User:Ryan McGrady/spring2014/com257

 This is the course assignment page for sections 001 and 002 of COM 257, Media History and Theory, during the Spring 2014 semester at North Carolina State University. Here you can find information about the assignment, a timeline of lab dates and when milestones are due, workshop pages, and all sorts of useful information to help you along the way. This course also uses the Wikipedia Education Program extension for organizational purposes only, accessible via Education Program:North Carolina State University/COM 257 Media History and Theory (Spring 2014).''

Course instructor: Ryan McGrady  Optional extra credit project: Adding photos to the Commons

A note on academic integrity
Some people think Wikipedia is kind of a free-for-all when it comes to copying/pasting to/from it. Although Wikipedia is not copyrighted, almost everything else is. That creates a legal problem, so text that you copy/paste from another website, article, book, etc. into your article will almost certainly be removed by someone, the article tagged for deletion in particularly egregious cases, and a warning or ban for you. Additionally copyright is totally separate from plagiarism and academic integrity. Even though a source like Wikipedia or something published by the US Government is technically free to use, failing to cite your sources creates at least one or two problems: first, on Wikipedia no original research is allowed and practically everything must be verifiable in secondary sources; second, if it seems you are claiming the work as your own, that amounts to plagiarism which -- as I'm sure you've heard several times by now -- is a big issue at the University level potentially leading to academic probation, a failing grade, or expulsion.

Note that close paraphrasing can also constitute plagiarism and/or a copyright violation. Please refer to the Wikipedia essay on close paraphrasing for more specific information about this.