Generation (1)
Sucheng Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (1991),
103-118.
Evelyn Nakano Glenn, “The Dialectics of Wage Work: Japanese
American Women and Domestic Service, 1905-1940” in Unequal
Sisters edited by Ellen Carol DuBois and Vicki Ruiz (1990), 345-
372.
T
CP
10-13 13 Women, Families and the Second Generation (2)
Rhacel Salazar Parrenas, “„White Trash‟ Meets the „Little Brown
Monkeys:‟ The Taxi Dance Hall as a Site of Interracial and Gender
Alliances Between White Working Class Women and Filipino
Immigrant Men in the 1920s and 1930s,” Amerasia Journal 24
(1998): 115-134.
Anthony Lee, “The Forbidden City,” Picturing Chinatown: Art and
Orientalism in San Francisco (2001), 237-285.
Lon Kurashige, “The Problem of Biculturalism: Japanese American
Identity and Festival Before World War II,” Journal of American
History 86, no. 4 (March 2000): 1632-1654.
CP
CP
CP
Recommended:
Valerie Matsumoto, “Redefining Expectations: Nisei Women in the
1930s,” California History 73 (1994): 44-53.
10-18 14 Select oral history subject and notify professor
Illegal Immigration
Tung Pok Chin with Winifred Chin, Paper Son: One Man’s Story
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000), xi-68.
T
10-20 Mid-semester: no class
10-25 15 Impacts of the Cold War
Tung Pok Chin with Winifred Chin, Paper Son: One Man’s Story
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000), 69-147.
T
Recommended:
Mae Ngai, “Legacies of Exclusion: Illegal Chinese Immigrants
During the Cold War Years,” Journal of American Ethnic History 18,
no. 1 (fall 1998): 3-35.
10-27 16 Japanese Internment (1)
Sucheng Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (1991),
121-142.
T
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Miné Okubo, Citizen 13660 (Seattle: University of Washington
Press, 2002 [1946]), vii-xii, 3-112.
T
11-1 17 Japanese Internment (2)
Miné Okubo, Citizen 13660 (2002 [1946]), 113-209. T
Charlotte Brooks, “In the Twilight Zone Between Black and White:
Japanese American Resettlement and Community in Chicago, 1942-
1945,” Journal of American History 86, no. 4 (March 2000), 1655-
1687.
CP
Recommended:
John Okada. No-No Boy. Seattle: University of Washington Press,
1976 [1957].
11-3 18 1965-present: New Identities and Communities
Introduction and Indian communities
Sucheng Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (1991),
145-188.
T
Sandhya Shukla, “New Immigrants, New Forms of Transnational
Community: Post-1965 Indian Migrations,” Amerasia Journal 25,
no. 3 (1999/2000), 19-36.
CP
11-8 19 Oral history transcript due in class
Model Minority Myth
Robert G. Lee, “The Cold War Origins of the Model Minority Myth,”
and “The Model Minority as Gook,” in Orientals (1999), 145-191.
T
“Success Story of One Minority Group in the U.S.,” U.S. News and
World Report (December 26, 1966): 73-78. Reprinted in Asian
American Studies: A Reader edited by Jean Yu-wen Shen Wu and
Min Song (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2000), 158-
163.
CP
Keith Osajima, “Asian Americans as the Model Minority: An Analysis
of the Popular Press Image in the 1960s and 1980s” in
Contemporary Asian America: A Multidisciplinary Reader edited by
Min Zhou and James Gatewood (New York: New York University
Press, 2000), 449-458.
CP
Dana Takagi, “Post-Civil Rights Politics and Asian-American
Identity: Admissions and Higher Education.” In Race edited by
Roger Sanjek and Steven Gregory (1994), 229-242.
CP
11-10 20 Asian American movement
Yen Le Espiritu, “Ethnicity and Panethnicity,” and “Coming
Together: The Asian American Movement” in Asian American
Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities (Philadelphia:
Temple University Press, 1992), 1-52.
Daryl Maeda, “Relate to the Panthers‟ or a „Yellow Minstrel Show‟?
Building Asian American Identity Through Performing Blackness.”
CP
H
Recommended:
William Wei. The Asian American Movement. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1993.
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11-15 21 Asian American movement (2)
Christine Choy, dir., Who Killed Vincent Chin? (New York:
Filmmaker‟s Library, 1988). (83 minutes)
F
11-17 22 Refugee Communities
Sucheng Chan, “Politics and the Indochinese Refugee Exodus,
1975-1997” in Remapping Asian American History edited by
Sucheng Chan (Walnut Creek, Calif.: Altamira Press, 2003), 171-
222.
Nhi Lieu, “Remembering „the Nation‟ through Pageantry: Femininity
and the Politics of Vietnamese Womanhood in Hoa Hau Ao Dai
Contest,” in Asian American Women: The Frontiers Reader (Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 2004), 312-336.
11-22 23 Transnational Filipino Communities (1)
Yen Le Espiritu, Home Bound, pp. 1-69. T
11-24 24 Oral History analysis due in class
Transnational Filipino Communities (2)
Yen Le Espiritu, Home Bound, pp. 70-126. T
11-29 25 Transnational Filipino Communities (3)
Yen Le Espiritu, Home Bound, pp. 157-222. T
Recommended:
Roland Tolentino, “Bodies, Letters, and Catalogues: Filipinas in
Transnational Space,” Social Text 48 (1996).
12-1 26 Multiracial communities?
Robert G. Lee, “After LA” and “Disobedient Citizenship,” in Orientals
(1999), 204-231.
T
Edward T. Chang, “America‟s First Multiethnic Riots,” in Karin
Aguilar-San Juan, ed., The State of Asian America: Activism and
Resistance in the 1990s (Boston: South End Press, 1994), 101-117.
CP
Jeff Chang, “Race, Class, Conflict and Empowerment: On Ice Cube‟s
„Black Korea,” Amerasia 19, no. 2 (1993): 87-107.
CP
Recommended:
Kyeyoung Park, “ „I Really Do Feel I‟m 1.5!‟: The Construction of
Self and Community by Young Korean Americans,” Amerasia
Journal 25:1 (1999): pp. 139-163.
12-6 27 Multiracial identities? (Or panethnicity and its discontents)
Rebecca Chiyoko King, “Racialization, Recognition and Rights:
Lumping and Splitting Multiracial Asian Americans in the 2000
Census,” Journal of Asian American Studies 3, no. 2 (June 2000):
191-217.
Jan R. Weisman, “The Tiger and His Stripes: Thai and American
Reactions to Tiger Woods‟s (Multi-) „Racial Self‟” in Teresa Williams-
Leon and Cynthia Nakashima, eds., The Sum of Our Parts: Mixed-
Heritage Asian Americans (2001), 231-243.
CP
CP
10
Steven Masami Ropp, “Do Multiracial Subjects Really Challenge
Race? Mixed-race Asians in the United States and the Caribbean,”
Amerasia 23.1 (1997).
Nazli Kibria, “Not Asian, Black or White: Reflections on South Asian
American Racial Identity” in Asian American Studies: A Reader
edited by Jean Yu-wen Shen Wu and Min Song (New Brunswick:
Rutgers University Press, 2000), 247-254.
Debbie Hippolite Wright and Paul Spickard, “Pacific Islander
Americans and Asian American Identity,” in Contemporary Asian
American Communities edited by Linda Trinh Vo and Rick Bonus
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002), 105-119.
CP
CP
CP
CP
Recommended:
Maria P.P. Root, ed., The Multiracial Experience: Racial Borders and
the New Frontier (1996).
12-8 28 Conclusions
12-13 12:45-2:45 Final Exam
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Statement on Academic Honesty
There is strong evidence that academic dishonesty is increasing in U.S. colleges. Some
commentators attribute this to the increased ease of plagiarism: internet access and
wordprocessing programs make it comparatively easy to cut and paste other people‟s words
into your work. Others claim that students are less familiar with the boundaries between
honest and dishonest citation. This statement is part of my efforts in this class to help you
become more familiar with issues of academic honesty and their importance in academic
work.
In his essay on “Plagiarism in Colleges in USA,” Ronald B. Standler asks the question: “What
is plagiarism?” According to Standler, “In minor cases, it can be the quotation of a sentence
or two, without quotation marks and without a citation (e.g., footnote) to the true author.
In the most serious cases, a significant fraction of the entire work was written by someone
else: the plagiarist removed the true author(s) names(s) and substituted the plagiarist‟s
name, perhaps did some re-formatting of the text, then submitted the work for credit in a
class (e.g., term paper or essay) or as part of the requirements for a degree (e.g., thesis or
dissertation)” (Standler, 2000). However it is done, plagiarism is the misrepresentation of
someone else‟s words or ideas as your own.
Most often academic dishonesty refers to plagiarism, but it also includes other forms of
misrepresentation. For example, I consider presenting work from another class as work
produced in this class as one form of academic misrepresentation. Obviously, you should
build on ideas, themes and readings from other classes, but you should not use substantial
sections of written work produced for another class in papers produced for this class. If you
do want to quote yourself, then you should cite yourself! Another form of academic
dishonesty is subtly misrepresenting ideas or words to make your argument more forceful.
Some examples would be claiming that a piece of primary evidence “clearly” supports your
argument, when you are not sure if it is really clear. Or quoting a historian‟s words
accurately, but out of context.
As these examples suggest, academic honesty is a problem in part because it is not always
clear where to draw the line between honest and dishonest representation. However, if you
have any uncertainty, you should listen to your doubts and write only what you are certain
is true. I would be very happy to discuss these borderline cases with you, as they can
sometimes illuminate the complexity of writing about history.
Most importantly, academic honesty and proper attribution are fundamental to the
collaborative creation of knowledge. The appropriate citation of other people‟s words and
ideas allows us to build on their work and to share our own ideas with the confidence that
they will be acknowledged.
Beyond the importance of integrity to the expansion of knowledge, the punishment of
plagiarism is also a serious matter. The James Madison College Student Handbook contains
the following statement as part of the Policy on Academic Dishonesty: “The Faculty
Assembled recommend that in cases involving proven academic dishonesty, the
student should receive, as a minimum, a 0.0 in the course and that a record of the
circumstances, sanctions, and any appeal, be placed in the student’s confidential
file. … The individual faculty member or the Dean may recommend further action, including
dismissal from the University, to the Student-Faculty Judiciary. If a second case of
academic dishonesty should occur, the recommendation is that the faculty, through the
Office of Director of Academic and Student Affairs, should seek the student‟s dismissal from
the College and the University.”
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The MSU policy on plagiarism and additional information about academic honesty is also
available through the MSU Office of the Ombudsman:
http://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/honestylinks.html
Tips to help you avoid unintentional plagiarism and misrepresentation:
As you make research notes for your papers, be sure to keep a careful record of your
sources, including all the relevant information. This is especially important if you are
collecting source materials from the internet or combining different source materials in
the same file.
If you are quoting words that are already quoted in a secondary source (rather than
quoting from the original document) you should either check the original document for
accuracy or acknowledge that you are quoting from a secondary source, e.g. Ronald B.
Standler, “Plagiarism in Colleges in USA” (2000) cited in Anna Pegler-Gordon,
“Statement on Academic Honesty,” January 2004, p. 1.
Check your writing for factual accuracy, just as you would for grammatical accuracy.
Ideally, you should highlight all the factual statements and citations in your work and
check these against the original sources to ensure their accuracy.
Check that every quote and substantially original idea from another source has a
citation.
The Georgetown University Honor Council has a website with very helpful guidelines
about unintentional plagiarism at: http://www.georgetown.edu/honor/plagiarism.html
Internet citation is a new and sometimes complicated process. However, internet
sources, like all sources must be cited. A useful resource is Bedford/StMartin‟s online
guide to online citation (Harnack and Kleppinger, 2003), available at:
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite7.html
Finally, if you have any doubts about the honesty or accuracy of any part of your work,
err on the side of caution.
Works Cited
Standler, Ronald B. “Plagiarism in Colleges in USA.” 2000.
<http://www.rbs2.com/plag.htm> (Accessed January 9, 2004).
Harnack, Andrew and Eugene Kleppinger. Online! A Reference Guide to Using Internet
Sources. 2003. <http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite7.html>
(Accessed January 9, 2004).