ASTRONOMY 310 HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS

Recent Homework Assignments:
Mar 18:
- Read Evans' article Chemical Evolution and the Origin of Life on the Earth. This is a very important chapter, and you need to know the material thoroughly. The biochemistry can get complicated very quickly, and if you fall behind in the reading, it can be quite difficult to catch up. The best strategy is to read the material in the textbook and Reader well ahead of when we cover those topics in the lectures. The lectures are a review and summary of the most important subset of the topics covered in the reading. If you have questions or are unsure of anything, definitely ask!

Mar 15:
- Read Chapter 6
- Review Exam 1; bring exam to class on Monday; send me an e-mail if you have any uncertainty/confusion about any of the questions and answers.
+ Written Assignment #2 (due Fri Mar 29):
- Part 1: Textbook Multiple Choice Questions:
. Ch 4 # 38;
. Ch 5 # 31, 33, 35;
. Ch 6 # 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39;
. Ch 7 # 25, 31
. Ch 10 #30
. Ch 11 #27
- Part 2: Astrobiology Magazine Read several recent articles from Astrobiology Magazine published since 2013 Feb 9. Choose your favorite, then summarize and state the key results. Why is the article important? What made it interesting to you? Be sure to give the title, URL, author, date, etc.; proper college-level English is required. Limit your answer to 1 page.

Old Homework Assignments:
Mar 6:
- Read Chapter 7
- Study for Exam #1 on Monday; carefully fill out your name, etc., on the ParScore Enrollment form.

Mar 4:
- Explore the NASA/JPL PlanetQuest website, especially the Alien Safari.
- Exam #1 on Monday March 11. This will be a multiple choice exam, 50 questions, closed-book.
- You will need a ParSCORE Student Enrollment form (the larger pink scantron).
- Fill out your name, Red ID, Test Form, Exam #, etc., on your ParSCORE Student Enrollment form (the larger pink scantron) BEFORE the start of class (best to do this a day or two before). See the Study Guide for details and additional information. *This is a homework assignment, not a suggestion.* You may lose points on the exam if do not do this homework assignment.

Feb 25:
- Review Chapters 1-4, 8, 10, and 11.
- Look over the homework #1 answers posted on-line.

Feb 21:
- Read Chapter 10
- Study for Exam #1

Feb 20:
- Study for Exam #1 on Friday March 1. This will be a multiple choice exam, 50 questions, closed-book. You will need a ParSCORE Student Enrollment form (the larger pink scantron). See Class News for details.
- Review all the assigned articles in the Course Reader
- Please be sure to be caught up with all the reading assignments. Pay particular attention of the article by Loftus.
- Examine the NASA/JPL PlanetQuest website.

Feb 18:
- Examine the NASA/JPL PlanetQuest website.
- Reader: "Creating False Memories" by E. Loftus.

For the week of Feb 11-15:
- Read Chapter 4.
- Reader: "The UFO Controversy and the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis" by S. Dick.
- Review Ch 3

Feb 8:
- Read Chapter 8: Mars. (This is out of sequence, but will help you get the most out of our guest speaker Earl Towson's lectures.

Feb 6:
- Reader: "Abducted! Encounters with Aliens" by M. Shermer from his book "Why People Believe Weird Things".
- Reminder: Written HW #1 due on Friday.
- Read all of Ch 11.

Feb 4:
- Textbook: "The Doppler Technique" in Ch 11 (pages 370-372). I recommend you read Ch 11.1 and 11.2, not just this section, so that things are in better context.
- Review Chapter 3 - there is a LOT of material in this chapter!

Feb 1:
- Finish reading Ch 3.
- Course Reader "The Search for Extraterrestrial Life" by Carl Sagan.

Jan 30:
- Continue reading Chapter 3 of the textbook.
- Course Reader: "Hallucinations" by Carl Sagan (a chapter from the book The Demon Haunted World)
- Written Assignment #1 (due Fri Feb 8):
I. Multiple Choice: Textbook Chapter 1, Questions #17 ; Ch 2 #36; Ch 3 #43
II. Chapter 3 Problem # 58
III. Read several recent articles from Astrobiology Magazine. Choose your favorite one, then present a summary and say why you think the articles are interesting. Give the full name, date, and URL of the articles. These must be new stories published after 2012 July 1; no articles earlier than this are acceptable. (Note: an article on 2012 Aug 29 may be of particular interest...)
IV. Summarize the Chapter Hallucinations in the Course Reader by Carl Sagan. What do you think is the single most important point in the article, and why?
Remember: the homework is worth 20% of your grade, and there are only a few homework assignments. Each one is a big part of your grade. Treat each homework like a mini-term project. Length should be 2-3 typed pages. The spacing and margins and fonts are your choice - just make sure the text is not difficult to read. Be sure to use proper college-level English: grammar and spelling are important. You can collaborate with others, but you must submit your own independent work.
For any math problems, show all work: the answer alone will get no credit. Fully explain in detail what you are doing and why.
Please don't forget to staple your pages together.
Warning: Do not plagiarize!!! Use your own words. If you copy more than 4 words in a row from someone else's work without quotes, then you are probably plagiarizing that work. It does not matter if it is from a textbook, the Course Reader, web pages, class notes, a book, or any other source - plagiarism is stealing. You will automatically fail this assigment and possibly the entire course, and be reported to the Center For Student Rights and Responsibilities. (See more info at the bottom of this web page).

Jan 28:
- Continue reading Chapter 3 of the textbook. (you can skip the "Movie Madness" section)
- Read a recent article from Astrobiology Magazine. The news stories are short and highlight the most recent exciting discoveries.
- Course Reader:
- - "Claiborne Pell, Senator from Outer Space" by M. Gardner
- - "Courtney Brown's Preposterous Farsight" by M. Gardner

Jan 25:
- In the Course Reader: Read the excerpt of the article "Are We Alone in the Cosmos?" by T. Owen.
- Begin reading Chapter 3 of the textbook.
(It is a long and dense chapter, so I don't expect you to finish it for a while.)

Jan 23:
Read Textbook Chapter 2.

Jan 18:
- Thoroughly read and understand the class rules - see the class webpages and syllabus.
- Read Chapter 1 in the textbook.
- Explore, read, and bookmark the class web site. Learn what's available to help you with this course like the Class News, Astrobiology Sites, Critical Thinking, and Class Information.
- Flip through the textbook and Course Reader to get an idea of what you are going to learn this semester. We will cover nearly all of the textbook and all of the Course Reader.

Homework Grading Policy:
Written homework assignments are graded on the following scale (no curve):
A = excellent work; full and thorough answers; no mistakes and no English errors
B = good work, only very minor errors; very few English errors
C = acceptable work, but more than one incorrect answer; errors in the science and/or English
D = poor work; several incorrect answers/errors
F = major problems with the answers or not submitted
Remember that the homework counts as 20% of your course grade! Be sure to put in the appropriate amount of effort. Poor grades on the homework almost always lead to poor grades in the course. Think of each written homework assignment as a mini term paper. Each homework assignment constitutes a large fraction of what determines your course grade.
To be accepted for credit, the following rules apply:
- Copying out of the textbook is plagiarism; it will result in a failing grade for the homework assigment.
- All written homework assignments must be typed.
- Homework must be printed and and a hardcopy turned in: e-mailed homework will not be accepted.
- Multiple pages must be stapled together.
- All material submitted for a grade must be written in proper English, at a level appropriate for a college course. Write complete and full sentences for all questions that are not purely mathematical in nature.
- Students can study together on the homework (I encourage this), but the submitted work must be independently written. If a student's homework is very similar to another student's homework, both will earn a failing grade.
- Homework is due at the start of class. Do not interrupt class to hand in your homework. Put it on the table at the side of the class or hand it to me after the lecture is over. Do not interrupt the lecture to hand in homework!
- Late homework will be accepted but one letter grade is deducted per class late. A single day late will result in a 1/3 letter deduction (e.g. homework due on Monday is handed in at office hours on Tues).
- Show all work when doing calculations. Just writing down the answer is insufficient. Showing your work allows me to give partial credit if the numerical values are incorrect and it is the only way to see how you are doing the problem (the method is more important than the answer).
- Again, copying verbatim from the Textbook, Course Reader, or Class Notes is plagiarism and will result in automatic failure of the assigment.



Plagiarism Policy:
Plagiarism is not tolerated and will result in automatic failure of the assigment. Plagiarism on a term paper or project will result in automatic failure of the course and will be reported to the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities.

Plagiarism is theft. If you copy more than 4 words in a row from any source (including the textbook, notes, Reader) and do not reference that source, you may be committing plagiarism.
Committing plagiarism could be the end of your college career: ``... an appropriate penalty, even severance from the University and in some cases revocation of an advanced degree,...'' (see page 478 of the 2012-2013 General Catalog `Cheating and Plagiarism'). Plagiarism and cheating are at the top of the list of reasons for expulsion, suspension and probation of students. Take a look at the SDSU Academic Dishonesty Incident Form (in .pdf format) for what comes next if you commit plagiarism.
Fraud and stealing is not taken lightly at SDSU. Don't throw away all the effort, time, and money you spent going to college (this or any other one) by plagiarizing someone else's work. It is just not worth the risk. You almost certainly will get caught - just as it is so easy to steal material off the WWWeb, it is sooo easy to get caught. It requires just a few keystrokes to check your project and homework for plagiarism. And there is no time limit - semesters later, or even years later, the crime is just as serious (in fact, usually more so - you can lose your degree, job, career)!

Simple Rule: If you copy a phrase of 4 or more words, put it in quotes and reference the source.
Simple Rule: If in doubt, reference the source.
What is plagiarism? Find the definition from the Turnitin.com website.