Reading

The assigned readings are the core of the course material, and students are expected to carefully and critically read each assignment before class. All readings will be available as PDFs linked from the schedule below.

Lectures

Typically, the first 15–30 minutes of the class will consist of instructor lectures. Students are encouraged to engage in class-wide discussion. These lectures work best for everyone when students ask questions and add their own insights, so please do not be shy!

The instructor’s slides will be made available before class, and a recording of the lecture (with a computer-generated transcript) will be available later the same day.

Group discussions

The large portion of class time will be devoted to small-group discussions and collaborative composition of discussion responses. After the add–drop period, students will form groups of five or six. Groups will use a provided worksheet to discuss the readings and other course content. Groups will keep a record of their discussion in a shared document, which will be submitted at the end of class. Evaluation of group discussions is based on this document.

Marks for worksheet responses will be determined by an average of peer assessments and TA scores, and will given to all members of the group. At the end of the semester, groups will perform peer evaluation that will adjust each participant’s discussion grade up or down by as much as 10%.

Group discussion worksheets will contribute 37% to the final grade for the course.

Discussion prompts

Each student is responsible for submitting two discussion prompts relating to the readings over the semester. By the end of the second full week of class, random assignments will be sent to each student. If your assigned reading creates a conflict for you, please contact the professor as soon as possible to resolve the scheduling.

Discussion prompts will be evaluated on a ten-point scale based on the engagement and originality of the question. Student-submitted prompts should reference the target reading as well as another reading or concept from the class. For example the prompt might contrast a point made in the text to another reading or it might reference an idea raised in an earlier class lecture or student presentation. Students should try to craft questions that will help others to think outside and beyond the specific reading.

Throughout the semester, the instructor will choose some submitted questions to be included on the discussion worksheets described above. Students whose questions are used in this way will receive an automatic mark of 10/10 (100%) on their submission, even if they would otherwise have gotten a lower score.

Discussion prompts will contribute 15% to the final grade for the course.

Written evaluations

The course will have a midterm (in-class) and a final (centrally scheduled) evaluation. The evaluations will consist of short, free-form written responses to a selection of questions covering major ideas and topics from the class. The evaluations will be closed-book and must be completed in person.

The questions will prioritize students’ overall critical engagement with the course material over specific terminology or details from the readings.

The midterm evaluation will be worth 15% and the final will be worth 25% of the final grade.

Accessibility

Students who need accommodation or who are having trouble accessing any aspect of the course may contact me directly. I will make every effort to accommodate individual situations, including religious, medical, or other personal circumstances.

Students with disabilities or otherwise in need of formal accommodation are encouraged to contact the Office for Student Accessibility & Achievement (formerly Office for Students with Disabilities: https://www.mcgill.ca/access-achieve/, phone 514-398-6009).

Les étudiants qui ont besoin d’un accommodation ou qui ont des difficultés à accéder à un aspect du cours peuvent me contacter directement. Je ferai tout mon possible pour tenir compte des circonstances individuelles, y compris des circonstances religieuses, médicales ou autres.

Les étudiants handicapés ou ayant besoin d’un aménagement formel sont encouragés à contacter le Service étudiant d’accessibilité et d’aide à la réussite (https://www.mcgill.ca/access-achieve/fr, téléphone 514-398-6009).

Late submissions

Assignments that are submitted late (without prior approval for an extension) will be assessed with the following penalties:

1. 15 percentage points deducted from submissions up to 24 hours late
2. 10 percentage points for each additional 24 hours (or portion thereof) late

Academic integrity

McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see http://www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/honest/ for more information).(approved by Senate on 29 January 2003)

L’université McGill attache une haute importance à l’honnêteté académique. Il incombe par conséquent à tous les étudiants de comprendre ce que l’on entend par tricherie, plagiat et autres infractions académiques, ainsi que les conséquences que peuvent avoir de telles actions, selon le Code de conduite de l’étudiant et des procédures disciplinaires (pour de plus amples renseignements, veuillez consulter le site http://www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/honest/).

Generative AI

The use of “generative AI” tools (e.g. Microsoft Copilot, Apple Intelligence, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, OpenAI ChatGPT, etc.) for the assignments in this course is strictly prohibited. This prohibition includes programs such as Grammarly, ProWritingAid, DeepL, and any other program that offers to re-phrase, adjust the tone, or “humanize” text. Students are further prohibited from submitting course content such as slides, discussion questions, or readings to any such services.

Please note that the prohibition on “generative AI” applies to the instructors and teaching assistants as well. We will not use these tools to write course content, compose feedback, or evaluate student work. We will not input student work to these tools, nor will we upload submissions to “AI detector” software.

Language of evaluation

In accord with McGill University’s Charter of Students’ Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded. (approved by Senate on 21 January 2009)

Conformément à la Charte des droits de l’étudiant de l’Université McGill, chaque étudiant a le droit de soumettre en français ou en anglais tout travail écrit devant être noté (sauf dans le cas des cours dont l’un des objets est la maîtrise d’une langue).

Grade appeals

Instructors and teaching assistants take the marking of assignments very seriously, and we work diligently to be fair, consistent, and accurate. Nonetheless, mistakes and oversights occasionally happen. If you believe that to be the case, you must adhere to the following rules:

• If it is a mathematical error simply alert the instructor of the error.
• In the case of more substantive appeals, you must:
  1. Wait at least 24 hours after receiving your mark.
  2. Carefully re-read your assignment, all guidelines and marking schemes, and the grader’s comments.
  3. If you wish to appeal, you must submit to the instructor a written explanation of why you think your mark should be altered. Please note that upon re-grade your mark may go down, stay the same, or go up.

Copyright ©

Unless otherwise noted, this website and all co-hosted resources (e.g., linked pages, slides) are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. This licence is understood to prohibit the use of these materials for the training of LLM-based generative models.

All other instructor-generated course materials (e.g., handouts, notes, summaries, exam questions, and lecture recordings) are protected by law and may not be copied or distributed in any form or in any medium without explicit permission of the instructor. Note that copyright infringements can be subject to follow-up by the University under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures.