Instructors: Dr. Lillie Searles, 508 Fordham Hall, (919) 966-4989, lsearles@email.unc.edu

Dr. Charles Mitchell, 411 Coker Hall, (919) 843-7745, cmitchell@bio.unc.edu

Class information

The classroom portion of Biol 691/692 has three main goals:

to help you to develop professional skills that are useful for writing your honors thesis and giving your honors symposium presentation
to have you interact as a community of scholars, and learn to present your research and its significance in general terms that will be understood and appreciated by biologists from diverse fields
to keep you on schedule and help you to achieve the highest honors level possible

Meetings: The class will meet once a week until the Honors Symposium, which will be held on Nov. 13, 2009.

Web site: Course materials will be posted on UNC Blackboard under Biol 692 (even if you enrolled in 691).

Schedule by week

Week 1 (Mon, Aug 31): Describe the significance of your research.

Class time: spend a few minutes preparing three descriptions of your research that explain its significance to three different audiences (i) someone in your lab, (ii) a biologist far outside of your field, (iii) a person on the street. Then in groups of three, identify for other students (i) both the "big question" and the specific questions you are addressing in your research, (ii) the approaches you are using to answer these questions, and (iii) the broader significance (i.e., why should someone care about the answers?). Use what you learn to introduce your subgroup members to the rest of the class, and keep a record of everyone's research topics. Today we will start a tradition of asking questions about each other's research. Students should challenge one another to make explanations of their research clear and well-motivated.

Logistics: students notified of deadlines

Week 2 (Mon, Sept 7): Labor Day—no class

Assignments:

(1) Prepare a concise written description of your research.

Corner someone with little formal understanding of biology. Spend 5-10 minutes describing the details of your research and its significance, making sure they know to interrupt you and ask for clarification for any terminology or procedure they don't understand. Based on this experience, prepare a title and concise description that you would provide to an agency funding your work that explains your research and its broader significance. (Such descriptions are required for grant proposals, and must be understandable to the general public.) Use the same format as the template that will be provided. Include the names of all that apply: your research advisor, Biology department sponsor, and research mentor (a grad student or postdoc you would like to recognize). These short statements will be posted on the honors bulletin board.

(2) Have your photo taken for the honors bulletin board. Go to the department photo lab (Brian Nalley, 211 Wilson Hall), which is open Mon-Fri, 8-11 and 1-3.

Website: Read about abstracts at http://abacus.bates.edu/~ganderso/biology/resources/writing/HTWtoc.html

Week 3 (Mon, Sept 14): Get feedback and revise your research descriptions

Class time: Working in groups of two or three, read and suggest revisions for each other’s research descriptions. Email to me the revised version by Wed afternoon. If your description is too technical or longer than 150 words, I will return it to you for further revision.

Week 4 (Mon, Sept 21) How are results in your field presented? Graphs, figures, and figure legends.

Assignment: (1) Read about Tables and Figures at the Bates College website below. (2) Using your own data, design a simple graph or figure and a figure legend that might be included as part of your written thesis. If your data are not complete, create a data set that is likely to resemble the one you are collecting. Pay attention to details, so that a naive viewer can understand the data. Print a copy of your figure and figure legend, and email a copy of this figure to me before class. In class you will critique each others’ figures.

Class time: Discussion of figure issues; Small group discussion of student data graphics

Website: http://abacus.bates.edu/~ganderso/biology/resources/writing/HTWtoc.html

Week 5 (Mon, Sept 28): What are the elements of a thesis?

Assignment: (1) Read the information at the Bates College website about the sections of a paper. Then examine a research article in your field, paying attention to what information is included in each section. (2) Read the information on plagiarism at the UNC Writing Center’s website. We will discuss issues of collaboration, proper citation, and the avoidance of plagiarism in your work. Come prepared with questions. (3) Bring any questions about the general structure of different sections of your thesis. For example, what is the goal of the introduction and how should you structure it to best achieve this goal? What kinds of related literature should be referred to as background in the introduction vs. used for comparison in the discussion? How much should the interpretation of results be included in the results section vs. left to the discussion section?

Class time: Discussion of thesis sections

Websites:

http://abacus.bates.edu/~ganderso/biology/resources/writing/HTWsections.html#sections

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/plagiarism.html#6

Logistics: send symposium invitations (to family, administrators, etc.)

Week 6 (Mon, Oct 5): What are characteristics of good scientific writing? Introductory paragraphs.

Assignment: (1) Read and digest the Gopen and Swan article on scientific writing. (2) Bring two double-spaced copies of your thesis introduction (always provide double-spaced text when asking people for suggestions).

Class time: Working in small groups, (i) suggest technical improvements to each other's writing, and (ii) examine critically whether the introduction guides the reader at an appropriate pace from general context to specific goals of the research.

Reading: Gopen and Swan article

Reading: http://abacus.bates.edu/~ganderso/biology/resources/writing/HTWtoc.html

Logistics: schedule symposium with students

Week 7 (Mon, Oct 12): What are the elements of a good oral presentation? Design of visual aids and talk structure.

Assignment: (1) Design one (or more) Powerpoint talk slides that would best illustrate one or more sets of methods used in your thesis research. Think creatively - you may get ideas from other seminars or presentations you have heard, or from the sample past symposium presentations linked below. Email your Powerpoint file to me the day before class, and bring one printed copy to class. If possible, also bring your laptop, a CD or jump drive to class.

Class time: In small groups, critique and improve each other's slide designs. (2) We will discuss the overall structure of an oral presentation using a sample talk presented in class. What should be put into, and left out of, a 10-min talk? What are important differences between visual aids presented in papers and in talks?Discussion of what should be included in a 10 minute talk; Small group discussion of methods slides.

Readings: article on Scientific Speaking

Reference materials: example honors symposium presentations

Assignment: Attend the Biology Department seminar on Tues at 3:45 in Wilson 107 (cookies at 3:30). Print out the talk evaluation worksheet. During the seminar, use the worksheet to analyze and critique the talk. How would you change the presentation to make it clearer, better structured, or more enjoyable? Pay attention to both the design and the delivery of information.

Week 8 (Mon, Oct 19): What are characteristics of good scientific writing? The talk abstract.

Assignment: Prepare and bring to class three double-spaced copies of your talk abstract. Please pay attention to the required format (see Guidelines for Theses and Presentations at http://www.bio.unc.edu/Courses/Biol691/students/honorsguide.htm). Discuss the role and structure of the abstract, and differences between a thesis abstract and talk abstract. In small groups, edit each other's abstracts. This will be our last meeting before your talk abstract and thesis are due, so come prepared with questions or lingering problems with your writing or preparation of figures.

Class time: introduction, small group editing of student talk abstracts.

Reference materials: talk/poster abstract example.

Mon, Oct 26, 4 pm: TALK abstract due today. You must submit a hard copy and email an MS Word file to Denise Burgner (burgner@bio.unc.edu) in Coker 213 by 4:00. Please pay attention to the required format described at "Guidelines for Theses and Presentations" http://www.bio.unc.edu/Courses/Biol691/students/honorsguide.htm. Abstracts not conforming to the required format will be returned to you for revision.

Week 9: (Mon, Oct 26): Get feedback on your thesis. Bring the most recent draft of your thesis to class for feedback in small groups.

Fri, Oct 30, 4 pm. Thesis due today. Four copies of your correctly-formatted thesis must be signed by your research advisor and sponsor (if relevant). See "Guidelines for Theses and Presentations" for more information. Make sure you allow time to obtain these signatures before today. The four completed copies are due to Denise in Coker 213 by 4 PM.

Remember to register your honors thesis on the university honors web site (http://www.honors.unc.edu/thesis_registration.html) by November 17, 2009.

Week 11 (Mon, Nov 2): Rough draft of symposium presentation.

Assignment: Prepare a rough draft of your symposium presentation. Bring a copy of your PowerPoint slides printed 3-4 per page so that you can talk through your presentation.

Class time: Small group discussion of talk outlines. In small groups, go through each outline, paying special attention to the general context created at the beginning and returned to at the end of the talk. Your peers and instructors will give you feedback. This version should be well-structured with rough figures. Schedule practice sessions.

Week 12 (TBA, Nov 9-11): Practice symposium talks. Each student will give a practice talk to instructors and interested peers, and will attend practice talks by other students. Be prepared to give a "complete version," although suggestions for changes are likely. All of your graphics should be in a near-final form, and you should be prepared to run through your talk from start to finish. Make sure of the exact words you'll use to start and finish your talk. You'll have the next week to finalize graphics, practice your delivery, and get feedback from people in your lab group.

Fri, Nov 13: HONORS SYMPOSIUM. Final oral presentation and thesis defense to be attended by upcoming honors students, honors advisors and mentors, thesis graders, family members, friends, and other members of the university community.

Tues, Nov 17: Last day to submit Honors Candidates to the UNC Honors Program Office