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Please direct your questions to the appropriate course coordinator listed on the Staff Directory.
Honors Biology 116
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
UTAs:
Undergraduates TAs will be assisting the GTAs in laboratories and recitations. Check the web page for information on how to contact your UTA(s).
Description:
Biology H116 follows Biology H115. In this course we deal mainly with the organismal and supra-organismal levels of biological organization. Evolution is the consolidating theme. The diversity, form, function, and ecology of organisms will be covered, with particular emphasis on plants and animals.
Format:
Lectures: 11:30 am, MWF, Biological Sciences 668
Recitation: 1 hour/week
Laboratory: 3 hours/week
Texts:
- Biology (2002, 6th edition), by Campbell & Reece
- Biology 114 Laboratory Manual
- Guns, Germs, and Steel: The fates of human societies, by Jared Diamond
Tests will cover lecture material, not the Campbell text. I recommend you read Campbell for preparation, background, further information, review, MCATs, etc., but, beyond lecture material, you will be tested only on those parts of the book I specifically tell you in lecture to read. We will read and discuss Guns, Germs, and Steel in recitation, and material that overlaps the lecture may appear on exams.
Recitations:
Recitation assignments will be announced and/or handed out ahead of time.
Laboratories:
Labs marked by asterisks in the following schedule are covered in the lab manual; for the rest, handouts will be provided. Reports will be due according to schedule.
Grading:
The course will have two midterms, each worth 100 points, and a comprehensive final worth 150 points. The laboratory will have approximately five exercises or write-ups (25–40 points each), and a lab practical (100 points). There will also be points associated with recitation. Your letter grade will be based on the percentage of points you obtain and will follow the customary break points (93% A, 90% A−, 87% B+, 83% B, 80% B−, etc.). If at the end of the quarter I deem the grade distribution too low, I will adust the grading scale. Make-up exams may be taken only in cases in which absence from the exam is unavoidable, such as in cases of illness or family emergency (this must be documented). Exams must be made up within a week. Please let me know if you are a graduating senior and need to take the final early.
Late Assignments:
The point value for assignments turned in late will be reduced by 5% per day late.
Change of grades:
You are responsible for making sure the grades we have are correct. Verify your grades periodically on Carmen. You have two weeks after a grade is posted to request a change or re-grading.
Academic Misconduct:
I expect students to abide by the Code of Student Conduct given in the University Student Handbook. Plagiarism, cheating on exams, etc., will be dealt with as provided for in this Handbook
