Course Policies
The course website will have an up-to-date course schedule, policies, and slides. Announcements will be sent to the class by e-mail, so please check your e-mail regularly. Visit the course home page for details regarding course logistics and meeting times.
Academic Integrity
All students must adhere to the Duke Community Standard. Duke University is a community dedicated to scholarship, leadership, and service and to the principles of honesty, fairness, and accountability. Citizens of this community commit to reflect upon these principles in all academic and non-academic endeavors, and to protect and promote a culture of integrity.
To uphold the Duke Community Standard:
- I will not lie, cheat, or steal in my academic endeavors;
- I will conduct myself honorably in all my endeavors; and
- I will act if the Standard is compromised.
By enrolling in this course, you have agreed to abide by and uphold the provisions of the Duke Community Standard as well as the policies specific to this course. Cheating or plagiarism on assignments, lying about an illness or absence and other forms of academic dishonesty are a breach of trust with classmates and faculty, violate this Standard, and will not be tolerated. Any violations will automatically result in a grade of 0 on the relevant assignment and be reported to the Office of Student Conduct for further action. Violations may result in a failing (F) course grade depending on the magnitude of the offense.
Activities & Assessments
Peer review activity
This activity is intended to help students describe and summarize and existing statistical analysis, critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing work, suggest reasonable alternatives/changes to address shortcomings, and develop scientific writing skills by providing clear, concise, data-driven peer review. An additional learning objective is for students to translate these skills into their own work in preparation for the portfolio presentation. The deliverable will be a brief (1-2 page) formal peer review of an existing article published in a high quality journal; more details to be provided in class.
Data visualization activity
This activity is intended to help students create high quality, professional visualizations in a reproducible manner. Students will be tasked to learn about a potentially unfamiliar scientific field and distill a complex dataset to create a meaningful and production-ready visualization. The deliverable will simply be that visualization; more details to be provided in class.
Report and poster
There is an initial written report due on the second Monday of class. The purpose of the initial submission is for you to identify the most salient components of your presentation and present an overall written summary of your work. In this initial report, you are limited to 5 pages total for the introduction, methods, results, and discussion/conclusion. You must include an abstract (maximum 300 words) separate from the paper, and all written submissions must be made in standard 11 point font and 1 inch margins. If there are relevant figures/tables which do not fit in this limit, you may display up to 3 additional figures/tables following the text. You may reference some formatting guides from journals as guidelines as you prepare your own work, (e.g., the Nature guidelines here), but you **must** stay within the limits provided here.
Student presentation
All students are expected to present their work in a presentation in a small group setting during one of the three assigned periods.
Grade Calculation
The grading basis for this class is on the satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading scale (S/U). Assignments will be graded on a four point scale: High pass, Pass, Low pass, and Fail. There are four components of this course: the peer review activity, the data visualization activity, the final paper and poster, and the live presentation. At least one failing grade or two low pass grades in any of the four components listed above will result in a grade of U. Note that the grade for the written report and poster will only be for the final version submitted to GitHub (you will have opportunity to revise your initial submission). Active and consistent participation is expected and will be tracked. Failure to participate to a satisfactory degree is grounds for a U grade.
Late Work Policy
There is no late work accepted.
Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
It is our intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well-served by this course, that students' learning needs be addressed both in and out of class, and that the diversity that the students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength and benefit. It is my intent to present materials and activities that are respectful of diversity and in alignment with Duke’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion. Your suggestions are encouraged and appreciated; please let me know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you personally, or for other students or student groups.
Furthermore, we would like to create a learning environment for students that supports a diversity of thoughts, perspectives and experiences, and honors your identities. To help accomplish this, if you feel like your performance in the class is being impacted by your experiences outside of class, please don't hesitate to come and talk with us. If you prefer to speak with someone outside of the course, your Academic Dean is an excellent resource. We (like many people) are still in the process of learning about diverse perspectives and identities. If something was said in class (by anyone) that made you feel uncomfortable, please talk to us about it.
Duke University is committed to providing equal access to students with documented disabilities. Students with disabilities may contact the Student Disability Access Office (SDAO) to ensure your access to this course and to the program. There you can engage in a confidential conversation about the process for requesting reasonable accommodations both in the classroom and in clinical settings. Students are encouraged to register with the SDAO as soon as they begin the program. Note that accommodations are not provided retroactively.
Header: The image in the header of this site is from John Snow's map of cholera cases. Using this visualization, Snow was able to demonstrate the spatial association of cholera cases with a water pump at Broad Street. He successfully communicated these statistics to disable the contaminated pump and also demonstrate that cholera was transmitted through water, not air.