Environmental
Sciences Seminar I (ENSC 505, Spring 2013)
Instructor: Dr. Zhi-Qing
Lin
Office: 0328 Science Building
Phone: 618-650-2650
E-mail: zhlin@siue.edu
Class Schedule & Place: Tuesdays,
5:30pm - 6:20 pm; 0412 Peck Hall
Office Hours: By
appointment
Course Description:
One of
the most important aspects of environmental studies is to communicate your
findings of scientific research experiments or environmental analysis on
current environmental issues. In this course we will discuss and practice
different skills and approaches necessary for giving an effective oral or
poster presentation. Guest speakers and Faculty in the Environmental Sciences
Program will demonstrate how to prepare and give a scientific presentation, and
registered students will each make an oral and a poster presentation.
ENSC 505
is required to be taken during the first year of study in the Environmental
Sciences Program. Students registered in ENSC 505 will be required to give a
15-minute oral presentation on a scientific topic of their choice in
Environmental Sciences and a poster presentation of the same material or on a
different topic.
Course Objectives:
1) to learn how to organize
materials for scientific oral presentations
2) to practice different technical skills
for giving an effective scientific presentation
3) to enhance our oral and written
communication ability
Grading System:
Each
oral presentation will be evaluated by the audience (including students in both
ENSC 505 and 506 and the instructors) following your presentation (see Evaluation Form). The ENSC 505 instructor will
meet with you to review the evaluation materials during non-class time by
appointment.
Oral
presentation 50%
Poster
presentation 35%
Attendance 15%
(i.e., 1 point each week)
The total points will be converted to course final
grades as follows: A: 90-100%; B:
80-89%; C: 70-79%; D: 60-69%; F: 0-59%. The passing grade of this course is C
or above.
Course Attendance: Regular prompt attendance is
required for success in this course. Only the University approved absences will
be accepted for missing classes.
Guidelines for Presentation:
You
presentation may include the following components: 1) title, 2) introduction
(e.g., background information and questions that need to be addressed), 3)
methods and materials (if applicable), 4) analysis and interpretation of your
results (if applicable) or current available information or literature, 5)
discussion (e.g., your explanation, speculation, and future research needs), 6)
conclusion. In short, your presentation needs to be informative and presented
clearly in a logical way. Be creative!
Academic Misconduct:
"Acts
of academic misconduct for which students are subject to sanctions include,
without limitation, plagiarism, cheating, failure or refusal to follow clinical
practice standards, falsifying or manufacturing scientific or educational data
and/or representing manufactured data to be the result of scientific or
scholarly experiment or research, and soliciting, aiding, abetting, concealing,
or attempting such act. Plagiarism is defined as including, without limitation,
the act of representing the work of another as one's own. Plagiarism may
consist of copying, paraphrasing, or otherwise using the written, electronic,
or oral work of another without proper acknowledgement or consent of the source
or presenting oral, electronic, or written material prepared by another as
one's own. Plagiarism also includes using information from electronic
resources, including the Internet, without the use of proper citations."
(SIUE Student Academic Code)
In the
event of academic misconduct, the student is subject to a number of penalties,
including a failing grade on the course.
Students with Disabilities
Students
with disabilities should visit the Disability Support Services (DDS) located in
the Student Success Center, Room 1270, at their earliest convenience to meet
the director and discuss available services.
The student with a documented disability and a disability ID card from
DSS should also notify the instructor as soon as possible to make any necessary
arrangements, including assistance in emergency evacuation.
Course Schedule:
Week 1
(Jan. 8): Course introduction;
seminar signup (Drs. Guehlstorf and Lin)
Lab safety training (Video: Lab
Safety - under the hood, ~20 min)
Week 2
(Jan. 15): Preparing and presenting
an oral scientific presentation (Dr. Guehlstorf)
Week 3
(Jan. 22): Preparing and presenting
a poster scientific presentation (Dr. Lin)
Week 4
(Jan. 29): Professional Science
Master’s (PSM) in Environmental Science Management (Dr. Theodorakis)
Graduate school guidelines and
organization of thesis (Dr. Guehlstorf)
Week 5
(Feb. 5): Guest speaker
presentation
Week 6
(Feb. 12): Guest speaker
presentation
Week 7
(Feb. 19): Guest speaker
presentation
Week 8
(Feb. 26): ENSC 505 research
presentations
Week 9
(Mar. 5): Spring Break (No class)
Week 10
(Mar. 12): ENSC 506 research
presentation
Week 11
(Mar. 19): ENSC 506 research
presentation
Week 12
(Mar. 26): ENSC 506 research
presentation
Week 13
(Apr. 2): ENSC 506 research presentation
Week 14
(Apr. 9): ENSC 506 research
presentation
Week 15
(Apr. 16): ENSC 506 research
presentation
Week 16 (Apr. 23): Poster presentations by ENSC 505
students (Poster preparation using
PowerPoint). The
posters will be evaluated by students in the seminar courses and faculty in
Environmental Sciences Program (see Poster evaluation form).