Biology 493
Course co-ordinators
Priti Krishna Ph. 661-2111 x86406 B&G 354 pkrishna@uwo.ca
Vojislava Grbic Ph. 661-2111 x86898 WSC 341 vgrbic@uwo.ca
Additional Mentors:
Kathleen Hill Ph. 661-2111 x81337 WSC 333 khill22@uwo.ca
Sashko Damjanovski Ph. 661-2111 x84704 B&G 318 sdamjano@uwo.ca
Tony Percival-Smith Ph. 661-2111 x84015 WSC 305 aperciva@uwo.ca
Susanne Kohalmi Ph. 661-2111 x86485 WSC 319 skohalmi@uwo.ca
Shiva Singh Ph. 661-2111 x83135 WSC 307 ssingh@uwo.ca
Alan Day Ph 661-2111 x86472 aday@uwo.ca
Tom Haffie Ph 661-2111 X86502 NCB301G thaffie@uwo.ca
Jim Karagiannis 519-661-2111 x80975 Staging Room 109B jkaragia@uwo.ca
Classes: Mon 10:30 am to 12:30 noon, SSC-3108
Thurs 11:30 am to 12:30 noon, SSC-3108
Course Objectives:
The primary focus of this course is to offer skills necessary to search, understand, present (written and oral) and discuss published literature on recent topics in genetics.
Overview: There are several components to this course:
Fall term:
Invited Research Seminars
A few guest seminars will be presented by researchers. These seminars will give the class exposure to research topics, and how research data can be presented in seminars.
Lectures
Two workshops will be presented on how to present a seminar and write a term paper.
Student Seminars
Each student will prepare one research seminar.
The presentation will be in the Fall term. Each student will choose one primary research publication of her/his choice, from a list of journals provided at the end of the course outline, selected at the beginning of the term. The paper reference and abstract should be e-mailed to Dr. Krishna by 25th of September. The presentation will be 15 minutes long and will be followed by 5 minutes of questions.
Student Term Papers
Each student will prepare a term paper on the primary research publication selected for presentation in the Fall term and 2 related primary research publications. Students are encouraged to read several other related papers to enhance their understanding of the subject.
The Term paper will be 2 pages long, excluding references and figures. Papers should introduce the research question, summarize the hypothesis, experimental methods and results of the chosen topic, and discuss the results.
Winter term:
Student Seminars
Each student will prepare one research seminar. The presentation will be in the Winter term. Each student will choose 3 primary research publication of her/his choice, from a list of journals provided at the end of the course outline. The presentation will be 20 minutes long and will be followed by 10 minutes of questions.
The second term paper
The second term paper (Winter term) will be based on the same 3 primary research publications used for the second oral presentations. This paper will focus on discussing future experiments based on selected primary research publications. This term paper will be 1 page long, excluding references and figures.
Student Poster
Two students in a group will prepare and present a poster in the Winter term based on the 3 selected primary research papers, papers other then those chosen for seminar and second term paper. The poster format will be typical of what is presented in scientific conferences and will be discussed in class prior to the assignment.
Plagiarism
Students must write their essays and assignments in their own words. Whenever students take an idea or a passage from another author, they must acknowledge their debt using proper referencing such as footnotes or citations. Plagiarism is a major academic offence (see Scholastic Offence Policy in the Western Academic Calendar). Plagiarism Checking: The University of Western Ontario uses software for plagiarism checking. Students may be required to submit their written work in electronic form for plagiarism checking.
Student Participation
Class attendance is mandatory. Student participation will be evaluated based on attendance and participation in class discussion, asking questions and providing constructive feedback to fellow students on their seminars.
Evaluation
1. Student Seminar Presentation (Fall) 15%
2. Student term paper (Fall) 20%
3. Student Seminar Presentation (Winter) 20%
4. Student Poster Presentation 15%
5. Student term paper (Winter) 20%
6. Student Participation (Fall and Winter) 5 + 5 %
Information for written assignments
ALL written assignments must comply with the following rules:
All written assignments must be typed and submitted on single-sided pages, using double-spacing, 12 pt. character size and 1" margins. Do not exceed page limits. The page count refers to text pages only, and does not include - references, tables, figures, figure legends etc.
References: reference style should be as defined by the journal Cell. Internet sites cannot be used as a source. Cite only primary research publications.
Figure Legends: do not copy Figure Legends from papers; use your own words.
Visual material presented must be of a quality that allows clear and easy interpretation. Origins of Figures and Tables must be clearly credited.
