Third year Science unit: CBA344 Research Project in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: Journal article
Developed by Adele Holloway, Stephen Richards, Renee Dwyer, Greg Woods, Margaret Cooley, Lindsay Edwards, Louise Roddam and Moira Cordiner
Criteria were developed for this task first. These were then used to revise the learning outcomes to make the alignment between outcomes and criteria explicit.
Synopsis of the task and its context
This unit is part of the Bachelor of Medical Research degree. It involves students in designing and managing an experimental research project in which they
demonstrate laboratory expertise, maintain laboratory records and analyse collected data. The project is carried out under supervision and is assessed in three
complementary parts: an oral presentation about the project, a written research project report in the form of a journal article, and a supervisor’s report of
students’ overall performance of the project.
This criteria sheet is for the second part of the project (the journal article) and is weighted 60%. The format for the article is an adaptation of author
specifications in a specified journal, but includes the following typical components: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Experimental Procedures, Results,
Discussion, References, Figure Legends. In the article, students are required to refer to relevant primary research literature to explain and justify the
experimental design, interpret and analyse the data to determine its contribution to the literature and its limitations, propose modifications to the project,
suggest and justify new experiments and adhere to the many conventions involved in scientific writing. Presentation of the data in forms that are readily
interpretable by the reader is an essential part of this task, as is adhering to ethical scientific standards.
Match between learning outcomes and criteria
Revised learning outcomes
Task specific criteria
On completion of this unit you should be able to:
To complete this task, you should:
1. apply theoretical and practical knowledge to conduct biomedical research
1. apply theoretical and practical knowledge to biomedical research
2. interpret and analyse data
2. interpret and analyse data
3. communicate orally and in scientific writing
3. communicate findings as a report in the form of a scientific paper
4. demonstrate practical research skills
Not assessed in this task
1
Student name
Student number
CBA344: scientific paper
criteria
apply theoretical and
practical knowledge to
biomedical research
Weighting 25%
weighting 60%
HD
DN
Weighting 50%
PP
NN
In your scientific paper, you:
In your scientific paper, you:
In your scientific paper, you:
In your scientific paper, you:
You:
 applied comprehensive
theoretical and practical
knowledge by:
 applied well-developed
theoretical and practical
knowledge by:
 applied theoretical and
practical knowledge by:
 applied basic theoretical
and practical knowledge
by:
 demonstrated rudimentary
theoretical and/or practical
knowledge by:
 explaining and justifying the
experimental design and
purpose, supporting this with
a considered selection of the
most relevant and current
primary literature sources
 explaining and justifying the
experimental design and
purpose, supporting this with
reference to primary and
current literature sources
 accurately describing the essential details of materials and
methods
interpret and analyse data
CR
 thoroughly and correctly
interpreted and analysed
data by:
 thoroughly and correctly
interpreted and analysed
data by:
 explaining the
experimental design and
purpose, supporting this
with reference to some
primary literature sources
 explaining the
experimental design and
purpose, supporting this
with reference to some
literature sources but
relying on textbooks
 briefly describing the
experimental design OR
purpose by relying mainly
on textbooks
 describing most of the
essential details of
materials and methods
with some unnecessary
information
 describing some of the
essential details of
materials and methods,
but with some
unnecessary information
 restating or referring to lab
manual instructions
 for the most part, correctly
interpreted and analysed
data by:
 interpreted and partially
analysed data by:
 comparing the data to
 comparing the data to
relevant primary research
relevant primary research
literature to support your
literature to support your
unique and plausible
interpretation
interpretation
 explaining the important relationships amongst your data sets
 comparing the data to
some relevant research
literature and provide an
interpretation
 comparing the data to
some relevant research
literature
 explaining some
relationships amongst
your data sets
 describing some of the
relationships amongst
your data sets
 identifying and explaining
the major limitations of the
study and proposing
modifications with
justification
 suggesting, with justification,
further experiments to
extend knowledge
 identifying and explaining
some data limitations and
proposing modifications
 identifying some data
limitations and/or
proposing modifications
 identifying and explaining
some of the major data
limitations and proposing
modifications with
justification
 suggesting, with justification,
further experiments
 restated the results rather
than analyzing and
interpreting them
 suggesting further experiments
2
Student name
Student number
CBA344: scientific paper
criteria
communicate findings as
a report in the form of a
scientific paper
Weighting 25%
weighting 60%
HD
DN
 communicated by adhering
to the conventions of
scientific writing by:
CR
 communicated by adhering
to the conventions of
scientific writing by:
 communicated by
adhering to the
conventions of scientific
writing by:
 following the specified structure of scientific paper with all components in the prescribed order
PP
NN
 communicated using
scientific writing by:
 communicated using
some scientific writing by:
 mostly following the specified structure of scientific paper
 using relevant and accurate terminology
 using mostly relevant and accurate terminology
 using some relevant and
accurate terminology
 using clear and concise English expression, with few errors
 using clear English
expression, with few errors
 using mostly clear English
expression, with some
errors
 using English expression
that frequently impeded
meaning for the reader
 accurately citing and referencing sources using the specified
journal format with few errors
 accurately citing and
referencing sources using
the specified journal
format with some errors
 citing and referencing
sources
 citing and referencing
some sources
 presented data by putting it in
a form that:
 best illustrates your
interpretation
 is able to be interpreted
because it:
 is neat, clearly and
accurately labelled
 uses clear and concise
figure legends
 presented data by putting it in
a form that:
 illustrates your interpretation
 is able to be interpreted
because, for the most part,
it:
 is neat, clearly and
accurately labelled
 uses clear and concise
figure legends
 presented data by putting it
in a form that:
 illustrates your
interpretation
 is able to be interpreted
because, for the most part,
it:
 is accurately labelled
 uses clear figure
legends
 presented data by putting it
in a form that:
 included data
 is partly able to be
interpreted because it:
 is labelled
 uses figure legends
 consistently adhering to scientific ethical standards as in the specified journal (guidelines to authors)
Comments
Grade
3