SCIENCE SEMINAR SERIES – Biology 398
Spring 2016 Syllabus
Contact Information
Instructor:
Office:
E-mail:
Leslie Saucedo
Thompson Hall 257F
lsaucedo@pugetsound.edu
Meeting Times: Thursday 4:00 - 4:50pm in Thompson Hall 175
Office Hours: Monday and Thursday 11-noon or by appointment
Objectives
The objectives for this course are:
• To promote active and sustained engagement with current science research.
• To encourage greater appreciation for the diversity of science research.
• To help build a community of students interested in science research.
• To promote active listening and critical thinking with respect to the content and style
of research presentations. This, in turn, should provide greater understanding of how
an effective science presentation is structured and delivered.
Course Outline and Schedule
Students enrolled in this course must attend a minimum of 12 science seminars during
the semester to obtain a passing grade.
• These must be full-length formal seminars (at least ~45 min) or a reasonable
equivalent of a full-length formal seminar (see below). The seminar must be fully
attended (i.e. you can’t be more than ~5 minutes late if you want to count the
seminar).
• This course is self-directed: students are free to meet the minimum seminar
requirement according to their interests and class schedule.
• Although students can meet this minimum requirement in many different ways, they
are strongly encouraged to attend the Thompson Hall Science and Mathematics
Seminar Series.
Requirements & Assignments
1. Attend a minimum of 12 full-length science seminars, or their equivalent, during the
semester. The following is a list of presentations that count towards the 12-seminar
minimum:
A science or math seminar given in the Thompson Hall Science and
Mathematics Seminar Series. You should commit to coming to these seminars
every week at 4pm on Thursdays.
The following are possibilities if you occasionally cannot make it to a TH Seminar
and need to make up a missed session.
• A seminar presentation by a science or math job candidate.
• A science or math Student Honors Presentation (advertised through the Honors
Program).
• A “special event” science or math seminar given at UPS.
• A science or math seminar given off campus (a flier or announcement for the
seminar will be required for credit).
• Four posters critically read and discussed with the author during the Fall Poster
Symposium on Summer Research (only for Fall Semester)
• Four talks given at the Phi Sigma Spring Research Symposium (only for Spring
Semester).
Examples of what types of presentations that do not count towards this course
include lab meetings and informal “brown bag lunch” type presentations. If you are
unsure if a seminar you want to attend counts, please ask beforehand.
2. To get credit for attending a seminar, students must summarize the content of the
seminar according to the guidelines outlined below. These summaries must be
turned in within 4 days of attending the seminar as an electronic copy in the format
described below. No summaries are accepted after the last day of classes.
Please make sure to follow the following format to avoid chaos and lost or
misplaced student reports. Efficient sorting of submissions relies on correct
formatting.
1. All summaries must be uploaded onto the class Moodle site under into your
personal “Summaries of scientific presentations” folder.
3. The attached document has to be a Microsoft Word or PDF (preferred) document.
(Sorry, we have tried with OpenOffice and other formats and experienced too many
glitches).
4. The file name of your Microsoft Word or PDF attachment document must be
formatted as follows:
BIO398 _YOURLASTNAME_DATEOFSEMINAR
Format and content guidelines for seminar summaries:
• ½ to 1 page single-spaced, word-processed, 12-point font, standard 1-inch
margins.
• Title, date, presenter and presenter’s affiliation (i.e. where they are employed).
• Your name on top of the page plus the course number (Bio398).
• Summaries must address the following two parts:
a. Content: What was the main question(s) addressed in the research? What
were the main results? What were the main conclusions?
b. Presentation: How effective was the presentation style? Please explain.
Evaluation Criteria and Grading Structure
This course is graded on a Pass/Fail basis. Students meeting the minimum
requirements outlined above will earn a Pass; students not meeting the minimum
requirements will earn a Fail. Failure to adhere to the content guidelines above for the
seminar summary will result in not earning credit for the attended seminar in question.
Standard University policies apply regarding withdrawing from a class with a W or WF.
If you DON’T hear from me, assume that your submitted reports meet the expectations.
There are no additional class meetings. More information about Thompson Hall
Seminars can be found on the following website:
http://www.pugetsound.edu/news-and-events/arts-at-puget-sound/thsms/