ST. THOMAS UNIVERSITY HUMAN RIGHTS PROGRAM

GUIDELINES FOR STUDENTS

Introduction to Human Rights (Comeau)

The standard Guideline for the Human Rights Program has been adapted by the instructor. These adaptations are indicated by the use of boldface.

Please note that Academic Regulations may be found in the Calendar.

ATTENDANCE

The work that a student performs in class is an essential part of the learning experience and students are expected to attend every class. Students who miss classes are not fulfilling the course requirements. Attendance will therefore be taken in every class.

An instructor may ask students who miss class to do a make-up assignment. The instructor may also take attendance into consideration when determining participation grades. (Attendance will “count”. Students are referred to the course outline.)

The instructor has the right to determine when a student's scholastic standing is being affected adversely by repeated absences. In such an instance, the instructor shall provide the Registrar with a letter of warning, directed to the student, indicating that the student’s standing is in jeopardy. If the matter cannot be resolved to the instructor’s satisfaction, the instructor may then, in consultation with the Vice-President (Academic), require the student to withdraw from the course. See Academic Regulation A.4, "Dismissal from Course".

PARTICIPATION

Students are expected to participate actively in classes. Participation includes asking and answering questions, completing quizzes, and presenting summaries of lectures or discussions.

Most classes will include a participation grade, to be calculated in the manner set out in the syllabus of the course. The purpose of such a grade is to ensure that you are participating intellectually in the course. (See the course outline.)

An individual instructor may choose to award a bonus mark for participation in class, in exceptional circumstances, where a student’s final grade fails to reflect their standing in the course.

GRADING

The scale is as follows:

95 -100 A+
90 - 94 A
85 - 89 A-
80 - 84 B+
75 - 79 B
70 - 74 B-
65 - 69 C+
60 - 64 C
55 - 59 C-
50 - 54 D
Below 50 F

Letter grades will be assigned the following values:

A+ 98
A 92
A- 87
B+ 82
B 77
B- 72
C+ 67
C 62
C- 57
D 52
F 25

A grade of 0 will be assigned to work that is not completed. Information relating to the calculation of grade point averages is available in the Calendar.

SUBMISSION OF ASSIGNMENTS

1. Assignments must be submitted by the date assigned by the instructor. The only acceptable reasons for missing such a deadline are a medical problem or compassionate circumstances. Having forgotten, having missed a ride, etc. are not acceptable excuses. In the case of a medical problem, a valid medical certificate will be required. In other cases, a written request is required, stating the reason for the request. The student will in some cases be requested to do a make-up assignment rather than the original assignment. The student should accordingly contact the instructor before proceeding.

2. Students who do not submit their work by the assigned date will normally be given an extension of one week, but will be assigned a late penalty of half a letter grade, a full letter grade, or 10%, at the instructor’s discretion. Papers will not be accepted beyond this point.

3. The instructor may decide not to grant an extension in cases where the assignment is being completed in class.

4. Plagiarism is the act of presenting the words, thoughts, or ideas of another as your own. While word for word copying constitutes plagiarism, this is merely its most extreme form. Paraphrasing the words or ideas of another is also plagiarism unless you clearly acknowledge your source by means of a proper footnote. In cases where one student has copied the work of another, the student who has allowed his or her work to be copied may be subjected to the same penalties as the student who does the copying. See Academic Regulation D, "Academic Misconduct".

5. Work prepared for another course may not be submitted.

6. Unless the instructor indicates otherwise, all essays and assignments should be printed, double-spaced, on clean white paper, with reasonable margins. (Handwritten assignments will not be accepted.)

7. Essays and assignments must be held together by staples or a jacket. Papers and assignments consisting of a collection of sheets folded together will not be accepted.

WRITING SKILLS

1. In order to promote better writing skills, instructors will deduct marks for grammatical and spelling errors in all essays and assignments. Where a paper contains a substantial number of errors, the instructor may require that it be resubmitted. The student will not receive any marks for such a paper until it has been resubmitted.

2. Out of convenience for the students, instructors may choose to use the following marking scheme:

Problem Symbol
Spelling Sp

Error in use of adjective or adverb

Ad
Lack of coherence Coh
Idiom Id
Awkward expression Awk
Error in pronoun-antecedent agreement PAgr
Punctuation P

Quotation not integrated into text

 Q
Repetition R

Two or more sentences run together

 Run-on
Split Infinitive SInf
Error in sentence structure SS
Subject-verb agreement VAg
Diction D
Problems in paragraph structure Par
Pronoun error Pr
Word choice

WC

FOOTNOTES

1. Students should use the following style in their papers:

* In the case of a book, start with the author's name (initials/given name first), followed by a comma. Then give the full title, which should be underlined or italicized. Next, in brackets, give the city in which the book was published, followed by a colon, the name of the publisher, a comma, and then the date of publication. Place a comma after that bracket and then give the page number or numbers. Example:
17. Michael Mandel, The Charter of Rights and the Legalization of Politics in Canada (Toronto: Wall and Thompson, 1989), 214-218.
* In the case of an article in a collection, state the author's name, the title of the article in quotation marks (not underlined), followed by "in"; then give the name of the editor of the book, followed by "ed.," and then the normal format as in the previous entry. Example:
18. J. Stefan Dupre, "Section 106A and Federal-Provincial Fiscal Relations" in Katherine Swinton and C.J. Rogers, eds., Competing Constitution Visions (Toronto: Carswell, 1988), 209.
* In the case of an article from a journal or newspaper, proceed as above. Be sure to give the date and the volume number of the journal or newspaper. Example:
19. Keith Archer, "A Simultaneous Equation Model of Canadian Voting Behaviour" in The Canadian Journal of Political Science XX:3 (September 1987), 557.
* Once you have given the full reference to a work, it suffices in subsequent references to indicate the author's last name, followed by an abbreviated version of the title and the page number. Example:
21. Dupre, “Section 106A”, 211.
* In the case of a legal decision, state the style of cause in italics, the year of the decision or the volume of reports, the volume number of the reports, the abbreviated title of the reports, the page number of the first page of the report, followed by an abbreviation of the court or tribunal. There are slight variations in the reporting of legal decisions and you only need to worry about essentials. Examples:
Ross v. New Brunswick School District No. 15, (1991) 15 C.H.R.R. 339 (N.B.C.A.)
This is a decision from the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, which was reported in the Canadian Human Rights Reporter, the major human rights series in Canada.
Ross v. New Brunswick School District No. 15, [1996] 1 S.C.R. 825
This is the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the same case. There is no reference to the Supreme Court of Canada in brackets (S.C.C.) because the reporting series is the Supreme Court Reports, which only reports the decisions of the Supreme court.
University of California Regents v. Bakke, (1978) 438 U.S. 265.
This is a decision of the United States Supreme Court. There is no reference to the court because the reporting series only reports the decisions of that court.
* In the case of a statute, state the title of the statute, the collection of statutes from which it is taken, the date of the collection, the chapter number of the statute, and the section, if any, to which you are referring. Examples:
Canadian Human Rights Act, S.C. 1976-77, c. 33, s. 15
The abbreviation “S.C.” refers to “Statutes of Canada”. You will also see references to “R.S.C.”, the “Revised Statutes of Canada”.
New Brunswick Human Rights Act, R.S.N.B. 1973, c. H-11, s. 5(1)
The abbreviation “R.S.N.B.” refers to the “Revised Statutes of New Brunswick”.

2. It is imperative that students provide page numbers in their notations. With legislation, it is sufficient to refer to section numbers.

3. Students should use footnotes, not endnotes, in their papers. Footnotes are important for three reasons. First, it demonstrates that the student is aware of some of the significant work in the area. Secondly, it protects the student from charges of plagiarism. Thirdly, it allows your reader to follow up on and investigate the point you are making.

BIBLIOGRAPHIES

A bibliography should appear on a separate page at the end of each paper. The citation style that should be used for bibliographies is different than the style that should be used for footnotes. Your bibliography should appear on a separate page at the end of your paper. The entries should begin with the author's last name first and be listed in alphabetical order. Cases and statutes should be listed under the first letter of their title or style of cause.

Bibliography

Archer, K. "A Simultaneous Equation Model of Canadian Voting Behaviour." The Canadian Journal of Political Science XX:3 (September 1987): 550-77.

Banting, K.G., "Federalism, Social Reform and the Spending Power." Canadian Public Policy XIV (September 1988): 81-92.

Hogg, P.W. The Meech Lake Constitutional Accord Annotated. Toronto: Carswell, l988.

Mandel, M. The Charter of Rights and the Legalization of Politics in Canada. Toronto: Wall and Thompson, 1989.

Swinton, K.E. and Rogers, C.J. Competing Constitutional Visions. Toronto: Carswell, 1988.

Unemployment Insurance Act, S.C. 1970-71-72, c. 48

University of California Regents v. Bakke, (1978) 438 U.S. 265.

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