Attendance policy
We expect that you attend each of our course meetings in person. However, if something comes up, please let us know. Unfortunately, we can’t offer remote attendance via Zoom this quarter. We will post all relevant materials and slides on Canvas.
And of course, your health is the top priority, so if you are sick or have ANY potential symptoms of COVID-19, flu, RSV, a cold, etc., please email us (when you can) and stay home and rest!
Grading & assignments
Our primary focus is to make this course useful for all of you. Here is the breakdown of what we expect from all of you:
- Attendance (30%): Attendance is required to benefit from the panel discussions and from the presentation and demonstrations of a range of research skills, and from getting feedback from your peers. And most importantly, attendance is essential for creating and sustaining a culture in class that is supportive, informative, constructive, and provides a safe space for troubleshooting issues together.
- Active participation (30%): Active participation encourages dynamic learning and enhances communication skills. Moreover, both individually and as a group, we benefit from hearing everyone’s perspectives. Therefore, we encourage you to actively participate in class discussions, including doing a presentation of a paper relevant to your project, posting a reaction to each of your peers’ chosen papers, and engaging with your peers’ presentations.
- Honors thesis introduction and methods section (20%): A key part of any scientific article or report is the introduction, where a particular research question is situated within a broader landscape of existing work. This winter, you’ll be asked to write an introduction and methods section for your honors thesis project. We hope that this assignment will provide an opportunity to think about which lines of work inform your project as well as how your project builds on this past research and offers a novel contribution to the field.
- Peer feedback (20%): Providing constructive peer feedback fosters collaboration, hones your critical evaluation skills, and promotes a supportive classroom environment. You’ll have yet another opportunity this quarter to get practice in providing feedback by doing a peer review of another student’s literature review.
Class norms
Be respectful of each other
- Be respectful of everyone’s ideas, work, identities and needs.
- Be respectful and helpful when giving and taking feedback.
- Ask questions and be inquisitive.
- All questions are useful.
Provide constructive feedback
- Start positively when giving feedback. Try to provide a solution when giving feedback.
- Participate in class discussions but don’t dominate the discussion.
- Be constructive with suggestions and don’t be scared to give honest feedback.
- Be open and honest when reviewing others.
- Take space, make space.
Recognize differences in the stages and fields of research
- Be aware that everybody may be at different places in the honors research process and don’t assume that everyone is at the same stage.
- Respecting different areas of research - every question is useful.
- Be mindful of the use of language and jargon.
Look for opportunities to help each other
- Step in to help out (especially for troubleshooting issues).
- Participate in each others’ studies when that would be useful.
- Share resources and knowledge.
- Lean into discomfort so that you can grow.
Support
Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability should initiate the request with the Office of Accessible Education
(OAE). Professional staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the request is being made. Students should contact the OAE as soon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk.
Stanford offers several services that might be of help:
Feedback
We welcome feedback regarding the course at any point. Please feel free to email us directly, or leave anonymous feedback for the teaching team by using this form.
