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Bio 7 (Introduction to Biology) :: policies

Lecture format and requirements

The 3-unit lecture portion of the course will meet twice a week. The material is complex, so to follow lecture, it is encouraged that students read the background material in the textbook before coming to class. The laboratory portion meets twice a week for 3 hours. Students should come prepared by reading the instructions for each week's lab in the lab manual before coming to lab.

Attendance

Attendance and participation for the lab is mandatory. It is not mandatory that you attend the lectures and your grade will not be based in any way on lecture attendance. It's your tuition money; spend it how you see fit. However, it is strongly recommended that you attend lectures since the material is complex and builds on itself.

Evaluation

Lecture: Three lecture exams will be given (including the final), each worth 100 points. The exam format will be scan-tron and short answer. Typically about 2/3 of the points come from multiple choice and 1/3 come from short answer questions. A #2 pencil and a scan-tron (form 882E) are required. Additional assignments (in class group problems or essays) including extra credit may also be given during the course at the instructor's discretion.

Lab: Lab assignments are given out after most labs and are always due at the beginning of the next week's lab. There will be 115 points total for all of these assignments. If you don't attend the lab you may not turn in any assignment for it. A lab quiz will be given at the start of most labs to insure that students come to the lab prepared. Quizzes will be worth 6 points each and there will be a total of ten of them. Additionally, there will be 20 subjective points given for the lab portion. Each student starts off with the 20 points. 10 points will deducted for missing a lab and 5 points will deducted if a student is excessively late or leaves early before completing the lab. Points can also be deducted for misbehavior, failure to follow directions, or not participating.

Make-up work

Make-up exams : Exam's may only be taken on a day other than the scheduled date for serious or compelling reasons.

Make-up labs: No labs can be made up once the last lab for the week has past. If a student has a valid excuse, they may try ti attend one of the other lab sections to make up a lab that they have missed or that they know they are going to miss.

Drops or Incompletes

Students may drop the course during the first two weeks of class for any reason. September 14th is the last day to drop on CASPER . Dropping any day after this requires signatures and will be denoted on your transcripts with a “W”.

October 12th is the last day to WITHDRAW for serious or compelling reasons that are documented. This requires a petition to be approved by both the instructor and the department chair.

Academic Misconduct:

Any type of communication between students on an exam is considered cheating and will not be tolerated. Students who fail to comply will be given a zero for that exam, the incident will be reported to the Biology Department Chair and the Dean of Students, and the student may receive an “F” in the course.

All work submitted by the student must be their own work. Failure to do so will be considered plagiarism. This includes using someone else's words or work without giving credit to that person. Plagiarized work will receive no credit and may be reported to the Biology Department Chair.

The most frequent cases of plagiarism that occur in this class are when lab mates turn in a homework assignment that has exactly the same wording for some or all of the answers. You may work together but make sure you write your answers in your own words. Other cases of plagiarism usually involve written work where some of the information is gathered from the internet and then copied and pasted into the student's work without the student putting quotes around it or citing it. If you are in doubt about whether or not what you intend to do is plagiarism or not, feel free to ask.

Grades and Grading Policy

(Earning a 90% in the course will guarantee you an A. However, a curve will be applied to the scale if the mean of the class falls below the expected level.)

Text and Materials

Recomended text:

Discover Biology, third edition.

Cain, Damman, Lue, and Yoon, WW Norton, 2007

Required text:

BIO 7 Laboratory Manual

You can purchase books through the Hornet Bookstore. Check their Online Textbook Sales page at http://www.foundation.csus.edu/bookstore/textbooks/ for ordering information.