Course Work

Weekly Reading Responses

One page written response to assigned reading. A good response will include a concise description of the topic covered, and your reaction to it. Your reaction should be critical (though not necessarily negative) and may be emotional (do you find the idea compelling? stupid?), but must be well argued. To help focus your response, a particular question related to the reading may be posed.

Group Discussions.

Considerable class time will be devoted to discussion. You may use your Reading Response as the launching point for your contribution to the discussion.* We will also pose specific questions to debate, and discuss some issues in small groups prior to wider class discussion.

Term paper: 10 pages, on a topic of your choice.**

Midterm and Final Exams.

Exams will be a mixture of essays, fact based knowledge, and challenges of critical reasoning.

Quizes.

There will be short quizes to hone your focus and help prepare for the larger exams.

Grading and due dates:

10% Participation in Class Discussions

weekly

20% Reading Responses

weekly, as assigned: 2/3, 2/10, 2/17, 2/24, 3/3, 3/31, 4/7, 4/14, 4/21, 4/28

10% Quizes

Sporadic

20% Midterm exam

March 10, in class

20% Term paper**

Due May 5. Select a topic by April 7.

20% Final exam

date & time TBD

*For the terribly shy: don't worry, this is not onerous. With 20 people in the class, the challenge is to get a word in edge-wise. For the loquacious: good - please express yourself. But also be respectful of your fellow students and don't overly monopolize the conversation.

**Dig into something that interests you. Here are a few ideas for term paper topics. You are not limited to these - the possibilities are endless. You could choose to explore the cosmology of a particular Ancient Philosopher, investigate the conflict between Galileo and the Catholic Church, or learn about modern ideas about multiverses. Please discuss your interests directly with Professor McGaugh and obtain approval for your chosen topic.

A few details about the term paper:
10 pages means 10 pages of double spaced 12 point font filling normal margins. I expect you to come within 10% of this length without resorting to messing with the margins, spacing, font size or font type. You should self-edit: read what you've written yourself - that really helps to see where you need to improve your argument or where you can cut superfluous material. I know it is hard to delete what you've struggled to write, but sometimes that really is for the best. You can always keep multiple versions on disk. Just imagine - people (including me) used to do this sort of thing on a typewriter.

There is no limitation on sources. You should use as many as you need. The textbook has many good references and is a good place to start. By the same token, in no case will the book suffice as the sole source. Indeed, you should not rely exclusively on any one source. Try to avoid predominantly relying on a single source if at all possible. (The extent to which this is possible will depend on the nature of your topic.) Books, the internet, video (e.g., Nova programs), Uncle Joe... any potential source is fair game. You must learn to use your judgement about what constitutes a reliable source: don't believe everything you read or hear from Uncle Joe. For example, Wikipedia is sometimes an OK place to start, but I can't imagine that it will be adequate for any topic. Moreover, it is exceedingly uneven - quite good sometimes, sometimes just plain wrong. Obviously, you must not cut & paste from there or any other source. While an internet search is a powerful way to start, your path must inevitably lead to the the library. That takes time. It is painfully obvious when students wait until the last minute to do a paper, quickly read some random crap off the internet, then slap something together the night before the assignment is due.

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