Course Requirements
| Weight | Assignment | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ungraded | Readings | |||
| 5% | In-class participation | |||
| 48% | Exams | |||
| 15% | Group work on scientific papers | |||
| 32% | Controversy Investigation | |||
| 4% | Researcher interview | |||
| 1% | Researcher panel |
Readings
There will be two types of readings. The specific readings are listed on that unit’s page on the course site (see Schedule).
Background readings: I’ll assign chapters from the Brennan text, encyclopedia articles, or similar sources to provide general background on a topic. Some of the material in these readings will be reinforced in class, but all of the material is fair game for the exams.
Scientific articles: We’ll also read some primary literature (real scientific papers). These will be dense and technical. It is very important to review these papers before class; otherwise, you will struggle to contribute to your group’s in-class work. But don’t worry if (when) there are parts you don’t understand. We will work through the papers together in class.
Hard copies of the articles will be handed out in class. You may reference these hard copies, along with any notes you’ve written on them, during in-class exams.
When reviewing the scientific articles, I strongly recommend following the process here: Guide to reading scientific papers. We’ll go over this in class.
Participation
During class, I’ll occasionally ask you to respond to questions in real time using a polling tool like Mentimeter. Your answers to these questions will not be graded for correctness, but repeated failure to participate in the polls will affect your participation grade.
Exams
There will be four short in-person exams, each worth 12% of your grade. Tentative exam dates for each unit are listed on the corresponding unit page (see schedule). The exact timing of the exams may be adjusted depending on course needs.
During exams, you are allowed to reference the hard copies of the scientific articles we covered during that unit. This includes any notes you have written on the copies.
The exams are designed to measure your progress towards the specific learning goals that are listed on each unit’s page. In general, they are meant to assess your knowledge of foundational concepts, your ability to map scientific evidence about language and the brain to theoretical claims, and your ability to interpret new evidence. They will cover lecture material, background readings, and the scientific articles that we worked through in class.
Group work on scientific papers
A significant portion of class will be dedicated to small group work. The groups will be different for each of the four main course units (see schedule).
Sometimes, you will work together to practice applying concepts from the readings/lectures. That work will not be graded.
Other times, you will work with your group members to understand and summarize the scientific papers on the reading list. For example, you may be asked to create a visual aid showing how a study worked, or to use a brain atlas to visualize which brain regions were active during a particular experiment. This work will be graded.
I’ll always try to make clear whether a particular group assignment will be graded or not, but feel free to ask if I forget.
Controversy Investigation
See here.
Researcher Interview
For this assignment, you will conduct a structured interview with one of the predoctoral or postdoctoral scholars in Georgetown’s Neuroscience of Language training program. The goal of your interview will be to learn about a specific research question that this person is trying to answer; to understand the research approach or method that they are trying to use in order to answer it; and to identify some things that make it challenging to conduct this type of research. After the interview, you will briefly describe to your classmates the researcher’s main question and research approach, and you will submit a written reflection.
(To be added: Tips for conducting the interview, instructions for written reflection)
Researcher Panel
At the end of the semester, we will host a panel discussion with Neuroscience of Language researchers at various stages of their career, ranging from graduate students to senior professors. The focus of this panel will be on the future of the field: we’ll ask researchers where they think the field is going and what challenges the field faces. To prepare for this, I will ask each student to submit some questions for panelists in advance, and then the class will vote on which questions to present to the panelists. You will also submit a written reflection afterwards.
(To be added: Link for question submission; Instructions for written reflection)