BL 495 SEMINAR IN BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
SPRING SEMESTER 2011
MEETING LOCATION:
LOYOLA 14
MEETING TIME:
THURSDAY, 12:15-1:05 PM
INSTRUCTOR:
Dr. Harry Taylor, Department of Biology (htaylor@regis.edu)
OFFICE HOURS (S-203.): Monday and Wednesday: 2:30–3:30; Tuesday: 1:30–2:30;
Thursday: 1:00–3:00; other times by appointment.
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Prerequisites: BL 260 and BL 262, junior or senior standing.
Course Goals:
1. to provide experience in interpreting current research from primary scientific literature.
2. to provide experience in presenting recent biological research to colleagues and fielding questions
concerning the reported research.
3. to learn something new in biology.
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Textbook (none required).
Protocol:
1. Teams of two students will make three 15 minute PowerPoint presentations during the semester—one
presentation concerning research from each of the following areas: (1) Cellular Biology; (2) Organismic
Biology; (3) Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Each presentation will be followed by questions and/or
discussion.
2. You will select a different partner for each presentation. Team members are expected to contribute
EQUALLY to developing and presenting the research.
3. You will provide all members of the class and your instructor with photocopies of each article ONE
WEEK PRIOR TO ITS PRESENTATION (SEE SCHEDULE).
4. Select recent research papers; i.e., from 2008–2011 journals.
Appropriate journals include (1) Science and (2) Nature for all biology areas. In addition, for Cellular Biology:
(3) Genes and Development; for Organismic Biology: (4) American Journal of Botany and (5) The
American Naturalist; for Evolutionary/Ecological Biology: (6) Ecology, and (7) Evolution.
Other journals may be appropriate, but they have to be cleared with your instructor. Applied research
papers (those with purely practical applications such as ecological remediation, medical research, enhancing
the production of a biological resource, receiving a salary to conduct a research project, etc.) and those from
trade-journals are generally unacceptable.
5. Papers must be on original research. REVIEW PAPERS OR SUMMARIES OF THE RESEARCH OF
OTHER INDIVIDUALS ARE NOT ACCEPTAB LE.
6. Presentations should be clear and understandable to an audience of undergraduate biologists. Your
presentations should follow the usual sequence: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion.
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7. Prepare printed copies of your PowerPoint presentation to be handed out to the class prior to the
presentation. You will need 15 copies of each presentation. We need printed copies with two slides per page.
This is generally large enough to read the details.
8. You should acquire new biological information from this course.
9. ATTENDANCE IS EXPECTED, and there is a 50 point reduction for each missed session.
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Grading
Point Distribution
In-Class Participation; i.e., questions and contributions to discussion…..……….95
You can acquire 5 pts for a quality question (e.g., those requiring more than a yes-or-no
answer); therefore, 10 pts are possible (5 pts for presenters) for each two-presentation
session.
Points for presentations:
Presentation 1…………… ...................................................................... ………100
Presentation 2 ...................................................................................................... 100
Presentation 3 ...................................................................................................... 100
For presentations, point subtractions from the basic starting point of 100 points are for
things such as reading the presentation, misspellings in the presentation, wrong
contexts, inconsistent formatting, and sloppiness.
Total……………………………………………………………………...approx.395
Grading
Points will be totaled and converted to 100 % to determine letter grades from the following
GRADING SCALE (%):
93–100
89–92
85–88
A
AB+
81–84
77–80
73–76
B
BC+
69–72
65–68
61–64
C
CD+
57–60
53–56
<53
D
DF
Schedule: You will be provided with a schedule of events and due dates for the course.
If you have a documented disability requiring academic adjustments for this course, please contact Joie
Williams, Director of Disability Services (303-458-4941 or mbwillia@regis.edu. It is suggested that you
contact Disability Services, Room 118, Coors Life Directions Center at the beginning of the semester, so that
you can receive accommodations for the complete semester; accommodations at the post-secondary level are
not retroactive.
Academic dishonesty is unacceptable. In this course, examples include not contributing equally to either
preparing or delivering the presentation, cheating on quizzes, attempting to use an article and PowerPoint
presentation from a previous BL 495 class, and using an article and PowerPoint presentation developed for
another course. Such infractions can result in failure of the course—grade F; it simply isn’t worth the risk.
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Consistent with the Academic Integrity Policy of Regis College, I will report all violations of this course’s
academic integrity policy to the Dean’s Office. Students who have committed multiple instances of academic
dishonesty can be subject to institutional penalties such as probation, suspension, or expulsion, in addition to
the penalties for this course. The Academic Integrity Policy is described in the Regis University Bulletin;
detailed information about the policy and the appeals process can be found in the Dean’s Office.
Guide to Presentations.
Selecting a Research Paper: You and your presentation partner should carefully choose primary research
papers from quality biological journals. A paper must be biological, and discuss original data. Make sure that
the reported research was done by the author(s) and does not represent a review of the research of others
(check for a Materials and Methods section). Your instructor may provide additional topic guidelines that
should be followed for the different biological areas.
1. Obtain advance approval for your prospective paper.
2. Provide clear and legible photocopies of the article for each student and instructor in class the
week before your presentation.
Journals cannot be checked out of the library; therefore copies of the article will have to be made
there or derived via internet access. Illustrations from the research paper can be scanned in the library
and saved as .jpg files for inclusion in your PowerPoint presentations. See a Reference Librarian if you
need assistance.
Length of Presentation: You should plan for a 15 minute presentation. Points are deducted for not meeting
this time minimum, so choose a research article of sufficient size.
Presentation Content: Explain the study to an audience of your peers. Your instructor will be looking for
clear explanations of the following items:
1. purpose of the study. What questions are being posed?
2. background information necessary to understand the study. (Some presentations may require
more time than others.)
3. research design. (This may require more time in some presentations than in others.)
4. conclusions or discoveries made based on the recovered evidence
Presentation Suggestions:
1. Choose a paper of interest to you and that you understand. The paper probably will have been
written by a team of Ph.D.s. You are not expected to have the same level of expertise as the authors of
the paper, but you should be able to explain the research to your classmates. A common mistake is
either reading from notes or simply reading what everyone else can read on the screen. You want
to convey the information in your own style. If you have chosen a paper of interest, but there are
questions concerning background information, you might want to access information on the topic.
Some papers have Supplemental Material that might be of use (website listing just above references).
2. Be selective. Skip excessive details. Time is limited. If you have trouble determining what may be
extraneous material, talk with your instructor.
3. Make sure that the presentation proceeds logically. Early parts of the presentation should lead
into later parts of the presentation. Consider your audience and what they will need to understand
the paper.
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4. Are the authors’ conclusions justified based upon their methods and data? Sometimes papers
overreach their data. Provide critical analysis of the paper if justified.
5. Use graphs, tables, illustrations, and/or photographs. Visual aids are very important to help the
audience understand what is being explained. Optimally, there should always be something – text,
table, figure, or photograph, for the audience to see. Do not discuss a figure (such as a graph) or a
table that is not on the screen for the audience to see. If important to the presentation, figures
and tables should be scanned and incorporated into the PowerPoint presentation.
6. All visual aids should be simple enough to be understood with a minimum of explanation and should
be large enough to be read easily. If you copy tables or graphs directly from your paper, be certain
that they are readable and relevant.
7. Do not show too much at any one time with a single visual aid. Putting too many things on a Power
Point slide may seem efficient, but it can distract your audience. Do not use too much animation or
sound in a Power Point presentation. Likewise, use a consistent and conservative color scheme.
8. Summarize the conclusions at the end of your presentation.
9. Be prepared for questions from the class. Anticipate questions concerning areas with which you had
difficulty when preparing your presentation.
The last day to withdraw from the course is Friday, March 25.
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Activities Schedule
Date
Activity
Assignment Due
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January 20
Introduction, choosing presentation partners
and presentation dates
Departmental Assessment Test
Copies of paper for
demonstration presentation
January 27
Demonstration presentation
Pass out copies of papers for
presentations on Feb. 3
February 3
Two presentations (Cellular Biology)
Pass out copies of papers for
presentations on Feb. 10
February 10
Two presentations (Cellular Biology)
Pass out copies of papers for
presentations on Feb. 17
February 17
Two presentations (Cellular Biology)
Pass out copies of papers for
presentations on Feb. 24
February 24
Two presentations (Cellular Biology)
Pass out copies of papers for
presentations on March 3
March 3
Two presentations (Organismic Biology)
Pass out copies of papers for
presentations on March 17
March 10
SPRING BREAK
March 17
Two presentations (Organismic Biology)
Pass out copies of papers for
presentations on March 24
March 24
Two presentations (Organismic Biology)
Pass out copies of papers for
presentations on March 31
March 31
Two presentations (Organismic Biology)
Pass out copies of papers for
presentations on April 7
April 7
Two presentations (Evolution/Ecology)
Pass out copies of papers for
presentations on April 14
April 14
Two presentations (Evolution/Ecology)
Pass out copies of papers for
presentations on April 21
April 21
Two presentations (Evolution/Ecology)
Pass out copies of papers for
presentations on April 28
April 28
Two presentations (Evolution/Ecology)
Pass out copies of papers for
presentations on April 14
Departmental Assessment Test
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