Syllabus

Session 1

Week 1 -	9/1 -	Overview of Class, syllabus; (Sheldon); start Nature of Science (Sojka)
Week 2 -	9/8 -	Continue Nature of Science - What is science and scientific research? (Sojka) [HW1 assigned: register for Marcus and Nature of Research Quiz, due next week]
Week 3 -	9/14 - 9/15 -	Academic Fair Report back on Academic Fair; Finding a Mentor and Preparing an Academic Resume (Sheldon) [HW2 assigned: resume, due next week]
Week 4 -	9/22 -	Report back on resumes; Finding a Research Opportunity How and Why? (Sheldon) [HW3 assigned: Faculty Profiles, due next week]
Week 5 -	9/29 -	Report back on faculty research (Sheldon); guests visit to talk about research opportunities or go over specific internship opportunities
Week 6 -	10/6 -	Working with Faculty; lab/research etiquette and safety (Sojka) [HW4 assigned: Lab Accident, due next week]
Week 7 -	10/13 -	Research Library Skills Session (Schenk)

Session 2

Week 8 -	10/27 -	Overview of Class, syllabus (Sheldon) Reading a Journal Article (Schenk) [HW1 assigned: Reading a Scientific Paper, due next week]
Week 9 -	11/3 -	Communicating Research I: Prepare for MARCUS (Sheldon) [MARCUS assignment assigned: Report on MARCUS, due next week] Research Literacy (Schenk)
Saturday	11/7 -	MARCUS CONFERENCE (Sheldon) [Report on MARCUS already assigned, due next class]
Week 10 -	11/10 -	Report Back on MARCUS (Sheldon); Research Literacy continued (Schenk) [HW2 assigned: Research Literacy, due next week]
Week 11 -	11/17 -	Peer Review Lit Review (Schenk) [HW3 assigned: Peer Review, due next week]
Week 12 -	11/24 -	Discuss Research Assignment/IRB (Sheldon) Research Ethics (Sojka)
Week 13 -	12/1 -	CITI Training (Sheldon)
Week 14 -	12/8 -	Communicating Research II: create a poster (Sojka)
Week 15 -	12/15 -	Poster Presentations and Potluck (Sojka)

Homework: A short homework assignment will be assignmed most weeks, due at the start of class the following week. Assignments will be typicallly be submitted in Moodle before the start of class. In addition, you must go to at least one Lunch & Learns with faculty each session (total of two), and should ask them about what they do for research. Be sure to write some notes about each L&L, you will be asked to report back. You are expected to register for and attend the MARCUS conference and report back. At the end of the class, in Session 2, you will have a two-week final research project.

Policy:

Attendamce is required.
In Session 1, your grade is based on class participation - 40% - and about 5 homework assignments (including attending a L&L) - 60%.
In Session 2, your grade is based on class participation - 30% - and about 4 homework assignments (including attending a L&L's) - 30%., attendance at MARCUS and associated assignment - 20% - and your final research and poster presentation - 20%.
If there are true conflicts with MARCUS or L&L's, you will have an alternative assignment to complete.
Late assignments: The learning benefit of doing an out-of-class assignment is mostly gained by doing it within the period when it is due since that is when we are most engaged with the relevant material. Allowing that sometimes you just feel overwhelmed, late assignments will be accepted until the next class day after it was originally due (one week late in most cases), with a nominal 5% penalty to incentivize you to do the assignments when they are most beneficial. This penalty will be applied to any assignment turned in at any time after the original due date/time, and up until the next class period. After this period, late assignments will not be accepted, as it is most likely that you will be doing the assignment as busy-work to boost your grade, and there is little learning that is likely to be gained. We truly want you to learn from this class, and the assignments that we choose and their due dates are based on that wish for you to receive the best education we can offer.
Taking notes in this class is required. It is as important as coming to class. You must take notes by hand, if possible. (For reasoning and evidence, see this link.)
Grade Scale: This class grades on a ten-point scale, where an A is worth 95, B is worh 85, etc. Please see here for detail. Please note that in the case of a completion grade, a complete assignment is an A, which is worh 95 points.

College-Wide Policies