Things you should already know, but...

Make frequent backups of your electronic work on diskettes, and print versions of your drafts. Diskettes and paper are cheap. We will NOT accept the excuse that your hard drive crashed.

Check your SMU email account frequently; that is the address given to us by the registrar, and the one we will use to notify you of any problems. Work sent to us from non-SMU email addresses might be marked as SPAM and never reach us.

Do not wait until the last minute to write a research paper. The process takes days, if not weeks, when done properly.

Email yourself a copy of your assignment when you send it to pseudo@physics.smu.edu to ensure that the attachment was, in fact, attached.

All the assignment due dates are on the syllabus. Do not ask for an extension. Do not plan to leave town before the final exam.

Can you borrow our books or videos for your research papers or book reports? NO!

Can you write your final research paper on the same topic as your midterm paper? NO! But you can write the longer 15-page paper at midterm and write the shorter 7-page paper at the end of the term.

This is not required, but it would be a great idea to choose your two auxiliary reading books for the book reports to support your research papers.

Keep a notepad and a dictionary nearby when reading the course books (especially Sagan). Look up words with which you are unfamiliar. Write down important information for the reading quizzes. It will be easier to study your condensed notes than to reread the entire chapters covered on the quiz. At final exam time, these notes will be extremely helpful -- you won't have time to reread three books.

We can not give you a grade of "Incomplete" unless the majority (got that? 50% or more) of the course requirements have been completed with passing grades but for some justifiable reason, you are unable to complete the full requirements of the course. This is University policy.