BIOLOGY 4600
EVOLUTION
FALL 2008
Lecture: 8:00 - 8:50 AM, M-W-F, BSC 1024
Instructor:
Jim Loughry
Office: BC
2087
Phone:
333-5765 (or leave
message with departmental office, x5759)
Email:
jloughry@valdosta.edu
Office Hours: 10
- 11 AM,
T and R, or any other time by appointment
TEXT: Evolutionary
Analysis, by Scott Freeman and
Jon Herron, 4th Edition, 2007, Pearson/Prentice Hall.
COURSE
GOALS:
This course covers the theoretical aspects and the patterns and
processes of micro- and macro-evolutionary change.
PREREQUISITE:
BIOL 3200 (Genetics)
EXAMS:
There will be 4 exams in this course. The exams will each cover 1/4 of the lecture and reading
material. Exams will be short
answer and essay, and each will be worth 100 points. In addition, there will be an optional 100 point final
exam. If you take the final I will
drop the lowest of your four exam
scores in calculating your final grade.
Thus, you wind up with 500 potential points from the exams, but only 400
points will count. So, if you have
a bad day and bomb an exam, remember it's not the end of the world and that
score can be dropped.
MAKE-UPS:
Because the final is optional and can make up for a previous exam, there
will be NO make-ups for any
of the first four exams. If you
miss one, for whatever reason, that will represent your dropped exam and you
will have to take the final. This
policy has a couple of important implications: 1) you better not miss more than one exam, and 2) there is
some incentive in taking the first four exams and thus possibly avoiding the
final.
ESSAYS: In
addition to the exams, you will be given 5 essay questions to answer, accessible
from the course home page. Each
deals with a
special philosophical issue in evolutionary theory. Outside readings will be available that deal with each
topic. Each essay is worth 10
points, so in total the essays are worth 50 points toward your final
grade.
TERM PAPER: The
final component of your grade will be determined by a term paper you will
write, worth 100 points. The topic
of the paper can be in one of two areas:
(1) some theoretical aspect of evolution (e.g., vicariance theories of
speciation, evolution of mate choice, punctuated evolution, etc) or (2) a case study of evolution in a
particular group (e.g., speciation in Galapagos finches, the evolution of
hominids, etc). In either case,
these papers should be exhaustively researched and referenced. I hate to set length limits, but it
seems fairly impossible to me that you could present a detailed discussion of
your topic in less than 10 typed pages.
TERM PAPER TOPICS MUST BE APPROVED BY ME and you must come in and
get that approval by MIDTERM
(Thursday, October 9). If you don't have a project approved
by
midterm, I will begin taking off points at the rate of 1 per day (including
weekends) from the possible total for your paper. See the course web site for detailed information about writing
your
term paper as well as links to various web sites dealing with topics in
evolution. There can be no duplication
of topics within the class, nor can you write the same paper for more than one
course. Topics are approved on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you have
a particular topic in mind, talk to me right away. The course home page will
provide a link to all currently approved topics, so you will know what has already
been taken. Because
of
the
large
size
of
this
class,
in
order
to
get
the
term
papers
graded
prior
to
the
final,
all papers will be due by NOON, Friday,
December
5.
NOTE:
Late submissions of any assignments are penalized at the rate of 10% per
day. Thus, for each day that an
essay is late you lose 1 point, while for each day your term paper is late you
lose 10 points.
GRADING: All
material will be graded by me and returned to you within a day or two. See the course outline for exam dates. Any questions, problems, complaints,
etc. regarding the exams must be taken care of in the week after the exams are
returned to you. The statute of
limitations on appeals runs out at that time.
Final
grades will be based on cumulative points (400 from exams, 50 from essays, and
100 from the term paper, for a total of 550) and will be distributed according
to the following percentages (the total number of points represented by these
percentages is shown in parentheses):
90-100
(495-550) A
80-89 (440-494) B
70-79 (385-439) C
60-69 (330-384) D
If everyone in the class
scores above 90%, then everyone will get an A. If no one scores above 90%, then I may adjust the
curve downward appropriately.
ATTENDANCE: It
is up to you to decide whether or not to come to class. I will not take attendance or penalize
absences. However, you are responsible
for all material and assignments given in class. Since some of what I will talk about
in class is not in the text (but is on the exams), class attendance is usually
beneficial.
Important Note: For those of you who do attend class, you must turn off all electronic devices (cell phones,
pagers, etc) prior to entering the classroom. Failure to do so during lecture will lead to immediate dismissal
from the classroom. Failure
to do so during an exam will result in a 0 for that exam.
Students with Disabilities: If you are registered with the Access
Office, let me know so that we can make any necessary arrangements regarding
exams etc.
COURSE
OUTLINE
| EXAM DATES: | Readings in Text |
|
Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 |
|
Chapters 6-9, 11 |
EXAM 3--NOVEMBER 7 |
Chapters 12-16 |
|
Chapters 4, 17-20 |
FINAL
EXAM--WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 8:00 – 10:00 AM (optional)