Syllabus

You are required to come to class and participate.  Attendance and participation will be monitored.  If you miss more than 3 classes, points will be deducted from your course grade.  Excessive absence will result in a failing grade in the course.

Participation: In addition to attending, you will

1. Complete periodic pop reading quizzes. These are short quizzes to motivate you to keep up with the reading.
2. Compose relevant questions to ask the ALLELE speakers when they visit class. You will post these to our Facebook group BEFORE the class meeting.
3. Bring relevant material to class or post it to Facebook by the required time when we are doing group activities. For instance, you will be required to post research hypotheses and bring in a copy of your research proposal for group discussion.
4. Attend ALLELE lectures. They take place at 7:30 PM in the Biology Auditorium, and there will be 4 throughout the course of the semester. The schedule is on the ALLELE website and Facebook page. You will verify your attendance by taking selfies at the lecture with the speaker in the background and sending them to me via Blackboard. If you cannot attend attend a lecture, you can send someone in your place as a proxy to take notes and a selfie. Submit a summary of the lecture from their notes and their selfie with their name via Blackboard to receive credit. Alternately, there are other extra credit opportunities listed below if you cannot attend these public lectures.

Research Proposal: A 3-page research proposal is to be completed during the first half of the semester. The purpose of this proposal is to help you start thinking about evolutionary problems in terms of testable hypotheses. Your proposal should outline a study you could do here at UA as an undergraduate and one that, in fact, you will do if you are an EvoS minor. Your proposal should outline the background of your topic and how you came to formulate your hypothesis, state your pursuit in terms of a falsifiable hypothesis, the methods you would use to conduct your study (including the population or subject of interest, the materials you would use for the study, and how you would analyze your data), and what you expect to find and the implications of these findings with regard to the existing literature on the topic. You will be expected to cite that literature appropriately. 

If you do not know how to cite literature scientifically, I have posted a link to Dr. Bindon's "The Research Paper" that will help you with this and many other aspects of academic research. We will also work on these sections in class. Drafts will be required on the dates posted, and you will be penalized if you do not come to class prepared to participate.

Your proposal should take the following form and contain section headers to indicate you have used this form:

1. Introduction (3 points)

   • background (summarizes what you're going to say)

   • hypothesis

2. Methods (5 points)

   • subjects/population

   • materials

   • procedure

   • analysis

3. Discussion (5 points)

   • implications

   • significance

4. Conclusion (2 points)

• summarize what you've said

Book Review or Analysis: You will complete a book review during the second half of the semester. The book you will review will be a recently published non-fiction trade book that addresses evolutionary principles for an educated lay audience (like yourselves), a fiction book that utilizes evolutionary theory to develop its story line, or a book you can analyze from an evolutionary perspective (the latter is more advanced, but the Ingolls video on 4/9 will give you an idea of how you might do this). You must submit the title of book to review to me NO LATER THAN MARCH 19 (earlier is fine though). If you do not have a book by that date, I will assign one to you. 

Your book review or analysis must be of publication quality, as your objective will be to submit them for consideration to JOSHUA, the EvoS Journal, or some other professional forum for consideration. An article outlining academic book reviews with guidelines and a worksheet for writing one is posted to Blackboard, and we will discuss this in class. Only reviews that receive an A will be approved for submission for publication.

Drafts will be required on the dates posted, and you will be penalized if you do not come to class prepared to participate. Your final book review or analysis will be due April 21.

Exams  There are two exams, worth 25 points each. Exams are based on readings, lectures, and discussion material. You are responsible for all the material of the course, so it is imperative that you come to every session of class, take notes, participate, and seek clarification for material you do not understand.

Attendance:  If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to utilize Tegrity to view lectures or contact a classmate to get notes. However, I cannot guarantee that every lecture will be posted to Tegrity. Furthermore, discussions will be an important aspect of this course, which is difficult to re-experience via Tegrity.

Exams:  If you miss an exam for any reason whatsoever, whether excused or unexcused, you will be able to make it up by completing a 15-page research paper. The topic will be chosen by Dr. Lynn and format instructions will be provided. If you miss the midterm, the research paper will be due on the day of the final exam. If you miss the final exam, you will be given two weeks to complete and turn in the research paper make-up.

Research Proposal & Book Review: Late submissions will only be accepted by prior arrangement and/or with a very good reason. Otherwise, I will begin deducting 1 point from the research proposal score or the book review for each day or portion thereof that it is late. If it is received more than 15 days late, you will receive a 0 for the assignment. Many assignments being due at the same time is never a good reason, and extensions will never be authorized on that basis, so please don’t ask. No extensions will be authorized during the 3 days immediately prior to the due date except in the case of a legitimate medical emergency.

This course is the introduction to a minor in Evolutionary Studies (EvoS).  It is open to all students but is a requirement for the minor.  If you have not already decided to declare a minor in EvoS, we hope this course leads you to consider doing so.  EvoS is an interdisciplinary minor, designed to introduce students to the fundamental importance of evolutionary theory as an explanatory model for life and behavior.  Requirements of the minor include two capstone courses (including this introduction), a 200-level course in the biological principles of evolution, and another foundational course in one of three disciplines.  Additionally, minors are required to complete six elective hours in two separate disciplines.

This program is integrated with UA's Evolution and Origins Working Group (EVOWOG)and its Alabama Lectures on Life's Evolution (ALLELE) speaker series ("Like" us on Facebook [www.facebook.com/ALLELEseries] to stay informed!).  The speakers you will meet this semester are here as part of that series.  In addition to meeting with this class, they will each present a public lecture and a lecture for a sponsoring department.  You are strongly encouraged to attend these lectures.  This minor is part of a larger EvoS Consortium, which includes approximately 42 other institutions worldwide, though we are only one of four full-fledged minors.  We take pride in this fact, given that Alabama recently scored at the very bottom of the 50 states in teaching evolution at the k-12 levels (even worse than Mississippi!).

As part of the EvoS program, there is also an EvoS club.  You are welcome to become part of this club whether you declare yourself an EvoS minor or simply maintain an abiding interest in evolutionary theory and its myriad applications and implications.  The Club will be hosting a Darwin Day (Feb. 12) research collquium this year that I encourage you to attend.

Contact me if you are interested in the EvoS minor (either to declare or for more information).