Instructor: Dr. Inna Sokolova Office:
WOOD 381c, X 78532, isokolov@email.uncc.edu
Please carefully read all information on this webpage
GOALS: Senior Seminar is designed as a capstone
course to provide Biology majors experience with reading, interpreting and
presenting primary literature in biology. The student will become familiar with
the structure of research reports in biology and gain experience in critical
reading and preparation of a clear and focused written and oral report. Specific
goals are:
- to learn to critically read research articles and give a
scientific presentation to an audience,
- to formulate and present messages orally in such a way that
appropriately addresses/assesses both the topic and the audience,
- to communicate using proper grammar, syntax, and vocabulary,
- to communicate using clear vocalics - especially volume,
inflection, and diction,
- to communicate using appropriate nonverbal communication cues that
enhance the spoken message (including eye contact, posture, hand gestures, and
facial expression)
REQUIREMENTS: Two oral presentations, a written summary, class participation, and the ACAT exam.
Grading will be based primarily on two presentations and an abstract; attendance and questions asked by you to other speakers will also affect your grade. The second presentation will be on the same article as the first, and will incorporate the feedback received for the first presentation. For your presentation, I am looking for: your understanding of the paper; your ability to communicate effectively the content of the paper (organization, speaking skills, use of visual aids); use of critical thinking skills to analyze the content of the paper; ability to answer questions; proper length.
Grade break down:
Total points 1000
First presentation (40%) 400 points
Second presentation (40%) 400 points
Structured abstract (20%) 200 points
Potential cap for scoring below 400 on ACAT: -110 points (max grade in the class
- B).
Grading scheme: 100-90% A, 89-80% B, 79-70% C, 69-60% D, 59% or less F.
ACAT exam: Your grade may also be affected by your performance on the ACAT exit exam. This exam assesses your overall general biology knowledge. You must take this exam in order to get credit for the course. Your performance on this exam may have an impact on your grade. Students in BIOL 4600, Senior Seminar, who score within one standard deviation (100) of the national median (500) on the ACAT exam will receive the grade they earn in Senior Seminar with no cap (maximum grade) imposed because of their ACAT score. Any student scoring more than one standard deviation below the national median (below 400) would have one letter grade penalty on their grade and thus their maximum grade in senior seminar will be capped at a grade of B.
Both presentations will be based on the same article. The first presentation should provide background to the scientific context and will last up to 20 minutes plus 5 minutes for questions. The second presentation will be a focused presentation and will be limited to 15 minutes with an additional five minutes for questions. PowerPoint must be used for both presentations.
Choose an article that - is of interest to you and contains data of appropriate level for students in the class. Presentations will be based on a research article that will be chosen by the student either from the list of articles provided by the instructor or selected from a relevant journal by the student. The article presented must have been published in or after 2000. The subject must pertain to ecological or evolutionary physiology or toxicology, specifically to the effects of pollution and/or temperature on organisms. Emphasis is on ecological or evolutionary, so please avoid purely medical articles. If you are not sure that your chosen article meets the criteria, ask the instructor in advance! The instructor must approve your scientific article at least two weeks prior to the first presentation. One week prior to your presentation, distribute copies of your article to all your classmates; if you need the instructor's help with making more copies, you must notify the instructor at least two weeks before your presentation. You must present on the day that you are scheduled. If you are seriously ill on that day, you must have a doctor’s excuse.
Time schedule for presentations:
1) sign up for one of the articles offered by the
instructor OR select your own article and get instructor approval for it at
least two weeks prior to your presentation,
2) distribute your article to classmates
one week before your presentation; if you need your instructor to make
additional copies for you, please inform her at least 2 weeks before your
presentation and provide her with the article copy,
3) presentations will begin the fourth week of the semester
(January 29, 2007) with a sample presentation of your instructor; students'
presentations will begin the fifth week of the semester (February 3, 2007),
4) two weeks after your presentation, submit your structured abstract
(see below).
1) Introduction/Background (~5 min for the 1st
presentation, ~2 min for the 2nd presentation) - give background
information on your topic sufficient to allow students to understand the
reason the experiments were done, the experimental system, and the
significance of the results you will present in the next section.
-make it clear why we should be interested in this topic
2) Results/Methods (~10 minutes the 1st presentation, ~7 min for the
2nd presentation) - present the data and describe the techniques used
to obtain the data.
3) Discussion/Conclusion (~5 min for the 1st presentation, ~3 min for
the 2nd presentation) – tell what the results mean, what
conclusions can be drawn from the results, how do the results further our
understanding of microbiology, have the goals of the study been met, were there
any problems in the study, what is the next step?
-this is where you tie everything together
The 1st presentation should last 20 minutes and will be followed by a 5-minute question period. The 2nd presentation should last 15 minutes and will be followed by a 5-minute question period.
1)
Start preparing for your presentation now. The most common problem students have
is waiting too long to begin. You need to choose your paper two weeks prior to
your talk and have the article/title posted and distribute handouts one week
prior to your talk. Your goal should be to have your talk prepared as if you
were giving it one week before you actually do. In that remaining week, you use
that time to practice your presentation skills (see Hint #3).
2) Use visual aids- Your presentation must
be done using PowerPoint, available on university computers. Be sure to
sign up for the departmental computer and data projector in room 110 as soon as
possible. Put yourself in the audience’s place; you need to do more than
just stand at the podium and speak non-stop for 25 minutes. However, if you use
handouts, give them out the week before your talk, otherwise it is too difficult
to read the handout and listen to your seminar at the same time.
3) Practice. You can know the material cold, but if you don’t
practice, you won’t be able to convey that knowledge to the class. Signs of lack
of practice are your seminar being too short or too long, you lose your place in
your presentation, poor speaking skills, and not being familiar with the data.
Practice whenever you have a few spare minutes.
4) Give sufficient background and make the relevance of the
article clear. Why should we be interested in this topic? If there is
insufficient background, the audience will not be able to understand either the
details or the big picture. The discussion is where you bring all of the
previously presented data together and tell the audience what it means, and how
it fits into the big picture mentioned in the introduction.
5) Pick a paper(s) that deal with topics that are of interest
to you, and that is of a level that you can understand.
6) The sooner you decide on your papers, the easier it will
be (see Hint #1).
7) Don’t forget what it was like when you looked at your
paper for the first time!
- not making it clear why we should be interested in what they are talking about,
- not giving enough background to understand the results themselves, or the significance of the results,
- not tying everything together,
- having time problems (this is usually a result of insufficient practice), and
- not speaking effectively (clear, loud, face the audience, use inflection and proper diction and grammar).
PPT basics in examples (highly recommended)
Creating effective visuals in PowerPoint
General Tips for an Effective PowerPoint Presentation
Two weeks following the first presentation, you must submit a structured abstract (3-4 pages) summarizing the paper. The following format must be followed.
Background: What were the questions that led to this study? How does it fit into the overall literature?
Hypothesis: What is the specific biological hypothesis that was tested in this study?
Experimental Design: What was the experimental strategy that was used to test the hypothesis? Do not just list the procedures. Why did they use these procedures and how do they allow the investigators to specifically test the proposed hypothesis?
Statistical Analysis: How were the data analyzed? Why were the tests chosen and are they appropriate?
Results: Summarize the findings succinctly.
Interpretation and Conclusions: How did the authors interpret the results? What conclusions were drawn relevant to the original hypothesis? Do you agree that the conclusions are valid?
You must also include at least 3 references from the scientific literature. These should be other primary literature articles that either follow-up on the article that you present or provide information critical to the topic. You should get these articles from a library search. Do not use references that are cited in the article that you present.
Attendance at class is mandatory. Class participation will affect your final grade. Participation will be evaluated based on two criteria.
1. Participation in the question and answer period. Pay attention to the presentation so that you can ask questions. You will have the structured abstract in advance of the second presentation. Come prepared!
2. Peer evaluation of presentations. For each presentation, you will be given an evaluation sheet for the presenter. You must critically evaluate the presentation. Your original evaluation will not be given to the presenter and your comments will be confidential. All comments will be summarized and the summary sheet will be given to the presenter without the names of evaluators. Critically analyzing the performance of your peers is an important first step to critically analyzing your own performance.
You can use any refereed
journal as a source of your articles. All of these journals are in Atkins
Library.
Journal Access
Suggested journals for primary research articles:
Aquat Toxicol Aquatic
Toxicology QH545.W3 A66
Comp Biochem Physiol A Comparative Biochemistry and
Physiology A QP33 .C66
J Comp Physiol Journal of Comparative
Physiology QP33
J Exp Biol Journal of Experimental
Biology QH301 .J68
Physiol Biochem Zool
Physiological and Biochemical Zoology
QL1 .P52
Mar Biol Marine
Biology
QH91.A1 M35
Nature Nature
Q1.N2
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences Q11.N26
Science
Science
Q1.S35
Suggested Review Journals:
Physiol Revs Physiological
Reviews QP1
TIBS Trends in Biochemical
Sciences QH345.T76
TCB Trends in Cell
Biology QH573 .T74
Electronic Journals
Many of the recommended journals are available electronically through Atkins Library. To find and access electronic journals available through Atkins:
http://library.uncc.edu/electronic/
Go to the subject area “Biology”, find the search line on the top of the screen, choose “Search by Journal Title”, type in the journal title and hit “Search”.