Guidelines for the written review and the oral presentation
1. Choose a topic. This can be taken from any aspect of biology; from
topics covered in these lessons, or any other of your university
courses.
2. Before you give an oral presentation you must submit a typed
review between 500-1000 words, approximately.
3. Your presentation may contain illustrations, diagrams, statistics,
graphs, photographs, pictures, maps etc.
4. When you have chosen your topic, then you must form a plan
Important: You must be selective with the information you will present
in your oral presentation. Although you will have read
widely on your topic, it is impossible to present everything
you have researched in a 10 minute presentation! If you go
over this time limit I will have to stop you, this may mean
that you will be unable to conclude your oral presentation
satisfactorily and marks may be deducted.
5. You may use the library, the Internet, or both to collect relevant
information.
6. You may use the overhead projector/transparencies to present
information. However, the use of the Power Point program on the
computer would be much preferred.
7. Remember: Do not leave your review and presentation until
the last minute. Start collecting information and thinking about
it now!
Review Paper
WHAT IS A REVIEW PAPER?
The purpose of a review paper is to succinctly review recent progress in a
particular topic. Overall, the paper summarizes the current state of knowledge
of the topic. It creates an understanding of the topic for the reader by
discussing the findings presented in recent research papers.
A review paper is not a "term paper" or book report. It is not merely a
report on some references you found. Instead, a review paper synthesizes the
results from several primary literature papers to produce a coherent argument
about a topic or focused description of a field.
Examples of scientific reviews can be found in:

Scientific American

Science in the "Perspectives" and "Reviews" sections

Nature in the "News and Views" section

Compilations of reviews such as:
Current Opinion in Cell Biology
Current Opinion in Genetics & Development
Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology
Annual Review of Physiology
Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Almost every scientific journal has special review articles.
You should read articles from one or more of these sources to get
examples of how your paper should be organized.
Scientists commonly use reviews to communicate with each other and the
general public. There are a wide variety of review styles from ones aimed at a
general audience (e.g., Scientific American) to those directed at biologists
within a particular subdiscipline (e.g., Annual Review of Physiology).
A key aspect of a review paper is that it provides the evidence for a
particular point of view in a field. Thus, a large focus of your paper should be
a description of the data that support or refute that point of view. In addition,
you should inform the reader of the experimental techniques that were used to
generate the data.
The emphasis of a review paper is interpreting the primary literature on
the subject. You need to read several original research articles on the same
topic and make your own conclusions about the meanings of those papers.
HOW TO WRITE THE PAPER
Overview of the Paper:
Your paper should consist of four general sections:




Introduction
The body of the paper
Conclusion and future directions
Literature cited
Review articles contain neither a materials and methods section nor an
abstract.
Organizing the Paper:
Use topic headings. Do not use a topic heading that reads, "Body of the
paper." Instead the topic headings should refer to the actual concepts or ideas
covered in that section.
EXAMPLE OF REVIEW PAPER OUTLINE
Listed below are a sample title and the topic headings that might be used in a paper
discussing that topic:
Title: "How Protein Molecular Motors Work"
Outline:
Introduction
Kinesin Superfamily
Myosin Superfamily
What Similarities between Kinesin and Myosin Tell Us
Dynein Superfamily: A Different Mechanism
Summary
Questions Left to Answer
Literature Cited
What Goes into Each Section:
Section of the paper
Introduction &
Background
What it should contain




Body of the Paper





Make it brief (~1/5 of the paper’s total length).
Grab the reader's interest while introducing
the topic.
Explain the "big picture" relevance.
Provide the necessary background
information.
Experimental Evidence: Describe important
results from recent primary literature articles
and
Explain how those results shape our current
understanding of the topic.
Mention the types of experiments done and
their corresponding data, but do not repeat
the experimental procedure step for step.
Point out and address any controversies in
the field.
Use figures and/or tables to present your own
synthesis of the original data or to show key
data taken directly from the original papers.
Conclusion




Succinctly summarize your major points.
Point out the significance of these results.
Discuss the questions that remain in the area.
Keep it brief.
Literature Cited

Your instructor will give you a minimum
number of references that you must use and
cite in your paper. Typically, at least 8-10
references are required.
PRESENTING EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE IN
REVIEW PAPERS
GOOD EXAMPLE:
"Indirect immunofluorescence was used to determine the subcellular
localization of the p15 protein in Hi-5 cells. A double labeling experiment was
performed with the anti-p15 antibody and anti-NP1, an antibody that
recognizes a nuclear envelope protein. p15 and NP1 were found to colocalize,
showing that..."
BAD EXAMPLE:
"Researchers wanted to determine the subcellular localization of the p15
protein in Hi-5 cells. First, they fixed and permeabilized the cells. Then, they
added the anti-p15 and anti-NP1 antibodies and incubated for an hour. Next,
they washed the cells three times with buffer. After washing they added a
rhodamine-labeled secondary antibody for the anti-p15 antibody and a
fluorescein-labeled secondary antibody for the anti-NP1 antibody and
incubated for one hour. Cells were then washed three times with buffer,
mounted on slides, and photographed with fluorescence microscopy. This
experiment revealed that the p15 and NP1 proteins colocalized in the cells.
This finding indicates that…"
Comments:
The second example is bad because too much detail about the procedures is
given.
Tell the reader what techniques were used. In a review, do not tell them how
to do the techniques.
http://www.uwlax.edu/biology/communication/ReviewPapers.html