Definitions:

1. "The syllabus is a small place to start bringing students and faculty members back
together." Sharon Rubin, "Professors, Students, and the Syllabus," Chronicle of Higher
Education, Aug. 7, 1985, p. 56.
Source; https://www.duq.edu/about/centers-and-institutes/center-for-teaching-
excellence/teaching-and-learning/importance-of-the-course-syllabus

2. Despite the almost universal agreement on the need for a syllabus in college courses,
what actually constitutes a syllabus – content, format, and function – remains unclear. This
lack of consensus may derive from the need of the syllabus to fulfill multiple purposes and
to satisfy multiple constituents. (Doolittle & Siudzinsla, 2010, p. 30)

Source: https://www.pfw.edu/dotAsset/bdf64113-75c4-487a-ba68-dfcc3044ce9c.pdf

3. The ambiguity about the meaning of the term does not seem to have dissipated in the
subsequent centuries. For example, the term has been used in some fields to refer to a
course of study rather than a document outlining information about the course (Bass 1993,
Hill 1996, Sheen 1994).

Source: https://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~coesyl-p/syllabus_cline_article_2.pdf