Course objectives: Cellular and molecular biology is a vast discipline that encompasses a number of sub-fields, each of which is growing extremely rapidly. In this course, instead of trying to learn every detail, you will develop an understanding of the unifying principles of life at the molecular and cellular level through exploration of illustrative examples. You will become familiar with how scientists think in the laboratory, and you will learn to design, execute, and analyze experiments. Finally, you will practice communicating biological ideas with clarity and precision in your written and oral laboratory reports.

Textbooks:
Life: the Science of Biology, 7th edition, by Purves, Orians, Heller, and Sadava.
Study Guide and Lab Manual by Campbell, Bernd, Lom, Hales, and Wessner, Spring 2006 version (in the bookstore).
Web reading mentioned in the study guide can be found at http://www.bio.davidson.edu/bio111 .
Additional handouts and WWW reading to be announced.

Office hours: I will always be in the office Monday 11:30-12:20 AM and Tuesday 10:00-11:00 AM. IN ADDITION, you are welcome to stop by any other time my door is open. Or, if you would like to make an appointment in advance, email me with possible times that fit your schedule (Tues mornings, Thurs afternoons, and Fri afternoons are best), and I'll respond to let you know which time I put on my calendar.

Student TA evening help sessions: Jamila Schwartz '06 will hold weekly help sessions for Bio111 students on Monday nights from 7 PM to 9 PM. Location TBA. No appointment is necessary.

Email: I will regularly send important announcements via email. You are responsible for any information/assignments/instructions I send by email, so check your messages each day.

%	94-100	90-93.9	87-89.9	83-86.9	80-82.9	77-79.9	73-76.9	70-72.9	66-69.9	60-65.9	0-59.9
Final grade	A	A-	B+	B	B-	C+	C	C-	D+	D	F

Attendance: I will not record attendance in lecture. However, I will notice if you are not there, and it will affect your participation grade. In lab, attendance is mandatory. One unexcused absence from lab will result in a full letter grade deduction on your final course grade. A second unexcused laboratory absence will result in a failing course grade.

Participation: Your participation/daily preparation grade depends upon the extent to which you participate in classroom and laboratory dialogue over the course of the semester as well as upon your responses to verbal and written quizzing at the beginning of each class and lab.

Lectures: Powerpoint files to accompany each lecture will be posted online by the evening before each class. Follow the links directly from the lecture schedule below. Log in using the same username and password as for email, and for the domain name, type davidson. If you wish to print out the file, please download it in powerpoint format, as you can then set the printer options to include multiple slides per page. IMPORTANT NOTES: 1) I use powerpoint to outline topics and illustrate points but not to write out every idea, so viewing a powerpoint file alone will not substitute for attending lecture; 2) I recommend printing the files ahead of each class to facilitate note-taking.

Reviews: All reviews will be take-home, closed book, and closed notes unless otherwise indicated. The questions will be posted on the web (with links from the appropriate points in the schedule below), and you should view print out the test only when you are ready to start it. You may hand write or type your answers.You must work on your own and complete the review within the time specified (usually a 12 hour period). Each review is designed to be completed in roughly one to two hours. Reviews will include a combination of new questions and questions from past years. I strongly recommend using old reviews (accessible here) as a primary way to study: 2004 Rev#1, Quiz, Rev#2, Rev#3, Final exam ; 2005 Rev#1, Quiz, Rev#2, Rev#3, Final exam.

Honor Code: You are to affirm your respect for and compliance with the Davidson Honor Code on every review and paper by WRITING OUT THE ENTIRE HONOR PLEDGE and signing your name. The full Honor Pledge reads as follows: "On my honor I have neither given nor received unauthorized information regarding this work, I have followed and will continue to observe all regulations regarding it, and I am unaware of any violation of the Honor Code by others." Plagiarism is an Honor Code violation and is defined as representing another person's words and ideas as one's own. Paraphrasing (taking another person's sentences and changing a few words here and there) is NOT equivalent to writing something in your own words, and it is considered plagiarism unless proper citation is made. Please see the Davidson Department of Biology statement on plagiarism for comprehensive information.

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More information on laboratory write-ups and presentations

Written lab reports:
You will be writing GROUP reports. For a given report, within your lab group a different person should be in charge of each of the major sections (intro, materials and methods, results, discussion). Collaborate on the title, abstract, and references. For the three reports during the semester, you must be in charge of a different section each time. At the end of each report, make a chart indicating who was the primary author and who was the primary editor of each section. See pages 34-38 of your lab manual for instructions on the organization and content of your lab reports.

In your reference section, you should cite the lab manual; you must find at least two additional print sources and one additional online source for each report. Proper formatting of citations is described at the Biology Department statement on plagiarism.

Signing the pledge on your lab report signifies (among other things) that everyone in the group has contributed his or her fair share of the work. In addition to the grading criteria listed below, correct spelling, grammar, and syntax are essential. It is in your best interest to focus my attention on the meat of your report instead of on messy mechanics.

Oral presentations:
Each group will have 15 minutes for their oral presentation, with a few additional minutes for questions afterwards. You will have access to all the audiovisual equipment in the lab, including the computer and document camera. Each presentation should be divided into four sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion. Each member of your lab group must speak, with everyone contributing roughly equally. See pages 38-39 of the lab manual for what kinds of information to put into each section.Your classmates will critique your presentations, but their comments will not determine your grade.

Grading:
I will evaluate your written and oral reports based on the following criteria:
1. Clarity and organization of presentation
2. Whether you show an understanding of your experiments and results
3. Completeness, especially in your discussion section
4. Conciseness

Following is how the components of the lab grade are apportioned.

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