Text
No text is required.  Hand-out materials may be provided by the instructor.

Grading

 

Attendance (20 points X 14 lectures periods  =	280
Resume	100
Title and Description	20
Hardcopy of Library Search	30
Oral Presentation	200
Written Proposal	320
Class Participation	50
Total	1000

A. ATTENDANCE (280 POINTS):
Attendance to all but one of the senior seminar sessions is mandatory.  Exceptions will be offered under the following conditions:
 1. the absence is due to factors beyond your control -- injury or illness to you or a member of your immediate family (parents, brother, sister, spouse, children); you must contact your instructor immediately upon the development of the problem, and you may be asked to provide evidence of why it was necessary to miss class.
 2. out-of-town trips for activities scheduled and sponsored by University department or approved clubs; you must notify the instructor IN ADVANCE of such activities, and provide the "Trip Absence Card" provided by the sponsor.
 You can miss one session without loosing points.  After that, each unexcused absence results in the loss of 20 points.
G. CLASS PARTICIPATION AND EVALUATIONS OF OTHER STUDENT'S SEMINAR (50 POINTS):
Students are expected to ask questions at the end of each seminar, and will be graded accordingly.  The evaluation sheets completed by each student will be reviewed and evaluated.  Students which do not provide specific justifications for the scores given in these evaluations will loose points proportional to the insufficiency of the evaluations.
 
Grades are on a straight percentage:

Percentage	Total Points	Grade
90-100	900-1000	A
80-89	800-899	B
70-79	700-799	C
60-69	600-699	D
0-59	<599	F

Dishonesty Policy
Cheating on any class assignments will result in a zero for that assignment. A definition of "cheating" is found in the SDSU Student Policies Manual, Section 01:10:01 on cheating, plagiarism and facilitating academic dishonesty. See also the Biology/Microbiology Department Dishonesty Policy for further details. Fulfillment of assigned projects must represent the original work of each student. Plagiarism is not appropriate (I have kept copies of all the assignments since the beginning of this class).

Attendance Policy
Attendance at all undergraduate seminar sessions is mandatory. Exceptions will be offered under the following conditions:

• the absence is due to factors beyond your control -- injury or illness to you or a member of your immediate family (parents, brother, sister, spouse, children)
• death of any of the above or of a close friend
• Attendance at a wedding as a member of the wedding party will be excused upon accetable explanation of the function which the student is to perform.  The student must obtain permission of the instructor IN ADVANCE.
• out-of-town trips for activities scheduled and sponsored by University department or approved clubs; you must notify the instructor IN ADVANCE of such activities
two or more unexcused absences can lower your grade one letter grade!!

Advanced Writing Goal Statement
Students will build upon the concepts learned in courses covering SGE Goal #1 and refine their skills through research and writing in a discipline specific context
 
SLO #1: Read extensively and respond critically in the written discourse of a discipline; formulate research questions, refine topics, develop a plan for research and organize what is known about a topic; articulate a position through a thesis statement and advance it using evidence from primary and secondary sources, examples, and counterarguments that are relevant to the audience of issues at hand.
 
SLO #2: Use a style manual and other writing conventions specific to a discipline; avoid plagiarism by adhering to the rules for paraphrasing, summarizing, and the use of quotations, as well as the conventions for incorporating information from Internet-based resources.
 
SLO #3: Evaluate sources critically, both print and electronic, discern the strength of evidence and arguments, determine credibility, and identify potential bias and overall quality
 
SLO #4: Present the results of research or projects, either collaboratively or individually, to the class, department, faculty, community members, or at a student research or professional conference.

The BOR policy manual states:
Freedom in learning. Students are responsible for learning the content of any course of study in which they are enrolled. Under Board of Regents and University policy, student academic performance shall be evaluated solely on an academic basis and students should be free to take reasoned exception to the data or views offered in any course of study. Students who believe that an academic evaluation is unrelated to academic standards but is related instead to judgment of their personal opinion or conduct should first contact the instructor of the course. If the student remains unsatisfied, the student may contact the department head and/or dean of the college which offers the class to initiate a review of the evaluation.