Lectures and course work

Most lectures will be presented at the blackboard. Lecture outlines will be posted on the syllabus page, but lecture notes will not be distributed. You are responsible for taking notes in class and learning the material from your notes and/or the reading assignments. Occasionally, lectures will include powerpoint presentations, software demonstrations and guest lectures.

Course work includes four to six problem sets, one midterm and final exam. A review of recent results from the genomics literature is also required of 03-711/15-856 students.

Those wishing to learn more about software tools are encouraged to take 03-310 or to try the PSC online tutorials.

Grading policy

• Homework 100 - 120 points
       5 - 6 problem sets: 20 points each
        There will be a 50% penalty for late homework. No late homework will be accepted once graded homework has been returned to the class.
        I will drop your lowest homework grade.
• Midterm: 60 points
• Final: 100 points
• Literature review (711/856 only): 60 points

Homework policy

Problem Set 0 is a a self-administered placement quiz, to help you (and me) determine if you have the background for the course or need to read additional material. No collaboration on Problem Set 0.

All other problem sets: Discussion and collaboration on homework problems between students is allowed, but each student must prepare his or her own assignment. Students may not copy any portion of a homework assignment from another student, nor may they jointly prepare all or part of an assignment. An example of acceptable collaboration would be the discussion of strategies for a particular task, followed by each student implementing the strategy independently. Examples of unacceptable collaboration are:

1. jointly doing an analysis and then handing in multiple copies of the results.
2. following a method suggested by someone else without being able to explain the method.