Textbook
The textbook for this course is Fraleigh's A First Course in Abstract Algebra. The book has good introductory level explanations and very good exercises. My plan is to cover sections 4-15, 34-40, plus some extra material which is not on this book. This is a very optimistic plan and how much we will in fact cover depends on how the quarter will proceed.
I have written the notes of the course. You can find them here, or in the calendar page.
Of course, it is not the only book on groups and basic modern algebra. Artin's Algrebra is a good book (it does not have as many exercises). The more ambitious students can look at Dummit and Foote's Abstract Algebra or, specifically on group theory, Rotman's An Introduction to the Theory of Groups. If you are finding everything we are doing in class (and on Rotman's book) to be trivial and immediate, or you simply want to really challenge yourself, you should look at the Transfer (chapter 10) in Robinson's A Course in the Theory of Groups.
Finally, if you understand italian, among the best notes on group theory I have read there are the ones of Andrea Mori, and you can find them here.
Homework, exams and grades
I will assign homework more or less weekly. The homework page will be constantly updated.
There will be a midterm, a home assignment and a final. The midterm will be on Friday, July 19th. The home assignment will be a week long individual project and it will be in the second half of the course (after the midterm). The final might be on the last day of class, Friday, August 23rd, but it might be earlier.
The homework will be woth 10% of the final grade. The home assignment will be worth 20%, the midterm 30% and the final 40%.