aimsThe aims of this exercise are:
instructionsYou can choose from this list of popular science books on topics related to the course. All of these are, in the opinion of the astronomers in this department, good examples of science writing for the interested layman; most are by professional scientists. All of them should be readily available at modest cost (if Blackwell's doesn't have them, try online bookshops, particularly Amazon (Amazon Marketplace is a good source of second-hand or remaindered books at lower cost). The synopses provided should give you some idea of what each book is about and the level of technical detail (this should only matter if you are not a science student: only one of these books is at all mathematical, and anyone with science A-levels should have no trouble). The directed reading exercise consists of a set of questions on the book, contributing 15% to your module mark. The deadline is Monday of week 9, but the questions are designed to be progressive: they are generally in the same order as the material of the book, and should be done while you are reading it.the questionsFor each book, we have prepared a list of 10 questions. Almost all the questions can be answered from the material in the book, and they are presented in order, i.e. you can (and should) answer them one by one as you read. (One or two questions may require you to look up additional information: this will normally be indicated in the wording of the question.)the assessmentYou should hand the completed exercise in at the Departmental Teaching Hub, Hicks Building room G12, with a standard coversheet downloaded from the Departmental website. Please write the title of the book you have used on the coversheet, because I need this to sort the scripts. The coversheet you download will have your registration number already printed on it: check that this is correct, as the corresponding barcode is read in to a database by office staff to confirm that you have handed the work in. (Note that this implies that you can't get a friend to download the coversheet for you, or use a photocopy of someone else's, because it will have their number and barcode on it, not yours!)Although handwritten scripts are acceptable, we would normally expect you to use a word-processor such as Word. This is good experience, helps with spelling (do use the spell-checker, but don't assume it will solve all your problems), and reduces the risk that your illegible scrawl will antagonise the marker (note that University regulations state that it is your responsibility to ensure that handwritten work is legible)! If you are a physics student, in later essays you will be required to submit material electronically, both for ease of reading and in order that it can be checked for plagiarism. The questions do in general have well-defined answers, and will be marked primarily on content and clarity of explanation. Make sure that you have answered the question you were asked (for instance, if the qustion says "explain" something, make sure you have explained it, not just defined it) and do not copy large chunks of text straight from the book (this is plagiarism, and is unacceptable; see note below). Worried about some aspect of this exercise? The Notes contain information about dyslexia, late submissions, etc. Remember you can always e-mail the lecturer (or consult your tutor) for advice.
In this as in all other writing
exercises in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, plagiarism is
unacceptable and will be severely penalised if detected. If you're
not sure what this means, read the
guidelines.
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