PHYS328 SCIENCE SEMINAR

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Instructor:	Dr. John D. Reid
Email:	jreid@eagle.lhup.edu
Web Home Page:	http://www.lhup.edu/~jreid
Office:	227 Ulmer
Office Phone:	893-2078
Office Hours:	mon wed fri 10:00-12:00 OR BY APPOINTMENT!!!

Meeting Time: 2:10-3:30 Tues, Thurs

GRADING:

Quizzes 10%
There will be brief weekly quizzes every Thursday unless otherwise announced. Quizzes are "open notes", and cover material presented in previous classes. The lowest two quizzes will be dropped.

Contemporary Articles 10%
Each Tuesday (unless otherwise announced) you are to submit a summary of an article from a science periodical. The requirements of the summary are:

The periodical must come from my list of periodicals which is found on my web page. I will be happy to add other periodicals that you may wish to use.
The article must be less than a year old.
The summary must be typed, double spaced and about 1 page in length.
You are exempt from this assignment during the weeks you are giving a presentation.
A copy of the article must be attached to your summary.
The summary must contain a proper reference to the article using this format: "title of the article", author (if given), title of publication, volume (if given), page, date of article
The summary must contain information from at least one other source along with a reference. This source can include other periodicals, text books, library books, etc. (For this summary the web will not be an acceptable source.)

Presentations	30%

Each person will be required to give two presentations during the semester.

You should plan your presentation to last about 20 minutes.
- For the first presentation topics must be preapproved by me no later than 1 week prior.
- For the second presentation topics must be preapproved by me no later than 2 weeks prior. Along with the topic you must submit a primary reference, which will be distributed to the class prior to your presentation. (See "assignments" below.)
Presentation dates will be scheduled for each person.
Swapping dates with others is ok with my approval.
Because the success of the seminar depends on your participation, there will be a grading penalty for "no-shows".
As part of your presentation you must submit a detailed, typed summary of your presentation of no less than 2 pages.
Your summary must include at least 3 references and no more than one one third of these can be from the web.
At the end of your presentation you must submit to the class 3 questions addressed to the class and intended to provoke discussion.
The class is expected to ask questions of the speaker and you will be partly graded on your response to these questions.

Assignments	5%

For each person's second presentation, each person (excluding the presenter) must submit typewritten, duplicate copies of two questions one class prior to the presentation. One copy will go to the speaker and I will retain one copy for grading. Include

your name
topic of presentation
name of speaker
date of seminar

There may, on occasion, be other assignments.

Evaluations of Presentations	10%

Each person will be required to evaluate the presentations of others. I will distribute evaluation forms before presentations. The evaluation will be graded. The evaluation will, however, not effect the grade of the presenter. After my review of the evaluations they will be submitted anonymously to the presenter.

Papers	20%

Two papers will be required during the semester. Each is due no later than 2 weeks after your presentation. Topics must be preapproved. Using the topics of your presentation is encouraged. It is expected that the papers will deal with the topics in more depth than the presentation and perhaps include issues resulting from class discussions. You should assume the reader did not attend your presentation. The level of detail should be greater than that of the presentation.

Participation	5%

Participation is class discussion is expected and I will keep a record of it.

Final Exam	10%

Each student will submit 3 questions before the final. They will be short essay question covering topics discusses in the course. The questions cannot deal directly with your own specific presentation or paper. The questions will be graded as an assignment. I will distribute all questions to the class before the final and use them to make the final along with questions of my own. How many of the student's questions are used will depend on the quality of the questions.

Notes
It is expected that you will keep notes during seminar (including discussions, presentations, videos, etc). You may uses these notes during quizzes and during the final.

WEB
The internet contains a wealth of useful information. Be aware, however, that some of that information does not meet the standards required for publication in recognized scientific references. In particular, information found on the net may not have undergone the peer-review process routinely required for formal publication. If you use the internet, you are responsible for choosing only those sources associated with recognized scientific or educational organizations. If you are not sure about the suitability of a source, ask about it.