Syllabus

Fall 2016

Instructor

• Dr. Branislav K. Nikolic
  • Email: bnikolic@udel.edu
  • Web: http://web.physics.udel.edu/about/directory/faculty/branislav-k-nikolic
  • Phone: (302) 831-2943
  • Fax: (302) 831-1637

Calendar

• M: 2:30PM-3:20PM in 100 Sharp Lab.
• Office hours: Monday 1:30PM-2:30PM in 234 Sharp Lab, or by appointment (send me an email).
• Course starts on Monday, September 12 and terminates on Monday, December 5.
• Breaks:
  • Thanksgiving recess: November 21-25
  • Instructor's travel schedule: October 10.

Requirements

Lectures: The first three class times will discuss major physics and astronomy journals and databases and how to search them, style and tools for writing of scientific articles, and style and tools for presenting talks and posters.

Student talks: Starting in early October, students will present 15 (+5 for questions) minutes talks on a recent research frontier selected from the list posted at Topics.

Academic Honesty: The policy on academic honesty as stated in the Student Guide to University Policies will be followed during this course. In particular: collaboration on homework assignments and in-class activities is permitted and encouraged (unless your instructor explicitly indicates otherwise).

Grading

• Grades will be Pass/Fail. To earn Pass grade, student must:
  • select a topic by deadline set by the instructor,
  • email PDF of your abstract to the instructor in the APS format by Thursday midnight before the Monday on which student is scheduled to give a talk,
  • present talk during class time,
  • attend ALL classes.

A student who misses deadlines associated with these three activities will receive Fail grade and will have to repeat the course.

Study Guides

• P. Gosling and B. Noordam, Mastering your Ph.D.: Survival and success in the doctoral years and beyond (Springer, Berlin, 2011). [E-book at UD libary].
• Journal resources: Selected articles are posted at Lectures and Topics pages.