Instructor

Michael Snyder

Contents

• This is the Journal of Experimental Biology's special issue on navigation, migration, and homing. It is available in the University Bookstore (lower level on the psychology shelves) for a cost of $45.50.
• In addition to the above text, there will be several additional journal articles (to be announced) that will be made available at the Cameron Library's Reserve Readings Desk.

• Students are expected to contribute to class discussion. One of the main purposes of seminar courses is for learned discourse, after all...

• A 10 to 12 minute oral presentation (i.e., a talk) describing and evaluating an assigned research article in a critical way.
• Click here for more information on details about the presentation and articles you can choose from.

• A 3 page paper describing and evaluating a research article in the field of navigation. It is to be a critical review of the article.
• Click here for more details on the purpose of the assignment, selecting an article to write on, and writing the review.

• A running log of your thoughts, ideas, musings, and work as you go through the course. The log will be handed in twice for evaluation (e.g., 10% each time). Click here for details about the log book.

• Proposal (5%)
  • A brief (i.e., 1 to 2 page) proposal of your research topic, including a short bibliography.
  • For more details on this assignment, click here.
• Presenation (20%)
  • You get to be the instructor and teach the rest of us about a topic you have become an expert in.
  • For more details on this assignment, click here.
• Paper (25%)
  • A 10 to 15 page detailed research paper on the topic you have been researching during the course.
  • For more details on this assignment, click here.

• There is no final exam in this course.

For example, all assignments are due in class on Wednesday. So, if you notify me on Monday that your assignment will not be available on Wednesday, you will have until Friday at 1630 hours (when the Psychology office closes) to get the work in. If you had notified me on the previous Friday you would have had until the Monday after the assignment was due (i.e., five days).

If you fail to notify me that your work will be late, of if you subsquently exceed the time extension, you will lose 10% of the assignment's grade per day that it is late.

Sorry, but this offer does notapply to the short oral presentation or research presentation. It also does not apply to the log book, as this is something you should be working on consistently throughout the course.

Of course, the standard rules for missing assignments concerning death in the family, major illness (i.e., not the sniffles), and the like apply. Medical forms will be required. In the case of missed presentations they will be rescheduled at my discretion.

Plagiarism is viewed as a serious academic offences by the U of A and by the Campus Law Review Committee of General Faculties Council. Penalties for plagiarism offences range from a reprimand to expulsion from the University.

This schedule is subject to change after the course begins.

Recommended readings may either be from the text or, if from another source, will be available from the Cameron Library Reserve Room. Students do not have to read the recommended readings, but might find them useful and interesting.

To see the reading list for the course, click here.