Environmental Resources and Management (BIO 436)

Environmental Resources and Management (BIO 436)

Spring 2000

COURSE INFORMATION
For Graduate Students

(T, Th: 1600-1715)

Dr. Clayton A. Penniman
341 Copernicus, 860-832-2658
penniman@ccsu.edu

Course Description:

Environmental Resources and Management (BIO 436) provides students with an understanding of the interrelationships between humans and their physical and biological environments. The course will emphasize study of environmental policy and regulation in the context of the scientific framework for contemporary environmental management. Background and case studies of environmental impact assessment will be detailed. The intent will be to approach these subject areas from an interdisciplinary perspective. The goal of the course is to provide the student with a better understanding of our role in the biosphere.

Prerequisites:

The prerequisites for BIO 436 are BIO 201 (Principles of Cell and Molecular Biology) and BIO 202 (Principles of Ecology and Evolution), and CHEM 122 (General Chemistry II), or the permission of the department chair.

Office Hours:

Monday, 1200 to 1400; Tuesday, 1300 to 1600; Thursday, 1300 to 1600

To schedule an appointment at other times or to notify the instructor of an expected absence:

penniman@ccsu.edu

Class Policies:

Class attendance is expected. Material will be presented in class that is not in the assigned text (and will be included on exams).

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability; if you have emergency medical information to share with the instructor; or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment to discuss these issues with the instructor as soon as possible.

Required Text and Supplemental Readings:

The required text for the course is: Ortolano, L. 1997. Environmental Regulation and Impact Assessment. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, NY. 604 pp.

Other reading assignments will be placed on reserve in the Elihu Burritt Library or electronically for access in the Copernicus Science Computing Laboratory (227 Copernicus). All reading assignments should be completed prior to attending the corresponding class.

Grading:

Examinations will include three (lecture) exams during the semester and a final exam. The final will be comprehensive, while the three semester exams will only cover information for the period immediately before each individual exam. A student library research report (described below) is required. Additionally, a research literature review will be required of graduate students.

The grade for the course is made up of a total of 600 points divided as follows:

	Semester exams (3 @ 15% each)		45%		270	(90 points each)
	Final exam				20%		120
	Student report				18.3%		110
	Student research literature review	16.7%		100

	Total					100%		600 points

Student Report:

A student report is required, 12 to 15 pages in length (typed, double-spaced, no larger than 12-point font and one-inch margins, and not using right justification; required length not including figures, tables, bibliography, etc.), on a subject (pertinent to the course) of the student's choice (approved by the instructor). The report should not be merely a summary review of the subject but should represent some original synthesis by the student. The student should include a bibliography and should appropriately reference information within the text.

Please do not include a folder or cover with the report, merely staple the report's pages together.

The report should include at least twenty references (i.e., citations) pertaining to the subject area. The citations can include newspaper and magazine articles, references from the Internet, articles from the primary literature, etc. The citations may not include the text used for this class or similar texts. However, at least 75% of the citations must be "traditional" primary literature sources (i.e., not from the Internet, newspaper, etc.).

The report should be an original writing exercise by the student. Students should be aware of the CCSU policy on plagiarism (Student Handbook 1998-1999 Policy on Academic Honesty). Material (i.e., text and information) taken from another source and presented in the report must be cited (e.g., footnoted). That is, unless the information is presented in the writer's (i.e., the student's) own words, the information must be clearly attributed to the original source (i.e., in quotation marks). While it is acceptable to directly quote information from another source, this must be clearly indicated (with quotation marks) in the writer's report. Merely altering a few words from the original author's format still constitutes plagiarism. However, for the BIO 436 report assignment do not use any direct, verbatim quotations. Students should consult a writing style manual (e.g., Council of Biological Editors Style Manual) to determine the appropriate format for citations in the text, footnotes, and bibliographic references. Further guidance on format and citation/bibliographic style will be provided in class. Additionally, the student should not use any reports prepared for another class, either previously or concurrently.

Students will submit (in writing) their choice of report topic by 07 March for approval. Students will submit an outline of the report and their list of bibliographic references (properly formatted) for review and approval by 28 March. Students may submit typed, final draft reports for review by the instructor prior to 11 April. The instructor will return the edited draft report within one week for the student to revise as indicated. Final reports will be due no later than 04 May. Five points per day (i.e., week-day) will be subtracted for overdue reports. No report will be accepted after 16 May.

Student research literature review (Graduate students only):

Graduate students enrolled in BIO 436 will have the additional requirement of preparing a written literature review of at least five related papers from the primary literature on a subject (pertinent to the course) of the studentÕs choice (approved by the instructor). Note that the subject area must be different from that used for the studentÕs research report described above. Students will write a five-page report summarizing the research area reviewed and present the summary to the class in a 15-20 min oral report. Guidelines for the written report are equivalent to those described above for the student research report.
<>BR Graduate students will submit (in writing) their choice of report topic by 07 March for approval. Students will submit an outline of the report and their list of bibliographic references (properly formatted) for review and approval by 28 March. Students may submit typed final draft reports for review by the instructor prior to 11 April. The instructor will return the edited draft report within one week for the student to revise as indicated. Final written reports will be due no later than 02 May. Graduate students will give their oral presentations during the 09 and 16 May classes.

BIO 436 Table of Contents