Readings:
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Spring Semester, 2011 |
Kyle Cave |
Readings:
Readings will be available on Spark. Each class will be devoted mainly to student presentations and discussion of these readings. For each class, you should read the papers listed for that date before class and come to class ready to discuss them. I suggest that you bring brief notes to class on each reading with the points you take to be most important, and the questions you would like to ask about it.
Assignments:Presentations. You can do your presentations on your own, or in collaboration with someone else. Presentations should be well organized and informative, A computer and projector will be available. Be prepared to be interrupted by questions, and to say everything you need to say within 20 or 30 minutes. Your job is to summarize not only the assigned paper, but also earlier research that led to the assigned paper. Most presentations will include material about approximately three earlier papers, and more if the original paper is short. You may not be able to cover every point made in the papers you present, so determine which points you think are most important. It is OK to spend more time on the earlier papers than on the assigned paper, if you think they are more important. I suggest meeting with me to discuss your presentation before and/or after you give it, but it is not required.
Summaries. For each assigned paper that you present, and for two of the papers referenced in it, you should write a short summary that would be appropriate for an annotated bibliography. On the day of your presentation, you should enter your summary in the class database that will be kept within a web-based program called RefWorks, which is provided by the UMass library. You can access it with this URL:
You will receive the logname and password to access refworks in class. Also the day of your presentation, you should hand in a copy of the computer displays (e.g. Powerpoint or Keynote) you prepare for the presentation.You can make the file an attachment on the thread for that topic in the discusssion board. (See below.)
Commentary. There will be a discussion thread on Spark discussion board for each paper that we read. You are encouraged to make as many entries into these discussions as you want. The entries can include a short summary of what you take to be the most important points of the paper, comments about particularly notable or particularly troubling points in the paper, or questions. They can be short or long. Each student is required to make at least one entry for each paper that they are not presenting, and it should appear before the beginning of class in which the paper is presented. If you are the first to comment on a paper, start a new thread for it. Otherwise, add your comment to the thread. You can start threads on other topics related to the class as well.
Paper. Each student will turn in one paper, due April 25. The topic should be something related to visual attention or visual cognition, and it should be negotiated with me before March 9. There are no hard rules about length, but if you are writing a paper, you might expect it to be 12-20 double-spaced pages in length.
Essay. In addition to the paper, a short essay of 3-5 pages (not counting references) will be due on the last day of class. The topic of the essay will be announced later. We may adjust this topic over the semester. It is important that you not just state your position, but that you support it with solid evidence.
All the assignments can be handed in electronically via Spark.
Avoiding
Plagiarism:All students are expected to adhere scrupulously to the University policy concerning academic honesty. If you fail to follow these rules, you could receive a failing grade for the class and be reported to the Academic Honesty Office. For more information on the University's academic honesty policy, check this web site:
Also, this website from Indiana University provides examples to help you understand how to avoid plagiarism.
Disabilities:If you need special accommodations because of a documented disability, please bring us the official letter by Feb 8.
This syllabus will be available on the web. Watch for updates throughout the semester.
