Computational Molecular Biology and Genomics Policies


[Lectures] [Grading] [Homework] [Exams]


Lectures and course work

Most lectures will be presented at the blackboard. Lecture outlines will be posted on the syllabus page, but lecture notes will not be distributed. You are responsible for taking notes in class and learning the material from your notes and/or the reading assignments. Occasionally, lectures will include powerpoint presentations, software demonstrations and guest lectures.

Course work includes five to six problem sets, one midterm and final exam. For 711/856 students, four to five reading assignments from the recent genomics literature will also required.


Grading policy


Homework policy

Problem Set 0 is a a self-administered placement quiz, to help you (and me) determine if you have the background for the course or need to read additional material. No collaboration on Problem Set 0.

All other problem sets: Discussion and collaboration on homework problems between students is allowed, but each student must prepare his or her own assignment. Students may not copy any portion of a homework assignment from another student, nor may they jointly prepare all or part of an assignment. An example of acceptable collaboration would be the discussion of strategies for a particular task, followed by each student implementing the strategy independently. Examples of unacceptable collaboration are:

  1. jointly doing an analysis and then handing in multiple copies of the results.
  2. following a method suggested by someone else without being able to explain the method.
Students who collaborate on homework assignments should write the names of their collaborators on the front of their homework assignments

You may consult textbooks, articles and websites while preparing your assignments. You should not follow a procedure described in such sources, unless you understand it well enough to explain it. You may not consult solution sets from previous years. Nor may you quote from any source without attribution.

All students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the Carnegie Mellon policies on Academic Integrity and Cheating and Plagiarism and adhering to those policies.    In order to deter and detect plagiarism, online tools and other resources may be used in this class.

Exam policy

Exams are closed book. You may bring two 8.5"x11" pages (or one page, front and back) of your own notes. Bring a calculator. The final exam will be cummulative. You are responsible for all material covered during the semester.

The time and date of the final exam are determined by the registrar's office and are beyond my control.     Until the date of the final is determined, you should not make plans to leave for winter vacation before the end of the exam period. No student will be permitted to take the final exam early.

No student is required to take more than two scheduled examinations that start within a 25-hour period. If you have more than two final examinations scheduled within a 25-hour period or another examination scheduled at the same time as the exam for this course, please see me immediately to discuss how to resolve this conflict.

With the exception of the above, make-up exams will not be offered, except in the case of documented illness or family emergency.



Last modified: October 17th, 2011.
Maintained by Dannie Durand (durand@cs.cmu.edu).