Course Requirements
Everyone taking part in the seminar is expected to:
1) read the assigned material each week. The reading will consist of 2 or 3 research articles or book chapters. The reading assignment for each meeting will be provided the preceding week. We will primarily make use of e-journals and e-reserves, linked to the course web page. Occasionally the material will be from journals that are also available in the library stacks. If the articles are not available through Reed electronic resources, PDFs of the assigned reading will be available through Moodle. The articles or chapters will often provide opposing opinions or evidence on the subject, and should always be read critically
2) participate in the seminar discussion. I expect everyone in this class to participate in all discussions. The topics we will address should lend themselves to lively discussion. It will be important for our discussions to have all participants contributing their views on the reading. Everyone should come to seminar prepared to briefly summarize the assigned reading for the group. Everyone should come to seminar prepared to briefly summarize the assigned reading for the group. Each week, a randomly chosen person may be asked to provide a brief (maximum of 5 minutes) description for each of the papers. I would like our discussion to cover both positive and negative aspects of the papers.
3) assume the role of Discussion Leader in turn. Your primary responsibilities in this role will be to choose a topic for discussion, identify (in consutation with Keith) papers for the class to read, and facilitate discussion during the seminar meeting. This will require a thorough understanding of the reading you assign. You will also be expected to review additional literature on your subject so that you can help to place the assigned reading into a larger context. You are not expected to prepare (nor will you be allowed to present) a two-hour lecture on your topic.
On the day we discuss your reading, please bring:
a) a brief bibliography of related papers, along with any additional information (diagrams, pictures, maps, etc) from other sources that may help to put the reading in context.
This handout will be provided to the class as a PDF and as hard-copy for those attending in-person. Please provide an electronic copy of this document to me prior to class, and for the hard copies, I will print enough copies for everyone (and print in color if needed)
b) a cartoon/skematic/sketch of the methods for the (or one of the) empirical paper we are discussing. This will be turned in to Keith and need not be shared with the class.
4) complete two reviews of a recent research papers investigating a question related to the general topics covered by our seminar. This is expected to be a short review (a maximum of 3 pages, double-spaced). Select a paper from a topic that differs from the topic you selected as Discussion Leader. The article you review should be reporting new research (i.e. do not use review articles) and should be from the current periodicals reading room (i.e. unbound). If you use electronic journals, please focus on articles from the past 16 months. .
The assignments will be submitted to me at (or before) our week 6 meeting and at (or before) our final meeting.
Some appropriate journals to search include: Economic Botany, American Journal of Botany, Ecology, Evolution, Molecular Ecology, Oecologia, Botanical Journal of the Linnaean Society, Plant Physiology, Phytologia, Journal of Ecology, Canadian Journal of Botany, and American Naturalist.