This information applies to all courses taught by Zachary M. Schrag at George Mason University. Some language is taken verbatim from the recommendations of the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning and other George Mason University offices.

Last updated August 8, 2025.

George Mason University Policies and Resources

Common Policies Affecting All Courses at George Mason University

go.gmu.edu/common-course-policies

This page includes information on:
• Academic Standards
• Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
• FERPA and Use of GMU Email Addresses for Course Communication
• Title IX Resources and Required Reporting
Student Support Resources on Campus (go.gmu.edu/studentsupportresources)

Student Support Resources on Campus

go.gmu.edu/studentsupportresources

Zachary Schrag Policies

These materials are not university policies but are common to my courses. If any appear to conflict with university policies, please let me know.

Citation and Collaboration

Except as instructed, you are expected to work independently and to acknowledge all sources, including assigned texts and materials found online. I do not routinely use plagiarism-detection software, but I reserve the right to use this and other means to investigate suspected plagiarism.

While you are responsible for your own essays, you will get a great deal of help from each other identifying and interpreting primary and secondary sources, and revising your work. Please credit this help as appropriate. You may not submit work based whole or in part on work you have done for credit in other courses without written permission of the instructor.

If you have questions about when to cite, I recommend Kate L. Turabian et al., A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Ninth Edition (University of Chicago Press, 2018).

In general, any sentence in your work that can be traced to a single sentence in someone else’s work should bear a footnote. Any collaboration, such as consultation with the Writing Center, should also be acknowledged. Violations of academic integrity will be reported to the administration and may result in grade penalties, including failure of the course.

Papers in undergraduate classes should use APA, MLA, or Chicago Manual of Style citation; Chicago is preferred, especially for history majors, and it is required for students in HIST 300 and 499 and for graduate students. The full text of the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style is available to Mason affiliates at https://www-chicagomanualofstyle-org.mutex.gmu.edu/home.html.

Nonstandard citation will not receive full credit.

Classroom Rules

Laptops and other electronic devices can be used only for class purposes. If they distract you or other students, I will ask you to stop using them.
Please do not eat in the classroom, before or during class.

Computers and Online Components

My courses are mostly paperless; most assignments should be posted on Canvas, where you will also receive feedback.

Formats

Please use .docx for all assignments. This will make it easier for us to share drafts. You are welcome to use word processors other than Microsoft Word, provided you know how to export to .docx format.

Please do not send Microsoft Works (.wps) attachments; I cannot open them. Please do not send Microsoft shortcuts (.lnk) which work only on your local computer.

Backup

I sometimes hear from students who have lost hours or even days of work due to loss, theft, or malfunction of a computer. I expect you to plan your work so that the sudden loss of a file, device, or computer will not set you back more than a day.

The best way to achieve this is to use an online backup system so that the malfunction or loss of the computer you usually use will not take your work with it.

As part of your Mason e-mail account, you have 50 GB of online storage on OneDrive. Since you lose access when you stop taking classes, do not store your only copy of important work there. But it may be useful for backup.

Versioning

Simultaneous backup will not protect you if you overwrite the document you are working on and then save that version. I suggest that every time you plan to make substantial changes to the draft of your paper, you first make a copy of the draft and save it with the date of the changes in the file name. That way, if you make changes you regret, you can go back to the earlier version.

Course Materials and Student Privacy

(As recommended by the Stearns Center)

Videorecordings of class meetings that are shared only with the instructors and students officially enrolled in a class do not violate FERPA or any other privacy expectation. Videorecordings that only include the instructor (no student names, images, voices, or identifiable texts) may be shared without violating FERPA.

All course materials posted to Blackboard or other course site are private to this class; by federal law, any materials that identify specific students (via their name, voice, or image) must not be shared with anyone not enrolled in this class.

• Videorecordings — whether made by instructors or students — of class meetings that include audio, visual, or textual information from other students are private and must not be shared outside the class
• Live video conference meetings (e.g. Collaborate or Zoom) that include audio, textual, or visual information from other students must be viewed privately and not shared with others in your household or recorded and shared outside the class

Deadlines and Extensions

Some assignments, such as reading responses, are designed to prepare you to participate in class and to provide resources for your classmates. If you do not complete these by the posted deadlines, they are of less value to the course, so late assignments will get only partial credit.

Assignments that are designed to demonstrate your learning, such as final drafts of essays, should reflect your best work. If you think that additional time will hep you do that best work, please let me know as soon as possible. Keep in mind, however, that delaying one assignment may give you less time for the next.

Inclement Weather

In case of inclement weather, please call the main switchboard at 703-993-1000 or consult the main web page at http://www.gmu.edu/ to see if classes are cancelled. I expect to cancel classroom meetings only when the university cancels all classes. If possible, we will meet online at the regular class time in order to keep to schedule.