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Points

Percentage Points Description
50 100 Homeworks (10 at 10 points each)
25 50 Lab activities (12 at 4 points each*)
15 30 Participation (30 at 1 point each)
10 20 Individual Meetings (4 at 5 points each)
100 200 Total

* First lab is worth 2 points (12 times 4 plus 2 = 50)

Homeworks

This course involves 10 homework assignments that you are expected to complete without consulting with other students, but you are welcome (encouraged!) to consult with the instructors. Some homework assignments will involve hand calculations (using an actual or online calculator), some will involve a small amount of computer programming in Python and R (but note that no previous programming background is assumed), and others will involve small projects that require you to understand how to set up software such as RevBayes to carry out an analysis, and then report on what you found.

Labs

Labs involve self-paced tutorials designed to teach you how to use important phylogenetics software packages and how to carry out analyses remotely using the Xanadu cluster. For each lab you will need to turn in something to demonstrate that you worked through the lab exercise.

Participation

I will assign reading from the textbook or papers from the literature and expect you to have read it before lecture. You receive participation credit for asking questions and participating in in-class activities, discussions about the material you’ve read, or material presented in either lecture or lab. If you are uncomfortable asking questions in class, please feel free to submit questions via email and I will address them (anonymously) during lecture.

Individual meetings

You will not have homework assignments for 4 weeks during the semester. In these weeks, I will hold 20-30 minute individual meetings with all of you. I’ve found in the past that these periodic one-on-one meeting really help me see where you are in terms of your understanding of the material, and it allows me the chance to detect and clear up any misunderstandings you have. In preparation for our individual meeting, use the time you would spend working on a homework assignment to review your notes and make a list of any topics that you don’t feel you understand completely so that we can discuss them during the meeting.

Due Dates and Late Policy

Because there are no formal exams, term papers, or projects, it is important to not skip or get behind on the homework assignments and lab exercises. You will be given 1 week to complete a homework assignment (i.e. until midnight on the Tuesday after it is assigned).

Every day after that you will lose 1 point on the homework assignment (so 10 days late means 0 for that assignment). For example, if you turn in your homework at any time on the Wednesday following the Tuesday due date, you will lose 1 point.

It is best to turn in your answers to lab exercises on the day of lab, but, if you don’t get finished during the allotted lab time, you can turn them in as late as midnight on the Sunday following the Thursday lab. After that, 1 point will be deducted for each day. For example, if you turn in your lab assignment on the Monday following the lab, you will have 1 point deducted.

Grading scale

At least Less than Letter grade
93% 100% A
90% 93% A-
87% 90% B+
83% 87% B
80% 83% B-
77% 80% C+
73% 77% C
70% 73% C-
67% 70% D+
63% 67% D
60% 63% D-
0% 60% F