Senior Seminar: Anthropology -- University of Minnesota Duluth

Midterm Exam

The Midterm Exam will be an open-book / open-notes essay exam made up of the questions on the annotated Midterm Exam Discussion Study Page? You may bring and use your texts, dictionary, thesaurus, a writing handbook, class handouts, notes, outlines, drafts, memos, and a Ouija board. You may also use references and materials from your other classes and the web, with the caveat, of course, that you properly cite any sources you use.
When is it?
What will be covered?
How many questions will there be?
Will all of the questions on the annotated Midterm Exam Discussion Study Page be included?
How long should the answers be?
What are the "Current Affairs" Questions Like?
Other useful information
Make-up Exams
How will the Exams be Graded?
Other words of advice?

s2018 The Live Chat for the Senior Seminar Midterm Exam will be Sunday, 25 February 2018, 7:00-8:00. Sign in on

n the Week 8 Panel.

s2018 Week 7: The Senior Seminar Midterm Exam is scheduled for Week 8 Day 13, Monday, 26 February 2018, 4:00-5:15 p.m., in Cina 214

REM: Bring your Laptop
Laptop

Browsers that

supports

What will be covered?

The Midterm Exam will be on all class materials up to and including the end of Week 6

This includes the lecture materials, in-class videos, E-mails, the Forum, the basic introductory materials of the text, and the text and class materials.

This includes . . .

Anthropology and Contemporary Human Problems, Sixth Edition, by John H. Bodley

Ch. 1.

Anthropological Perspectives on Contemporary Human Problems

Ch. 2.
Scale, Adaptation, and the Environmental Crisis

Videos

All videos through the end of Week 6
- List of Videos

Class Materials

All class materials through the end of Week 7

"Optional Resources" may be used in answering the exam questions, but they are not, strictly speaking, required

How long should your answers be?

The question of length is a good one. It's also a difficult one to answer as it depends on the question itself, your style of writing, the detail which you give to your examples, and—since this is an open-book exam where you basically could prepare questions in advance and then cut and paste from other sources (with proper credit given to those sources)—a good answer can vary quite a bit in length.

At a minimum you should have a beginning, a middle, and an end (sometimes also known as introduction, body, conclusion).

You should also be sure to answer the question(s) asked, and if there are two, three or more parts to a question, be sure to answer all of them.

Be sure to give examples when you make a statement.

I think it is a good thing to have a look at the OWL's advice before every exam:

Writing Essays for Exams

To use their recommendations, a well focused, well organized, well supported, well packaged essay answer could be done (for most of the questions) in the equivalent of about a page and a half to two "normal" pages (double-spaced, one-inch margins, #11 or #12 font)—which is about 375-500 words.

Bring your laptop.

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Useful Information

Writing Essays for Exams

Check your grade in you Gradebook

Use "The Curve" to figure out your letter grade

~ "The Strike Zone"

~ Information on Standard Deviation (sometimes useful for interpreting your grade)

Criteria for Grading College Papers

Academic Integrity Policies

Incompletes

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General Information

4.	Exams (up to 1000 points)
	A.	Midterm (for up to 400 points)
	B.	Final (for up to 400 points)

		(Makeup Exam Information)

s2018 The Live Chat for the Senior Seminar Midterm Exam will be Sunday, 25 February 2018, 7:00-8:00. Sign in on n the Week 8 Panel.
The MIDTERM ON-LINE EXAM will be timed at 1-1/4 hrs. (The timing will start after you read the introduction, when you say 'go'")
Includes in-class videos / film, important e-mails, Forum posts, assigned web materials and weeklly reading and other class materials

The Midsemester exam will be an open-book essay exam
- Essay exams usually provide a better learning experience and, in addition, afford practice in writing

This is an open-book exam . . .
- You may bring and use your texts, dictionary, thesaurus, a writing handbook, class handouts, notes, outlines, drafts, and memos
- You may also use references and materials from your other classes, with the caveat, of course, that you properly cite any sources you use

You will need to bring and use your laptop
- but you must upload your exam to your folder at the end of the exam period
- be sure to save your work regularly throughout the exam
- REM: Be sure to have your batteries charged

s2018 Week 7: The Senior Seminar Midterm Exam is scheduled for Week 8 Day 13, Monday, 26 February 2018, 4:00-5:15 p.m., in Cina 214

REM: Bring your Laptop
Laptop

Browsers that

supports

Midterm Exam
Sample Exam Format

Anthropology Senior Seminar
Midsemester Exam

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18 April 2025

Answer the FOUR (only 4) questions randomly selected from the question pool. Keep in mind that there is more than one approach you can take in answering these questions. Follow these guidelines:

Organize your answer before you begin

Where appropriate, be sure to state:

What or who something is
Where it occurred or is located
Why it is important
When it occurred
How it happened or how it works

State YOUR position or approach clearly

Cite specific examples or references to support your statements

Mention problem areas or other relevant materials which you would like to consider further in a more thorough statement. That is, when you're finished with your answer, what major questions are still left unanswered?

Summarize your argument or discussion

Where appropriate use materials from more than one region of the world

Remember that your responses should have a beginning, a middle, and an end

Do not discuss any topic or country at length in more than one question

The four exam questions will be taken from the pool of questions that you and your classmates generate on the annotated Midterm Exam Discussion Study Page

The pool will include at least one current affairs question
The pool will include one question allowing you to make up and answer a question

See details and my comments in the annotated Midterm Exam Discussion Study Page

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Makeup Exams

With prior consent of the instructor, you may take makeup exams at a mutually convenient time.
It usually takes several days for makeup exams to be returned to you
Makeup Exam scores will be posted in your grade folder as soon as they are ready.
Use "The Curve" to figure out your letter grade

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This course is governed by the . . .

University of Minnesota Duluth Student Academic Integrity Policy
<http://d.umn.edu/academic-affairs/academic-policies/classroom-policies/student-academic-integrity>

UMD Office of Student and Community Standards
<http://www.d.umn.edu/conduct/>
.

Student Academic Integrity
-- UMD Office of Academic Affairs (Effective: November 22, 2011)

Use of AI-content generators for assignments in this class

When I taught Advanced Writing for the Social Sciences here at UMD, for over twenty-five years, my rule of thumb advice to students was to plan to spend 60% or more of their time and effort revising drafts (for academic type writing).

In 2001 Wikipedia appeared on the scene and very quickly became a useful tool as a starting point for many academic projects even though as an open-source resource the Wikipedia entries are not checked and verified in the same manner as other traditional reference materials.

Spelling and grammar checkers arrived on the general scene and helped with spelling and grammar checking, but, as you no doubt have discovered, they continue to require human editing.

And, of course, before that we had a selection of excellent Encyclopedia offering good starting points for many projects, the most popular being The Encyclopedia Brittanica.

And long before that there were libraries--since at least the days of Alexandria in Egypt, in the third century B.C.

The bottom line . . .

Today the evolution of research resources and aids continues with the relatively rapid appearance of ChatGPT and other automated content generators.

As many folks have already found out, they can be very useful as starting points, much like their predecessors. But, from the academic point of view, they are still only starting points.

Professors nationwide are for the most part advised, and even encouraged, to experiment with the potentials of ChatGPT and similar apps.

In this class it is fine to experiment, with the caveat that all of your written academic work demonstrates that your personal efforts—including content development and revision—reflect your personal originality, exploration, analysis, explanation, integrating and synthesizing of ideas, organizational skills, evaluation, and overall learning and critical thinking efforts.

That is to say you may experiment with the AI tool to do tasks such as e.g, brainstorming, narrowing topics, writing first drafts, editing text, and the like. AI-generated works should in no case be more than that.

In the end you need to become familiar enough with the various subjects, peoples, and places discussed in this class to research a topic and problem-solve on your own, and carry on an intelligent conversation about them in modern-day society . . . a conversation that goes byond your voicing an unsupported opinion.

Please ask questions of and offer comments to

troufs@d.umn.edu

USEFUL LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:

From Jill Jenson, Director of the Academic Writing & Learning Center

Some citation methods:

For the record, what follows is the official UMD Academic Integrity Policy. Note that "unless otherwise noted by the faculty member" this is the default policy.

"UMD’s Academic Integrity policy covers any work done by automated content generators such as ChatGPT or other generative artificial intelligence tools unless otherwise noted by the faculty member. These tools present new challenges and opportunities."

"Within the confines of this class The use of AI-content generators is strictly prohibited for any stage of homework/assignment (e.g., draft or final product). The primary purposes of college are developing your thinking skills, being creative with ideas, and expanding your understanding on a wide variety of topics. Using these content generating AI tools thwarts the goal of homework/assignments to provide students opportunities to achieve these purposes. Please make the most of this time that you have committed to a college education and learn these skills now, so that you can employ them throughout your life." -- Jennifer Mencl, UMD Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, 10 May 2023

Current information from the UMN Senate Committee on Educational Policy Resources

<https://provost.umn.edu/chatgpt-syllabus-statements>

See Also Using Wikipedia and other Standard Reference Works

.
"Academic dishonesty tarnishes UMD's reputation and discredits the accomplishments of students. UMD is committed to providing students every possible opportunity to grow in mind and spirit. This pledge can only be redeemed in an environment of trust, honesty, and fairness. As a result, academic dishonesty is regarded as a serious offense by all members of the academic community. In keeping with this ideal, this course will adhere to UMD's Student Academic Integrity Policy, which can be found at [http://www.d.umn.edu/conduct/integrity/Academic_Integrity_Policy.htm]

. This policy sanctions students engaging in academic dishonesty with penalties up to and including expulsion from the university for repeat offenders." — UMD Educational Policy Committee, Jill Jensen, Chair (08/16/2007)

and the UMD Student Conduct Code
<http://www.d.umn.edu/conduct/code/>

and the

Student Conduct Code Statement (students' rights)
<http://www.d.umn.edu/conduct/conduct/conduct-statement.html>

The instructor will enforce and students are expected to follow the University's Student Conduct Code [http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/academic/Student_Conduct_Code.html]. Appropriate classroom conduct promotes an environment of academic achievement and integrity. Disruptive classroom behavior that substantially or repeatedly interrupts either the instructor's ability to teach, or student learning, is prohibited. Disruptive behavior includes inappropriate use of technology in the classroom. Examples include ringing cell phones, text-messaging, watching videos, playing computer games, doing email, or surfing the Internet on your computer instead of note-taking or other instructor-sanctioned activities." — UMD Educational Policy Committee, Jill Jensen, Chair (08/16/2007)

Instructor and Student Responsibilities Policy

AVISO!

A Note on Extra Credit Papers

Failure to comply with the above codes and standards when submitting an Extra Credit paper will result in a penalty commensurate with the lapse, up to and including an F final grade for the course, and, at a minimum, a reduction in total points no fewer than the points available for the Extra Credit project. The penalty will not simply be a zero for the project, and the incident will be reported to the UMD Academic Integrity Officer in the Office of Student and Community Standards.

A Note on "Cutting and Pasting" without the Use of Quotation Marks
(EVEN IF you have a citation to the source somewhere in your paper)

If you use others' words and/or works you MUST so indicate that with the use of quotation marks. Failure to use quotation marks to indicate that the materials are not of your authorship constitutes plagiarism—even if you have a citation to the source elsewhere in your paper/work.

Patterned failure to so indicate that the materials are not of your own authorship will result in an F grade for the course.

Other instances of improper attribution will result in a 0 (zero) for the assignment (or a reduction in points equal to the value of an Extra Credit paper), and a reduction of one grade in the final grade of the course.

All incidents will be reported to the UMD Academic Integrity Officer in the Office of Student and Community Standards as is required by University Policy.

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© 2013 - 2018 Timothy G. Roufs
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