Bio
600/
BChem600
Senior Seminar
Fall 2009
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Bio
600/
Fall 2009 |
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Instructor: Dr. Catharina Coenen
Part of the time during senior seminar will be used for presentations on your comp proposal and on the progress report you will submit at the end of the semester. Each student will also have an opportunity to update the group on the weeks' progress at the beginning of each meeting and to ask questions about their project.
Grades for Bio/BioChem 600 are based on the Research Proposal (30%) and on the extent and quality of progress made on project as shown in the written progress report and participation in senior seminar meetings (70%).
Coenen Senior Seminar Schedule Fall 2009
The research proposal (5-8 pages) is based on a current review of the primary literature relevant to your proposed research. This review should place the proposed research in context, and demonstrate that you understand that context. We expect the proposal to be well organized, with good syntax and grammar. The proposal should contain 1) an introduction to the topic that includes a literature review of background information, 2) a statement of the objectives and/or hypothesis(es) to be tested, 3) methods, including a detailed experimental design, 4) a budget, and 5) a timetable for completing the project. Your experimental design is expected to be complete, with appropriate controls and replications (if necessary), and statistical analyses (if appropriate) to be used. Methods should be explained in the detail appropriate for your subdiscipline. An exhaustive treatment of methods will not compensate for a poor review and vice versa. The timetable should include a list of expectations for the work that you complete during the first semester.
Proposal Presentation:
Your proposal presentation during senior seminar is informal in nature. It should take about 20 minutes total, to be divided up between your actual presentation (~10 to 15 minutes) and questions (~5-10 minutes). The presentation should help prepare you for your formal Proposal Meeting with your committee: You will have the opportunity to answer questions about your proposal, thus practicing to "think on your feet", and you will likely also learn which parts of your proposal require careful explanations to be understood. You are also allowed to ask questions of the group to get advice on strengthening your proposal. I recommend that you use PowerPoint for your presentation -- the time you spend on preparing slides will likely help you to prepare for the presentation of your progress report at the end of the semester; some of the slides may even evolve into parts of your Senior Symposium presentation next semester.
A draft of your proposal is due during the Senior Seminar meeting preceding your proposal presentation (i.e. one week in advance). Please bring five copies of your draft, one for me and four for student reviewers.
Proposal Meeting:
Provide each committee member with a copy of your proposal by Friday, October 3, 2003. Failure to meet this deadline will result in a penalty of 1/3 letter grade on the proposal, plus an additional 1/3 letter grade penalty for each additional week past this date. Schedule a meeting with your committee, to be held by Friday, October 17, 2003. Your committee will formally evaluate and approve your proposal at this meeting, and agree upon a list of expectations for progress during the first semester. After your proposal meeting, your committee will assign a grade to the written proposal (based on the average of each committee member's evaluation). You should not order materials until the committee has approved your project.
You will submit a progress report to your senior project advisor by Wednesday, December 10, 2003. The progress report should contain a description of the work done on the project during the first semester, including a summary of any relevant data collected, a discussion of problems and/or modifications of the proposed experimental design suggested by the preliminary experiments, and revised timetables, expectations, and "plan of action" for the spring semester.
Progress Report Presentations:
Similar to your proposal presentation, you have the liberty to ask questions of the group. The presentation is also a great way of getting feedback on ideas for data formatting; even if you do not have complete data sets, you should go ahead and prepare some preliminary figures to show to the class. Finally, the discussion following (or during) your presentation should help you to hone down your plans for final experiments at the beginning of next term.
A draft of your progress report is due during the Senior Seminar meeting preceding your proposal presentation (i.e. one week in advance). Please bring sufficient copies of your draft to give one to me and one to each student reviewer.
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Useful
Links For Compers
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Coenen Lab Rules Mandatory reading for all Coenen Lab compers.
Bio Department Senior Project Guidelines
Bio Department Senior Project Schedule 2008-2009
Coenen Lab Protocols Near midnight and you can't remember how to standardize the pH meter? Here are instructions for equipment use and procedures that are commonly used by students in my lab. E-mail me your very own protocols if you think they might be useful to other students and I will add them to the list.
Career Considerations A growing collection of resources to help you mull over the stressful questions you hate to hear and your family loves to ask.
Plant Biology Sites Links to on-line dictionaries, glossaries and encyclopedias; plant physiology journals; professional societies (check them for internship and job opportunities); and collections of plant pictures.