Guidelines for the Undergraduate Research Commendation

 

Eligibility

The commendation is available to those who are ineligible for honors or who would prefer not to write a complete thesis. The student must have a Biology GPA of 3.0 (excluding Biol 395) and must be taking or have taken Biol 395 recently. For the commendation the student must complete a substantive independent research project, including a research paper and the presentation of an acceptable research poster, during the Undergraduate Research Symposium in November or April.

An application for a Commendation for Undergraduate Research must be signed by the advisor and biology department sponsor (if relevant) and submitted to the Biology Undergraduate office before the fourth week of the semester (check with the undergraduate secretary in Coker 212 for exact date).

 

Poster abstract

A copy of your poster abstract will be included in the booklet for the honors symposium.  Suggestions about preparing the poster abstract can be found here.  The abstract is due on the same date as the honors symposium abstracts (see http://www.bio.unc.edu/Biology99/schedule.htm).  You should follow these directions:

1.      Use a 1.5 inch margin on top, 1.0 inch margins on the left, right, and bottom.  The heading (title, name, advisors) should be centered.  The abstract text should be single-spaced, left margined, five space tab at the beginning of paragraphs. All text should be Times New Roman, 12-point.  Be sure to check for special characters, symbols, degree signs, superscripts and subscripts, etc.  Use italics for species names.  Do not underline.  Do not include references.

2.      The recommended length for your abstract is 250 words; the absolute maximum length is 425 words.  In most cases it will be more effective if it is considerably shorter.   Remember that the goals of the abstract are (a) to induce someone to come look at your poster, (b) to help someone at your poster to understand in a short time what you did and why, and (c) to provide a printed record.  Therefore, abstract length presents a tradeoff: a short abstract will contain fewer details but be more accessible.  If you plan to use a long abstract in the booklet, I recommend shortening the abstract on your poster.

3.      The abstract should be formatted exactly as follows.  The quote marks show exact text.  Include the Biology Sponsor and Mentor only where appropriate.

 

Your Title (bold and centered, no space between lines)

--space--

Your Name (centered)

--space--

"Research Advisor:" Dr. Advisor Name, or Advisor Name, MD (centered)

"Biology Sponsor:" Dr. Sponsor Name (centered)

"Research Mentor:" Mentor Name (include Dr. if faculty or postdoc) (centered)

--space--

(left aligned, indented) Abstract text

 

4.      A camera-ready hard copy of your abstract should be submitted by the due date to Denise Hargis in the biology undergraduate office. An electronic version, in MS Word format, should also be emailed to Denise (hargis@bio.unc.edu).

Research paper

One copy of a double-spaced paper describing your research is due on the same date as honors theses (for the due date, see http://www.bio.unc.edu//Biology99/schedule.htm).  The paper must be written solely by you in your own words and must detail only your independent work.  Turn your paper in to Denise in Coker 212 before 4pm.  The format should be that of a journal article in your field, but the exact format can be determined by you and your advisor.  Use a scientific citation style--some advice can be found here.  The title page of your paper must be signed by your advisor and sponsor.  These signatures represent their approval of the paper, so make sure to plan enough time for each of them to read the paper and help with corrections, to avoid last minute problems that could endanger your receiving the commendation.

 

Poster Preparation

See the following websites for useful advice and directions for designing and preparing an effective scientific poster:

http://info.acm.org/crossroads/xrds3-2/posters.html

http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/IndexStart.html

http://www.cs.pomona.edu/~tzuyi/Advice/

http://www.kumc.edu/SAH/OTEd/jradel/Poster_Presentations/PstrStart.html

http://www.siam.org/siamnews/general/poster.htm

http://www.photonics.cusat.edu/links_for%20students.html

 

Here is some general advice:

·        We recommend preparing your poster in PowerPoint and asking the department illustrator, Susan Whitfield, to print it as a single sheet.  Printing costs must be paid by the individual lab.

·        Put the title in large font across the top.  On the next line list in smaller font your name and the names of any co-presenters (sponsors and others who did not participate in the research should be thanked in the acknowledgments section instead).  On the same or following line, give your affiliation (e.g., Department of Biology, University of North Carolina).  It's useful to put a superscript at the end of your name and to put your email address (with the same superscript preceeding) at the end of the affiliation.

·        Your poster is meant to tell a story cleanly and simply without your having to be present.  It should be neither a collection of long text passages (viewers will not bother reading them) nor merely a set of visual aids.  Illustrations (cartoons, figures, tables, images) that are well-labeled and have clear legends and keys should be used instead of long text passages wherever possible.  Bulleted text helps to focus attention on what you want people to see.

·        It is useful to put a brief abstract at the upper left and a summary of the major findings at the bottom right.

·        Make at least part of your introduction into a set of bulleted points that organize the relevant information for the viewer and lead to the questions or hypotheses you will address.

·        Give a clear and separate statement of each question or hypothesis.

·        Provide methods in sufficient detail that the viewer will understand how and why you did what you did.  You are not required to provide detail to a level that the experiment could be exactly repeated.

·        All text in the poster should be in type no smaller than 16 point, with larger titles and subheadings. 

·        Figures and tables should have legends or bulleted text that explains what you want the viewer to see in the figure. 

·        Get help from your advisor and lab mates, and ask members of the honors committee if you need additional help. 

·        Here is a "60-second" evaluation for quickly checking your poster for typical problems.

Here is other useful information from the department illustrator:

·        Poster boards, to which you will pin your poster, are 60" X 40". Whether you print a single sheet or attach individual panes, do not go over the edge of the board.  We will supply the pins.

·        A poster printed as one sheet by the department facility is limited by the printer in one dimension (width or height) to 44".  The maximum print area in that dimension should be no more than 42".  The other dimension is limited by the size of the poster board (see above).  Your poster does not need to take up the maximum area possible--it should be sized appropriately for the information content.

·        Be careful with images to avoid two types of problems.  (1) Images of low resolution can look fine on the computer screen but print poorly, especially when enlarged.  This is a typical problem with small images pulled off the web (which you shouldn't do anyway).  (2) Images of high resolution make for large computer files, which the print facility does not want (your poster should not be larger than 2-3 MB).  Ideally, you should reduce the size of high-resolution images (e.g., in Photoshop) until you are no longer losing resolution in the printed page.

·        You should be able to check how your poster will look when printed by using the "print preview" function in Powerpoint.

·        You can bring your poster file to the departement facility on a zip disk or CD, where they will look at your poster with you and make sure it's the way you want it.

·        The costs of printing your poster will need to be charged to the lab you work in.  Make sure this is arranged with your advisor before you go for printing.  (Prices as of March, 2004 are $8/ft (glossy) or $5/ft (matte) in length, with a 44" width.)

Please send to the Honors chair a copy of your poster on the Monday before the symposium.

 

Poster Presentation

You will present your poster at the undergraduate honors symposium (see honors schedule for exact date).  If graduating in the fall, posters are on display before and at the conclusion of talks on the day of the fall symposium.  You should have your poster up at least one hour before the start of the symposium.  If graduating in the spring, posters are normally displayed during the morning coffee break (check symposium schedule for exact time) around 10 am, and are also on display at lunchtime. Check the schedule for the exact time.  You should have your poster up by 9:30 am that day and leave it up until 1:30 or later. You should be present at your poster during the entire coffee break and, if possible, during the last half-hour of lunch. 

To be ready for your poster session, prepare a 3 min. explanation that walks visitors through the essential points and overall message of your poster. Be prepared to tailor your language for at least three visitors: a nonscientist, a biologist in another area of research, and a specialist in your own area of research.