MATH 395-01
Professional Skills Development for Mathematics
STAT 395-01 Professional Skills Development for Statistics
Syllabus for Spring 2015
Tues & Thurs 3:30 – 4:20pm
Gildemeister 325
Seminar Time: Some Wednesdays 12:00 – 12:50pm
Various Locations
MATH Instructor: Dr. Eric Errthum Winona Email Username: eerrthum Office: 205 Gildemeister Hall Office Hours: See homepage. Or by appointment on any day.
STAT Instructor: Dr. Chris Malone Winona Email Username: cmalone Office: 124C Gildemeister Hall Office Hours: See schedule. Or by appointment on any day.
Course Website: http://course1.winona.edu/eerrthum/math395
Prerequisite: CMST 191/192, ENG111, MATH313, and MATH327
About This Course: This course is intended mostly for students preparing to begin or currently working on a research project. The topics of this course will provide students with the tools for performing the necessary research work and the skills of communicating their results both verbally and in written form. This course will also cover skills necessary to succeed as a professional in the area of mathematics.
Expectations: Students who complete this course with a passing grade are expected to be able to demonstrate the following skills: (i) Steadfast attendance, (ii) Various research skills, (iii) Verbal communication of technical results, (iv) Written communication of technical results.
Assessment and
Grades: Your course grade will be determined by
your performance in completing the assigned work. All graded material will be evaluated using
the following scale.
·
Exceptional Performance
·
Satisfactory Performance
·
Substandard Performance
·
Incomplete / Missing
Assigned work will receive comments by myself
and/or your peers; however, the performance evaluation will be based on only
the instructor’s review. Work that is
determined to be substandard or incomplete/missing may be revised within one
week and resubmitted. For resubmitted
work, the maximum performance mark will be satisfactory, that is, you cannot
achieve exceptional performance on work that has been resubmitted.
Your final grade will be determined by the following.
|
Grade |
Threshold |
|
A |
Most assigned work received exceptional
performance marks |
|
B |
Most assigned work received a balance of
exceptional and satisfactory marks |
|
C |
Most assigned work received satisfactory
performance marks |
|
D |
Most assigned work received substandard
performance marks with a limited number of incomplete or missing performance
marks |
|
F |
Most assigned work received incomplete or
missing performance marks |
A student
may request an update regarding their performance at any time during the
semester.
Attendance: Attendance
is mandatory. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to get the
material and get yourself caught up.
Course Materials: You are encouraged to use a 3-ring binder for this class because
class materials will be a combination of note taking, handouts, and computer
output.
Academic Dishonesty: WSU Undergraduate Catalog contains a full listing of policies and procedures pertaining WSU’s Academic Integrity Policy. Note that both copying another student’s work and allowing someone to copy your work are clear violations of our academic integrity policy. If there is reasonable evidence of copying another individual’s or group’s work, it will be construed as an act of plagiarism. The first occurrence of cheating will result in a score of zero on that specific homework assignment or exam portion; the second occurrence may result in failure of the course.
Note: This syllabus is subject to change if deemed necessary by the instructor.
Tentative Schedule of Events – Math 395
(subject to change)
|
Week Beginning |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
|
1/12 |
Introductions
Example Write-Ups: |
No Seminar |
Assignment: · Identify two summer opportunities · Write a mock email/cover letter that would accompany your application · Due Jan 22. |
|
1/19 |
Rubrics for Talks: Oral Presentation Rubric Assignment: · Watch the other two talks above · Score a rubric for each · Write a short explanation of your rubric scores · Due Jan 27. |
No Seminar |
WSU Faculty
Interests: |
|
1/26 |
“Technically Speaking” – Preparation Assignment: · Apply the oral presentation rubric to Dr. Suman’s talk. Due Jan 29. · Pick one of the sample Math/Stat talks above. Identify which of the Preparation tips needed improvement and make suggestions for what they specifically could’ve done better in that regard. Due Feb 3. |
Seminar: Dr. Ken Suman (WSU) |
WSU Faculty Interests: Drs. Hooks, Draskoci-Johnson, Windsperger, Leonhardi Discuss Speaker Assignment: · Read at least 2 of the articles: o “Talks are not the same as papers” (Tao) o “How to Talk Mathematics” (Halmos) o "How to Make Your JSM Talk Great” (De Veaux) · Write a reflection on the similarities and differences in advice offered in these articles and from Technically Speaking and from the Rubric and/or what we’ve said in class. |
|
2/2 |
“Technically
Speaking” – Delivery Assignment: · Start preparing to give a talk next week: o 8-10 minutes o Technical topic of your choice (e.g. a topic from a calc course or intro to stat course, or a longer talk that you’ve given in a math/stat setting that’s been compressed down, etc.) |
Seminar: Dr. Ken Suman (WSU) |
“Technically
Speaking” – Visual Aids Intro to Beamer Optional Beamer
Template (pdf and tex
versions, example jpg) Assignment: · Critique a previous student’s slides. Due Feb 17. |
|
2/9 |
12:45: Seminar: Dr. Ken Suman (WSU) Student Presentations I Open Topic, 8 – 10 minutes |
Seminar: Dr. Aaron Luttman (Dept.
of Energy – Nevada) |
Student Presentations I Open Topic, 8 – 10
minutes |
|
2/16 |
Mathematical
Databases and the Library (Mark Eriksen visiting) Assignment: · Write a mock sentence and bibliography citing the article using the same style the article uses (Due Feb 25) |
No Seminar |
Student Presentations II Open Topic, no words on slides, 8 – 10 minutes |
|
2/23 |
Monday Noon: Open Topic, no words on slides, 8 – 10 minutes |
No Seminar |
How
to Read a Journal Article Example Math Papers: Example
1, Example
2 Good Professional Math Papers: MAA
Award Winners Good Undergraduate Math Papers: Rose-Hulman Undergrad Math Journal Structure of a Theoretical Paper: “Writing a Research Paper in Mathematics” Some Good Stat Papers: Miami University
REU outcomes Structure of Scientific Papers ·
Bates
College Paper Structure: pdf
| html ·
University
of Manchester: Stat Report
Writing
·
Choose
article (possibly the same you ordered through ILL) ·
MATH:
Determine how much is proof vs. exposition vs. examples ·
STAT:
Identify the main parts of the paper (Lit Review, Methods, etc.) · Write a summary of the main points Due: March 17 |
|
3/2 |
Student Presentations III Open Topic, 8 – 10 minutes Switch off with other student |
Seminar: Dr. Todd Iverson (St. Mary’s) |
Student Presentations III Open Topic, 8 – 10 minutes Switch off with other student Assignment: Watch all 3 of your presentations and |
|
3/9 |
SPRING BREAK |
||
|
3/16 |
Purdue’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) Example of Reverse-Outlining: Stat Paper 1 -- Outline Assignment:
|
Seminar: Dr. Lee Windsperger (WSU) |
Compare and Contrast responses on Reverse-Outline Assignment Assignment: Write an outline
for a paper on |
|
3/23 |
Assignment: |
No Seminar |
Math Paper 3
Conclusion Assignment: · Write a conclusion for the same paper you chose to do an abstract for (Due: April 2) ·
Turn returned outlines into papers (Due:
Version 1 due April 7) |
|
3/30 |
Monday Noon: NO CLASS |
No Seminar |
Compare/Contrast Abstracts and Conclusions |
|
4/6 |
Posters – Content/Story-telling
Assignment: |
Student Talk: |
General and Individual Paper Discussions Assignment: Implement revisions in your paper (Due:
April 16) |
|
4/13 |
Monday: Discuss/Critique Former Math/Stat Posters
·
Photograph
and Critique two posters (one “good” and one “bad”) at WSU Research Symposium
(Due April 16) |
No Seminar |
Discuss/Critique WSU posters Assignment: |
|
4/20 |
Professionalism in the Work Place and Online Developing Professional Skills Worksheet Assignment: |
Student Talk: |
Resume & Cover Letter Writing Transferrable Skills of Math Majors Resume Examples: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six Assignment: |
|
4/27 |
Career Services: Interviewing to Win! Assignment: |
Student Talk: |
Final Thoughts |
Due by the Final (Wednesday, May 6,
10:30am)
· Final
version of paper
· Final
version of poster
· Final
version of resume
WSU recognizes that our individual differences can deepen our understanding of one another and the world around us, rather than divide us. In this class, people of all ethnicities, genders and gender identities, religions, ages, sexual orientations, disabilities, socioeconomic backgrounds, regions, and nationalities are strongly encouraged to share their rich array of perspectives and experiences. If you feel your differences may in some way isolate you from WSU’s community or if you have a need of any specific accommodations, please speak with the instructor early in the semester about your concerns and what we can do together to help you become an active and engaged member of our class and community.
The Standard Disclaimer
applies.
© Eric Errthum, April 2015, all rights reserved.
