Database Systems

Course Details at a Glance

Description

Textbooks

The following textbook is required for the course:

Course Web Page

http://www.denison.edu/~bressoud/cs377-s04

Prerequisite

Final Grade Determination

Course Work

Homework:

There will be regular homework assignments, probably every week or two.  The purpose of the homework is generally intended to reinforce the conceptual material from the book and will cover a wide variety of topics.  Many questions will be of the variety that could also appear on exams.  Homeworks are due in class on the date specified.  I will accept late homeworks, but with a 50% penalty enforced from the moment the homework is overdue.

You may discuss how to solve homework problems with other students in the class, but written work must be your own.  You may not get help on homework from students outside the class. Of course, you are always welcome to come see me for help.

Homework solutions must be typed in a word processor of your choice.  I would recommend that you learn and use LaTeX, a markup based typesetting program that is widely used in the research community.  Let me know if you need help getting started.

Exams:

There will be two midterm exams.  Each midterm will cover its respective section of the course material. Note that this means the second midterm exam is not cumulative, and is weighted equally with the first exam.  All exams will be closed book, closed notes.  Tentative dates for the midterms are given in the class schedule, but these may change (later or earlier), depending on our rate of progress.  The final exam is cumulative and will also be closed-book, closed-note.

Project:

A significant portion of your grade will consist of your performance on a semester-long database project.  Within the project, you will choose a database application area; define and refine the entities that comprise the area; design the user interaction; design and normalize a relational database; create the database and populate it with a significant amount of data; and demonstrate your finished product.

An integral part of the database project will be the maintenance of the project notebook, which will have a prescribed format and contents.  The project will be turned in the last day of class, and the last two class sessions will consist of demonstrations.  These will be individual projects.

Class Participation:

For this class to be successful, students must be engaged in the material by first doing the readings ahead of time, and second by participating in class. You will be expected to actively participate by asking questions, joining in our discussions, etc. Note that there is a significant portion of your grade attributed to class participation.

Student Responsibilities

Attendance:

Your attendance is expected at each class meeting. Per the class participation portion of the grade, I will reduce your grade for absences.  Up to 3 excused absences will be tolerated without affecting your grade.

Readings:

You are responsible for the content of reading assignments, lectures and handouts, as well as announcements and schedule changes made in class, whether or not you are present. If you must miss a class, you are responsible to get what you missed. Exams will be given in class on the day scheduled and may not be made up.

Out-of-class Time:

Material in any class is not learned or mastered simply by attending class.  The student needs to spend the time outside of class doing the readings, discussing the issues with fellow students, and discussing topics with the professor.  In many respects, out of class time is, in fact, more important than lecture time.  A good rule of thumb is that you should be spending 12-14 hours of quality time outside of class per week on a 4 credit hour course.

Other Issues

Disability Accommodation:

Any student who thinks he or she may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately as soon as possible to discuss your specific needs. I rely on the Office of Academic Support in Doane 104 to verify the need for accommodation based on documentation on file in their office.

Academic Integrity:

Do your own individual homeworks and projects. Do NOT copy from another person. There should be no reason for two nearly identical assignments. Usually a warning will be given first and then an incident of academic fraud will be reported for subsequent incidents.

Course Outline -- for tentative outline, see the Schedule page.