YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR KNOWING EVERYTHING ON THIS SYLLABUS. IF YOU LOSE IT GET ANOTHER ONE IMMEDIATELY.

Syllabus - CC 306M/336M (28180/28215)

Medical and Scientific Terminology

TTh 11 - 12:30	Instructor: Prof. Lesley Dean-Jones
BUR 106	Office: WAG 107
T.A. s: Christina Bush, WAG 14AC Kari Banta, WAG 200A	Office hours: TTh 10-11 & by appt. Tel.: 471 2352

email:ldjones@mail.utexas.edu

Required Texts
Medical Terminology: The Language of Health Care, Marjorie Canfield Willis Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 18th edition

Course Synopsis: This course is designed primarily for those students who plan to attend professional schools of medicine and related areasÑ dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, etc. Those students who are not planning to attend one of these schools but are interested in studying English etymology (the derivation of English words from Greek and Latin roots) are strongly advised to enroll in CC 306, The Latin and Greek Element in English.

This course has two primary objectives: (1) to increase the student's facility in determining the meaning of medical and scientific words by analyzing their structure, and (2) to introduce the student to some elements of Greek and Roman culture and the influence they have had on Western medicine.

A student cannot take both CC 306M and CC 336M for credit towards a degree.

Class Routine: When learning any language, especially in an intensive way, it is important to be consistent. You should only miss class for unavoidable reasons, and you should plan to spend at least 3 hours per class hour on homework. During the course we will work steadily through Willis and I will explain the material introduced in each chapter in class. We will not reach the end of the book, but the principles that have been learned from the other chapters will allow you to finish off any remaining chapters yourself. In addition to memorizing the meaning of word components, your homework will consist of doing the exercises related to the material we covered in class and reading over the material in the upcoming chapter. In the following class session we will go over any problems that occurred in the exercises. I will introduce additional terms using roots, prefixes and suffixes you have learned for practice in analysis and synthesis of unfamiliar words. I will also go over relevant words which cannot be analyzed and synthesized in this way and explain their etymology. These are the only words that you will have to learn individually in their entirety, and even then the roots, prefixes and suffixes you have learned will often act as a mnemonic. During class periods I will introduce pertinent material from Greek and Roman culture and medical history, often with the aid of slides, and this too should help you remember the derivation and meaning of some difficult terms. All of this material may be tested on the quizzes and final.

Homework: As well as completing the exercises in Willis you need to memorize the basic meaning of the new roots, prefixes and suffixes. The best way to do this is by using flash cards and going from the English to the Greek or Latin root. You can be fooled into thinking you know the roots better than you do if you simply learn to give the English meaning of a root. As in all languages you should strive for an active mastery.

You should work through all the exercises for each chapter. These may seem repetitive, but Repetitio mater memoriae. As with any language, the best way to learn medical terms is by continued and frequent practice. It is your responsibility to do the exercises and bring your problems to my attention. Do not rely on everybody else to identify the trouble spots. The more of the exercises you do, the better will be your performance on the quizzes. If I don't identify a word as a problem myself and nobody asks me a question about it I will assume that its meaning is perspicuous.

Office Hours: If you are having problems with the material come to see me as soon as possible. I know that occasionally health or personal problems can seriously affect a student's work, and I am sympathetic to this, but there is nothing I can do retroactively. You need to make your adviser and your professor aware of any serious problem during the course of the semester.

e-mail: If you have a simple question you can ask me on the e-mail discussion group I have set up. To subscribe send to

listproc@lists. cc. utexas. edu

a request (with no subject line) reading subscribe Medterms first name last namewhere "first name last name" is your own name. To send mail to the list address your message to medterms@lists.cc.utexas.edu

The advantages of this system are that you do not have to wait in lines during my office hours for a simple answer, and I do not have to answer the same questions over and over again, since everybody who subscribes to the list will get all the mailings. For questions or messages that are not relevant to the rest of the class you can either come by my office hours or send me mail to my personal e-mail address.
Please note that at the moment I am not receiving e-mail on my home computer, so I will not be able to answer any questions until I come into my office. This will only be a problem if you wait till the night before a test to send me an urgent question and my home computer still isn't getting e-mail.

Grading Procedures: The grade for the course will be based on three quizzes (20% each) and a final (40%). If you are prevented from taking one of the quizzes by a med. school interview, niece's christening, court appearance, illness, etc., and you have documentation to validate your absence, you will still be able to complete the course requirements by taking a make-up quizÑbut be warned: the make-up quiz will cover material from the whole course. There will be no other make-ups whatever. If it is really unavoidable that you miss two quizzes (e.g. if you are in hospital on both days) I will only give a make up for the second date if you have official paperwork to prove both absences were unavoidable. This means you should not miss a quiz simply because you feel "unprepared", you should not set out late for class, etc. The dates of the quizzes are listed on the schedule so please make your plans for the session accordingly and leave some room for the unexpected. You will not be allowed to take a quiz early or late because you have other quizzes on the same day; you will not be the only one in this situation, and trying to find another time at which everybody could take the quiz together is impossible. Nor will I give the final early, so take this into account when buying your plane tickets. Those enrolled in upper division (CC 336M) will be required to answer a short essay-style question on each quiz and the final.

You will need an average of 90% or over for an A, 80%-89% for a B, 70%-79% for a C and 60%-69% for a D. 89.5%=A, 89.4%=B. The cut off has to go somewhere. I do not curve, but usually about 10% of the class make an A. Those taking the class on a pass/fail basis will receive credit for a D.

Do not ask for "extra credit" at the end of the semester. It is obviously unfair to allow a few students a chance to improve their grade without making the same opportunity available to the whole class. Moreover, a larger amount of C work does not equal a B. You should do the highest grade of work of which you are capable throughout the semester.

Deadlines: The following are various administrative deadlines. It is your responsibility to meet them if you need to. I cannot get you out of the jam if you miss them.

Last day of official add/drop: Mon. Aug. 30th
Last day to add a course with instructor's permission: Fri. Sept. 10th
Last day to drop with refund: Fri. Sept. 10th
Last day to drop without possible academic penalty: Wed. Sept. 22nd
Last day to change pass/fail basis: Wed. Oct. 20th

Statement on Academic Dishonesty
Like all faculty at UT I take a very serious view of academic dishonesty. Any student found guilty of cheating in any way will receive an F in the course and will be reported to Student Services. In some cases academic dishonesty can result in expulsion from the University. Moreover many medical schools will not admit a student who has such a violation on their record.

Students with Disabilities I will make myself available to discuss appropriate academic accommodations that you may require as a student with a disability. Before course accommodations will be made, students may be required to provide documentation to the Office of the Dean of Students - Services for Students with Disabilities.