The American West33-582 · Fall 2026

Course practices and support

Clear boundaries protect access, judgment, and historical evidence.

Canvas announcements govern room changes, weather adjustments, and authorized deadline changes. Current institutional policy language and support links in Canvas remain authoritative.

Attendance

Required, with approved absences protected.

University-approved absences do not count against the attendance threshold. Students may have up to three counted absences without an automatic grade reduction; each counted absence beyond three lowers the final course grade by one-third of a letter grade.

Students remain responsible for communicating promptly and arranging a lawful, feasible way to complete essential reasoning evidence when an approved absence affects in-class work.

Deadlines and grace

Friday deadline, automatic Sunday grace period.

Assignments are generally due Friday at 11:59 p.m. Central. A no-penalty, no-permission-needed grace period extends through Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Work is not accepted after Sunday unless the instructor approved an extension in advance or extenuating circumstances apply.

Course principle

AI may support production, but it may not substitute for historical judgment.

Permitted with a Decision Record

  • Generate search terms only after recording your initial question.
  • Test organization, possible counterarguments, clarity, accessibility, or sentence-level expression after your own analysis is established.
  • Use approved accessibility tools without outsourcing the historical interpretation.

Not permitted

  • Using generative AI during designated in-class reasoning, source markup, unseen transfer questions, or the in-class synthesis.
  • Submitting generated thesis language, source analysis, evidence claims, citations, translations, images, or transcripts as your own.
  • Replacing required reading or uploading private, restricted, culturally sensitive, or personally identifiable archival material.

Common Decision Record

Document what you decided, rejected, changed, and verified.

You are responsible for every submitted claim. Verify quotations, citations, facts, and source descriptions in the original source; retain notes and meaningful drafts; and be ready to explain your choices.

  1. 01

    State your initial claim or plan before substantial AI assistance.

  2. 02

    Name the most consequential interpretive choice you made and explain why.

  3. 03

    Identify one plausible alternative you rejected and the evidence behind that decision.

  4. 04

    Name evidence that changed, narrowed, or complicated your thinking.

  5. 05

    State one claim you cannot fully establish with the available evidence.

  6. 06

    Record AI use: tool, purpose, what you accepted, rejected, and verified—or write ‘No generative AI used.’

Citation

Use Chicago Notes-Bibliography unless the instructor approves another historical citation system.

Ethical quotation

Quote racist, violent, or dehumanizing historical language only when analysis requires it and always contextualize it.

Accessible media

Audio/video work requires captions or a transcript; public artifacts require image descriptions or alt text and an accessible backup format.

Format barriers

Contact the instructor promptly when a format or activity creates an access barrier. A format-equivalent pathway is available when the original mode is not essential to the learning outcome.