Biology

Senior Seminar

Topic Presentation

Students will present a specific topic from our textbook over a major theme in Biology and lead a brief discussion on the topic. Summaries read from notes will not count towards the final grade – this will be a formal presentation in an electronic format (Power Point, Prezi, etc…).

• Using peer-reviewed/ reputable journals/ articles, students should research one of the listed topics from one of the textbook chapters.
• No fewer than 3 peer-reviewed/ reputable sources should be referenced (“peer-reviewed” will be explained in class). At least one of these sources must be a peer reviewed journal article.
• Sign up for presentation dates will be done on the first week of class. Topics must be approved by your professor at least two weeks in advance. Failure to do this will result in a 5 point deduction from your presentation score. A hard copy of the presentation, including the bibliography is due at the beginning of the class in which you are presenting. Internet links without suitable supporting information do not count as a bibliography.
• Presentations should last 12-15 minutes to allow time for questions and discussions. Approximately two presentations (1 textbook chapter) will be scheduled each week. Plan to be in class on the day of your presentation- there will be no make-up presentations.
• Presentation grade will be based on understanding of the topic, organization, clarity, adherence to time limit, effort, and creativity. A rubric will be passed out on the first day of class.

Identifying a Research Article

A research article is a scholarly article that essentially reports the results of original, primary research and typically appears in peer-reviewed or refereed periodicals. For this reason, research articles are considered the pinnacle of information sources. Research articles are almost always written in the same format. Understanding the format of research articles should help you to more easily navigate databases and select appropriate sources for you to use for your research. Most research articles incorporate five standard elements. The format that research articles follow mirror the research process.

1. Introduction: summarizes the problem researched, its significance, and the nature of the study
2. Literature review: provides a framework for understanding the problem and the theoretical rationale behind conducting the study; sources cited are typically listed at the end in some sort of reference page
3. Methodology: describes how the data were collected, including things like the population studies and the data collection instrument used
4. Results/findings: presents a summary of the data collected, typically in the form of charts and tables with accompanying narrative
5. Discussion/conclusion: includes such information as the interpretation of the data, recommendations for further study, and limitations of the study.

Other elements that you many find in research articles are an abstract or summary, information about the author(s), and a list of references. The references can be very helpful in directing your to other possible sources of information.

"The student's survival guide to research," M.L. McAdoo, p. 123-4.

It is important to remember that the articles you locate to use in your topic presentation need to be about primary research, an original study or experiment.

While most articles will have a brief literature review included, this should not be the main focus of the articles that you select to use for this assignment. If you use the information provided above and keep in mind what was discussed in class, you should not have any problem locating up-to-date and relevant research articles!