COURSE DESCRIPTION

Environmental Seminar is designed as a senior "capstone" course that brings all of a student's academic experience into focus on a topic.  The student will research, prepare a review and present the current information on the effects of disturbance in a specific ecosystem. 

TOPIC DESCRIPTION

Disturbance is a topic that covers such diverse components as global climate change, human activities, invasive species and natural geological processes like volcanic eruptions and floods.  Each student will have to narrow the topic down to include a specific ecosystem, such as temperate streams or arctic tundra and specific organisms within that ecosystem.  One could focus on large grazers like bison or caribou, keystone predators like wolves or dominant vegetation like forest trees.  If your interest is microbiology a topic could include changes in soil microflora as a result of global climate change.

OBJECTIVES
    The student will . . .

A.  Demonstrate the ability to search primary literature on disturbance ecology and a specific ecosystem and group of organisms within that ecosystem.
B.  Demonstrate the ability to summarize the information into a logical presentation in verbal and paper format.
D.  Demonstrate the ability to use Power Point as a tool for presentation of scientific information in a format that is logical, readable and not distracting to the audience

INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES AND METHODS

A.  Evaluation and Grading Policy:  for dates see schedule.
    Preliminary Reference List                                   5   points
    Outline                                                                     5   points
    Presentation  (25 minute)                                    35 points
    Discussion of assigned papers                          20 points
    Final Paper  (10+page literature review)           35  points
B.  Grades (based on total points)
   A -> 90 - 100          D -> 60 - 69
   B -> 80 -  89           E -> below 60
   C -> 70  - 79

NO EXCUSES  & ATTENDANCE POLICY
    It is the student's responsibility to hand in work or present when scheduled.   Missing a hand-in date will result in a 2 point penalty per normal school day.  Missing a presentation date will result in a 10 point penalty, unless the student arranges to trade a presentation date with another student, 1 week in advance.   Failure to hand in the final paper by the due date will result in an E for the semester.  If you do not hand in the draft, you will notice a 10 point deduction from your final paper grade.  Students have a responsibility to attend all presentations.  Missing more than 1 presentation (professor's, invited speaker's or student's)  will result in a 10 point deduction, per missed class.  All penalties are assessed at the discretion of the professor.
    Snow Policy:  During the first part of the semester, there is a possibility that the weather might result in conditions that make it impossible to get to school safely.  You can check the school website (www.esu.edu) to see if classes are officially closed.  However, even if school is not closed, you need to decide if the conditions where you live make it too dangerous to come to school.  Your life, your responsibility.  Be sure to contact me by email or phone if you can't make it to class due to weather and we will discuss make-up options.

References
    For this semester's seminar, no internet references will be acceptable.  You may get primary literature from an internet search engine, but the source must be a peer-reviewed and edited journal.  You must physically have the entire reference for it to count, not just the abstract.   This means that no web sites from private, state or federal sources will be applicable.  References must be current: from the 1990's and 2000's.  Only background references from which you can cite the author and date will be acceptable.  You must read, understand and summarize research work done by scientists that has been published in peer reviewed journals.  A minimum of 5 journal articles, pertaining to the chemical and ecosystem of interest are to be used.  Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in a failing grade.  Plagiarism includes directly copying phrases or sentences from the journal articles, even if they are quoted or cited.  You must paraphrase the text from  each source.  No quotations will be allowed.  All information that is not general knowledge must be cited by author and year in the body of the text.  See the link below for more reference format information.  Papers must be submitted in paper and electronic format to facilitate checking for potential plagiarism.

SCHEDULE - Tentative Environmental Seminar Schedule: under development

Updated:  January 2009