BCS 505: Syllabus

Spring 2012

Personnel

David Knill (Instructor)
Meliora 275
275-4589

Reading Material

There is no text for the class. Reading material will be posted on Blackboard.

Requirements

Students are required to attend all lectures and are expected to have done the reading for the class.

Thought questions

1 - 2 thought questions on the readings will be posted prior to each class. Students are expected to write one paragraph on each thought question and submit them to me electronically before midnight the night before the class. Students should bring printouts of their thought questions to the class.

Answers will be graded on a simple contract basis – 1 point for a reasonably coherent answer to the question that reflects a thoughtful analysis of the reading and 0 points for not turning in an answer or turning in an answer that reflects not having done the reading or having done a very superficial job of reading.

If you have to miss a class, I still expect you to do the readings and turn in responses to the thought questions, so conferences, etc. are not an excuse to miss an assignment (though I may accept them late in such cases). If you are sick, I will expect you to make up the readings and turn in the responses after you recover.

I will drop two zeros from the grade at the end (you get two free rides).

Student questions

Students should submit two or more questions on the reading prior to the class. Questions can be clarification questions, questions about background information relevant to the reading, questions that extend the concepts in the reading to vision in the real world or questions that challenge the concepts, methods or interpretations given in the readings.

Grading and expectations are exactly the same as for the thought questions.

Mid-term and final papers

You will have two writing assignments in the class. The mid-term paper is a 3000 word critical review paper on a topic covered in one of the lectures in the first half of the class.

You will first submit a one-paragraph proposal describing the topic and scope of the paper for feedback. The final paper will be a 3000-word research proposal. The proposal will include the main components of a regular NIH proposal – specific aims, significance and research plan. You will first submit a 1 page pre-proposal outlining the goals of the proposed research for feedback before writing the proposal itself.

Deadlines

March 13 mid-term paper proposal
March 22 mid-term paper
April 17 final paper pre-proposal
May 11 – final paper due

Grades

Daily assignments (Responses to thought questions and student questions) – 20%
Class participation – 20%
Mid-term paper – 30%
Final paper – 30%

top