Course description and objectives: This is a course for biology majors covering life and living systems. It will emphasize the the diversity of organisms, their forms, functions and interrelations. It will introduce you to some of the relevant literature and give you practice evaluating this literature. This course should prepare you for upper level courses in organismic biology.

Text: Biology, 6th Ed. by Campbell, Reese and Mitchell; there is also an optional study guide available at the bookstore and your text comes with a CD study partner that can be very useful. My course materials are available on the web at (careful - this address is case-sensitive):

www.cofc.edu/~scholten/Honors_152/152syllabus.htm

Note: Honors 152L is a part of Honors 152. The laboratory manual for Honors 152L is "Biology 112 Laboratory Manual". This is available at the bookstore (on Calhoun St.) along with the text. Be sure you get the manual for 112 not 102. There is also an optional book, "Photographic Atlas for the Biology Laboratory", which I highly recommend.

Tentative Grading Scale:	90-100	A
	87 & above	B+
	80 & above	B
	77 & above	C+
	70 & above	C
	60 & above	D
	below 60	F

This is the guaranteed scale. If you earn a particular percentage of the total points you are guaranteed the grade indicated by the scale. At the end of the term, I have the option of lowering this scale if I feel it is justified. Do not count on this. Always assume that the grade you earn based on this scale is the grade you will receive.

Point Distribution:	3 midterm exams (75 pts each)	225
	Discussion questions (10 pts. each)	70
	Participation	30
	Critique of paper	75
	Final exam	150
	Total points	550

These 550 points will count for 3/4 of your grade and the lab portion will count for 1/4.

Attendance: I will not take attendance each day. I leave it up to you as adults to decide how you should best spend your time. I feel the lectures are important. In fact, although I will generally follow the text closely, all exam questions will come from lectures, and several questions on each exam will not be covered by your reading assignments (remember, not all information about biology is in your text; though you may feel like there is more than you ever wanted to know). "It wasn't in the readings" will not be an acceptable justification for a missed exam question. Make-up exams will be scheduled only for students with valid excuses. These must be cleared with me before the missed exam. Contact me by phone or e-mail.

Final exam: see final exam schedule - I will announce in class

All student discipline will be governed by the contents of the Honor Code.
 
 

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