Core Seminar I (MARS 500)

Core Seminar I
(MARS 500)
Fall 2008


Ron Kaufmann
Office: Shiley Center 274; x5904; kaufmann@sandiego.edu or rkaufmann@gmail.com
Office Hours: Tuesday 2:30-4:30, Wednesday 1:30-4:30, or by appointment

DATE	TOPIC

Sep 4	Introduction to course, Marine Science Graduate Program
Sep 11	Meeting with Graduate Faculty
Sep 18	Meeting with Graduate Faculty
Sep 25	Meeting with Graduate Faculty
Oct 2	Field Trip to Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute
Oct 9	Field Trip to Southwest Fisheries Science Center
Oct 16	Writing grant applications; Meeting with Bill O'Neill (Office of Sponsored Programs) Discuss papers; Assignment: Write letter of interest to funding agency
Oct 23	Use of library resources; Meeting with Amy Besnoy (Copley Library) Assignment: Select papers on topic of possible thesis interest
Oct 30	Discuss papers and interest letter, peer review; Guidelines for thesis proposal Assignment: Revise interest letter; Select papers for class discussion
Nov 6	Discuss papers and interest letter, peer review; Class discussion of papers Assignment: Write outline for thesis proposal
Nov 13	Class discussion of outlines Assignment: Revise outline
Nov 20	Class discussion of revised outlines Assignment: Select papers for class discussion; Expand thesis outline to preliminary proposal
Nov 27	Thanksgiving - No class meeting
Dec 4	Class discussion of papers Assignment: Continue to work on preliminary proposals
Dec 11	Class discussion of preliminary proposals
Dec 18	Preliminary proposals due

Grades

     Speaker Reviews
100 points

     Letter of Interest
100 points

     Preliminary Thesis Proposal
200 points

     Participation
100 points

     TOTAL
500 points

Objectives
This course serves as an introduction for new graduate students to the Marine Science graduate program. During the semester you will

- Meet the faculty and learn about their research interests
- Engage in a set of exercises that should prepare you for choosing a thesis project and chair
- Begin to write your thesis proposal

At the end of this semester you should have a very good idea of what it means to be a Marine Science graduate student at USD, and you should have a preliminary draft of your thesis proposal. The thesis proposal will be expanded and refined during MARS 501 in the spring semester.

Academic Integrity
The use of information from published sources can create some confusion about proper use and referencing of material that you did not generate yourself. Here are some guidelines to help you use but not misuse information produced by others. For writing assignments in general, it is expected that you will read publications and incorporate into your papers some of the findings and ideas contained in those published works. When you refer to information generated by someone else, it is important to credit the source of that information. Commonly, that credit comes in the form of a parenthetical citation. For example:

Global climate change has been implicated in the decline of zooplankton biomass in the eastern Pacific during the second half of the 20th century (Roemmich and McGowan, 1995).

This sentence contains a conclusion described by Roemmich and McGowan in a paper published in 1995. It could be appropriate for you to include a sentence like this in one of your papers, but since you didn’t perform the research that led to this conclusion you need to cite the people who did.
Neglecting to properly cite another person’s work is a form of plagiarism, the practice of reporting someone else’s work as your own. There are other forms of plagiarism as well, including: copying portions of text verbatim from published sources (including the internet), receiving unauthorized assistance on papers, and drawing material from similar papers written by other students. Plagiarism constitutes a serious breach of professional ethics as well as a violation of the University of San Diego’s academic integrity policy. If an instructor has reason to believe that an act of plagiarism has occurred, an academic integrity report must be filed with the dean of the college and an academic integrity hearing may be convened. If the academic integrity hearing committee determines that plagiarism has occurred, disciplinary action may range from loss of points or a grade penalty to expulsion from the university. Bottom line: do your own work and don’t copy the work of others. Any questions about acceptable procedures for sharing of data, exchange of ideas, citation of sources, or any other academic integrity issues should be addressed to your instructor. Better safe than sorry!

Speaker Reviews	100 points
Letter of Interest	100 points
Preliminary Thesis Proposal	200 points
Participation	100 points
TOTAL	500 points