Senior Research

MUC 4910 U02 Spring 2012

Location: WPAC 169
Time: Tuesdays 6:00 7:30 PM and private meetings

Instructor: Jacob David Sudol
Contact: jsudol@fiu.edu
Office/Hours: WPAC 169B Mondays 3 - 5 PM or by appointment

General

Course Description

This course will focus on developing and/or finishing your final Senior Research project for the BM
or BA in Music Technology. We will meet in a group to discuss our projects, progress, and present
our work as well as one-on-one. Your work will culminate in both a Midterm and Final
Presentation/paper to the rest of your advisory committee and me.

Teacher Assumptions

I assume that you are competent in a board field of computer music and music technology and are
familiar with many of the significant technologies, aesthetics, and critical traditions. I expect that
you are willing to engage in serious discussion with your colleagues and pursue significant
professional-quality research. The results of your work in this course should be of the caliber of
something that would be presented in a national or international conference or journal.

Grading and Policies

Participation

As I will focus on developing your critical engagement with the subject material, you are expected to
actively engage in both group and private discussions. In determining you participation grade I will
consider both the quality and quantity of your participation.

Assignments

As stated above, each of you are required to produce professional-quality research over the course
of the semester. I will evaluate and guide your progress mostly through private meetings. In
addition, you will present your research to your committee during the Midterm and Finals period. A
5- 10 page paper, depending on the project, accompanying your presentation will also be during
these presentations.

Final Grade Calculation

I will tally all the assignments participation scores to calculate the final grade. Below I indicate how
much each of these individual components counts toward your final grade:

Participation: 10%
Research Assignment 90%

Grading Policy

The following is a breakdown of how letter grades will be determined. (In the final calculations,
grades will be rounded to the nearest integer.)

97% - 100% = A+
93% - 97% = A
90% - 92% = A-
87% - 89% = B+
84% - 87% = B
80% - 83% = B-
77% - 79% = C+
74% - 76% = C
70% - 73% = C-
67% - 79% = D+
64% - 76% = D
60% - 73% = D-
0% - 59% = F

Attendance and Tardiness:

You are required to come to group and private meetings unless I grant you an exception at least one
day in advance. The only exceptions to this are when you can provide legitimate excuse (here and
below) is either a severe medical emergency or sickness (in which case I need a doctors note) or a
genuine family emergency. I reserve the right to define what significant, severe, and genuine
mean in terms of the circumstances.

Every time you miss a class or meeting without an excuse I will deduct 10 % from your final grade. I
dont tolerate tardiness either. If you arrive more than 15 minutes late without a legitimate excuse
you will receive the same grade reductions as if you were to miss the class. If you between 1 and 15
minutes late I will deduct 5% from your final grade.

Cheating, Plagiarism, and Academic Integrity

Cheating and plagiarism are not just serious offenses they are legal crimes. I will not tolerate any
cheating or plagiarism in my class. Following the FIU Code of Academic Integrity (see
http://www2.fiu.edu/~oabp/misconductweb/1acmisconductproc.htm) both offenses are grounds
for expulsion from the University. If you cheat or plagiarize in any of your work for this class, I will
follow through with the all the appropriate disciplinary actions.

Schedule:
(Last Update January 7, 2011)

(Note the following schedule is tentative and subject to change. Updates will be sent by e-mail.)

Week 1: Introductions, discussion of research plans, scheduling
Week 2: Private and group meetings
Week 3: Private and group meetings
Week 4: Private and group meetings
Week 5: Private and group meetings
Week 6: Private and group meetings
Week 7: Private and group meetings
Week 8: Private and group meetings + Midterm presentations (TBD)
Week 9: Private and group meetings
Week 10: Private and group meetings
Week 11: Private and group meetings
Week 12: Private and group meetings
Week 13: Private and group meetings
Week 14: Private meeting an final presentations dry-run
Final Class (Time to be determined)
Final presentations during Electro-Bonanza