Physics
Seminar
PHY
494
Spring
2012
Instructor: Dr. Scott Nutter
Office: SC 147
Phone: 859-572-5369
Email: nutters@nku.edu
Office
Hours: WF 9:00 AM -10:00 AM; TR 12:00-1:00 PM or anytime when available.
Instructor web page: http://www.nku.edu/~nutters
Credit Hours: 1
Pre-Requisites: 20 semester hours of physics courses. This course is mainly for physics majors and pre-engineering students.
Course Description: Techniques to search and report on research articles in physics. A written report and two oral presentations are required.
Attendance: You are allowed two unexcused absences. The third absence lowers your grade by one letter. Each second subsequent absence is further letter grade penalty.
Objectives and student outcomes: The main objective of the physics seminar course is to provide an opportunity for the student to read research articles in physics in order to develop skills in technical reading, writing, and scientific presentation. In this course the student will
Presentation on your research: You will give a 15 minute talk on some research you have performed. We will work out something if you have not performed research here yet. You will need to write a short presentation proposal that I can review.
TOPICS:
Laura Photoelasticity
Daniel work with Zacate
Kirk CREST
Ellie Foucault Pendulum
Cory CCDs
Presentation and Paper on a Research Article from a Journal: You will choose a topic and associated article from the Phys Rev Focus web site:
Your main task during the semester is to become an expert on this topic. You are required to find at least three other related articles which will help to understand and present the topic. You will create a short (3x5 notecard-sized) summary of the reference and its relevance to your topic.
At the end of the semester you will give a 20 minute talk on this topic. You are also required to write a review on this topic.
TOPICS:
Daniel: Higgs Boson http://physics.aps.org/articles/v5/32
Laura: Bending water with lasers http://physics.aps.org/story/v27/st18
Elly: Supersolids http://physics.aps.org/articles/v4/109
Cory: http://physics.aps.org/articles/v4/53
Kirk: Origami magnetic field fun http://physics.aps.org/articles/v4/93
Assundry other tasks as assigned: There will likely be a minor task for each week, including writing a short summary article on an article in a well-known science magazine, attending talks and filling out an evaluation form, finding articles on certain topics, writing references in a certain format, and writing abstracts.
Tentative schedule
PHY 494 S12
|
Week |
Topic |
Assignment due |
|
10 Jan |
Introduction Phys Rev Focus |
|
|
17 Jan |
Presentation snafus |
Research presentation proposal due |
|
24 Jan |
The importance of sources; Searching and citing |
View APA style guide tutorial (http://www.apastyle.org/), or browse prl.aps.org information for authors. Hand in notes. |
|
31 Jan |
Library instruction. Meet at library, SL300 |
Cite Arxiv.org search for articles relevant to research presentation. |
|
7 Feb |
How to read a paper |
|
|
14 Feb |
Abstracts: How to write and correct them; Practice correcting an abstract |
Contest: Find as many articles as you can about NKU physics profs. Properly cite for credit! PRIZE AVAILABLE!! |
|
21 Feb |
Research presentations |
|
|
28 Feb |
Research presentations |
PHY300 lab abstract |
|
6 March |
SPRING BREAK |
|
|
13 Mar |
Paraphrasing & summarizing; practice paragraph(s) |
|
|
20 Mar |
Using math in writing: equals is a verb! Example write-ups from Knight. Assignment of problem for next week. |
Final presentation topic proposal due: include copy of paper I can keep (electronic copy, link, or paper) |
|
27 Mar |
Making progress on the research paper: status reports from all. Writing research paper summaries. |
Careful writeup of a Knight problem using math in MSWord. |
|
3 April |
Formal writing without using the passive voice: style guide suggestions and practice. |
|
|
10 Apr |
Zacate talk |
List of 3 references for research presentation topic; a summary of each. |
|
17 Apr |
Article presentations |
Cory, Laura |
|
24 April |
Article presentations |
Dan, Elly, Kirk Final written summary of topic due |
Note: Assignments and their due dates are embedded in the schedule above. Details will be given in class.
No late work is accepted.
Resources:
Books (Optional, available
in NKU library):
1. Dazzle 'em with style : the art of oral scientific presentation. Robert R.H. Anholt.
2. Lessons for a Scientific Literature Review: Guiding the Inquiry. R. Schmidt, M. Smyth, V. Kowalski.
Web resources:
1. Writing technical reports
http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/writing/Resources/
2. How to give a good senior seminar presentation
http://home.sandiego.edu/~kaufmann/envi_mars495/envi_mars495_handout.html
3. Guides for writing papers, abstracts, etc.
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/
Grading:
Your grade will be determined based on the following weights.
|
Research presentation |
30% |
|
Article report |
20% |
|
Article presentation |
30% |
|
Assundry tasks |
20% |
|
Total |
100% |
Other web pages:
- NKU- Blackboard: http://learnonline.nku.edu
- Code of Students rights and responsibilities: http://www.nku.edu/currentstudents/policies/honorcode.php
Comments: I reserve the right to change any of the above due to any unforeseen reasons.
Last update 16 April 2012 SLN