Queen's University ~ Biology 103

General Advice on Lectures (Individual profs may give additional tips)

Powerpoint files or PDF versions of the Powerpoint slides for each lecture will be posted in WebCt prior to the lectures. To download/view a lecture PDF just click on the highlighted lecture topic. You need the freeware Adobe Acrobat reader (at least version 5) to read these PDF files. Almost all computers have Acrobat Reader installed as standard software these days. If you don't have it you can download it from Adobe (click HERE).

Profs vary in how they format their lecture notes and what is included/excluded. If you find it takes vast amounts of paper and ink to print out lecture notes, here are some suggestions:

• colour is often not essential, so consider getting a cheap laser printer (as little as $100 on sale) as they are faster and less expensive to operate than inkjet printers (inkjet manufacturers make most of their money selling ink, not printers)
• if the slides are not already grouped several to a page, you can print them this way. Open a file in Adobe Reader, then go to File > Print and under 'Page Scaling' select 'multiple pages per sheet', then select 2 or 4 (or more) for 'Pages per sheet'. You can also select a border around each page and adjust how they are printed in various ways. Then print the file or parts of it.
• if you need more detail from a particular slide, you can print just that slide as a full page. Or if a .pdf file already contains multiple slides per page, you may need to enlarge one slide or part of a slide. It is almost always better to zoom-in on an image using Adobe reader (or the full Adobe Acrobat program) and then copy and paste or print the enlarged image. If you copy a small image in a .pdf file, and then enlarge the image after pasting it into, say, a WORD document, the result will be very fuzzy.

However you do it, we suggest you print these files out and bring them with you to lecture as a tool for organizing your notes. If we update a lecture, a revised PDF will be posted just after the lecture, with a suffix (a, b, c etc.). However, we must emphasize that these files are not even close to a substitute for coming to lecture. Do not just download the files and think that you have the full content of the lecture - you will be in for a big shock come the final exam.

How do the readings integrate with the lectures?
Your textbook provides you with a broad, easy to read overview of the fundamentals. In lecture, we will try and focus on some particularly important topics in more depth and provide you with examples from recent research. As a result, BOTH the readings and lectures are important, and we will evaluate your understanding of both on the final exam. As always, if you have trouble understanding anything in the lectures or your textbook, please ask for help.

How much detail in the readings are you responsible for?
We want you to understand the most important concepts dealt with in the readings. At the back of each chapter there are "chapter summary" and "Test yourself" sections. If you understand the concepts in those sections, you are in good shape. You can also test your understanding of the key concepts by trying out questions in the textbook web site chapter quiz sections here.

When you first read a chapter, read it as you would a Scientific American article. Do not make detailed notes on it or attempt to memorize it. Identify the parts that directly relate to lectures or that you were asked to read.

Will the material covered in any guest lectures, videos, 'Xtra' slides etc. be on the exam?
These provide you with a detailed look at current research of Queen's biologists or other forms of enrichment. We don't expect you to understand or remember all the details of these items, but we do want you to know the principle concepts and results. Try to take away the following from each: (i) What is the question being asked and why is that question important? (ii) What methods did the researchers use to answer the question? (iii) What were the results and the GENERAL conclusions drawn from these observations.