Syllabus

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The laboratory is an integral and vital part of the Igneous & Metamorphic Petrology course. Ideas will be developed in the laboratory which will not be considered in the lecture portion of the course. In general, the laboratory exercises will consist of petrographic reports which will follow a format given to you by the instructor. Problems and exercises will occasionally be assigned.

GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION:

Attendance is mandatory and the expenditure of effort beyond the three hour laboratory block will be required if you are to successfully complete the laboratory portion of Igneous & Metamorphic Petrology. The instructor will be available during the regularly scheduled laboratory times. In some cases their will be a short lecture outlining the activities to be undertaken in the laboratory. In other cases the instructor will simply be present to answer questions as they arise. There will be a considerable amount of microscope work and competence in this area can only be achieved by spending significant amounts of time observing the specimens.

The student's attention is called to the definitions and regulations regarding cheating and plagiarism. The instructor shall assign a grade of zero to any portion of an exam on which he determines cheating has occurred. Likewise a grade of zero will be assigned to any portion of a laboratory exercise that has been plagiarized.

TEXT: 

No formal textbook has been assigned for this course. Several standard petrography textbooks should be available in the library and you will want to refer to these books. In addition you will need the texts used in Optical Crystallography. A number of handouts will be provided throughout the course which should obviate the need for a formal textbook.

GRADING POLICY:

    Your grade will be determined as follows:

           Laboratory Exercises = 80%

           Laboratory Practical Exam = 20%

CONTACTING THE INSTRUCTOR:

The instructor's Office Hours are M-W-F from 12:00 noon to 1:00 PM. The instructor's office is Room 302b in the Olney building. Additional hours are available by appointment. If you have problems, or want to make an appointment, you can reach me either by telephone, 978-934-3907 (I have voice mail) or better yet by e-mail, Nelson_Eby@uml.edu. I log on to my e-mail account when I come in each day and thus will get your message first thing in the morning.