Tom McGahagan's Home Page
Dr. Thomas A. McGahagan
Associate Professor of Economics
, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
123 Krebs Hall
E-mail: mgahagan@pitt.edu
Special Notice for Fall 2009-10
Adjustments to syllabus in case of a severe flu outbreak.
Curving Grades
Study Hints for Economics
Guide to Written Assignments
Since I assign brief papers in many classes, a guide to my expectations
and grading policies and a few helpful hints are included here.
- What is Plagiarism? (Georgetown University)
I will use the guidelines of the Georgetown University Honor Code in judging cases of plagiarism. Students are expected to be familiar with the guidelines,and to avoid not only wholesale copying but even brief unacknowledged quotes and excessively close paraphrase. The penalty for even mild plagiarism is a zero on the paper; for severe cases it will result in failure for the course and may result in further penalties, including suspension and expulsion.
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Guide to Written Assignments (Dr. McGahagan)
This Guide was designed primarily with the needs of Introductory
Economics (Economics 080) in mind, but unless otherwise announced
its provisions apply to all my classes.
- Guide to Writing a Summary
Writing a summary of an article or book is an important skill to master.
I frequently assign summaries to my upper-level classes, and will expect you to follow the guidelines given in this guide.
- Writing the Academic Paper
The website of the Dartmouth Wrting Program provides very helpful guidelines for researching, organizing and writing a college lvel paper.
It also provides excellent guides to resume writing and graduate school applications.
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Research hints (Purdue University)
The Online Writing Lab of Purdue University is a very good source for hints and advice about academic research and writing in general (including resume writing).
See especially their guide to bibiography formatting
Note that I link to the sociology formatting for in-text citations, which is also standard in economics.
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Writing resources from the UPJ Writing Program (Mrs. McGahagan)