CVSC 439

Biol 422 / CVSC 438- Spring 2013

Updated : 1/12/13

Instructor: Jim Dooley - BSC 428; 8227; jdooley@muskingum.edu

Texts:

At long last - nothing new to add here

Class Meetings take the form of weekly meetings with your research advisor

Last semester we focused on:

Completing data collection and analysis

Developing a polished draft of your thesis paper through the results section.

This term you will finish work on your project, your final paper, your disemination activities, and fully participate in our program of assessment. More specifically:

Achievement Objectives for this term: students will:

(1) Develop a scholarly discussion section to their seminar papers. The aim of this part of the document will be to integrate the results of their work with established scholarship in the area.

(2) Develop a final scientific abstract based on the results of their research .

(3) Produce a final thesis document by incorporating revised versions of all previous sections, adding in discussion and literature cited
.
(4) Develop a research poster or oral presentation for presenation at the Ohio Academy of Sciences Meeting (be sure to include any Wilds faculty that supported your work as coauthors).

(5) Attend and participate in all Science Week activities.

(6) Complete the senior exit assessment process

Course Leaning Objectives extend directly from the Biology Department's Learning Goals. In particular, the learning objectives for this course emphasize Biology Department Learning Goals 2-4. As a result of successfully completing this course, students will:

Understand how to develop a scholarly discussion section for their seminar paper.

Understand the roles and requirements for all of the important sections of their seminar paper

Understand how to develop a scholarly poster or standard scientific talk for presentation at a professional meeting

So What is a Discussion Section?

Simply put, your discussion is that part of your paper in which you interpret the findings you presented in the results section. There are often two challenges to consider. First, in and of themselves, what do your findings suggest about issues raised in your questions?   If you posed predictions, did the data seem to support your hypotheses? If so (or even if not) in what ways? Your second challenge is to review the literature related to your work and consider how your findings integrate into insights that already exist in the literature? How has the body of scholarship related to your questions been changed by what you observed?    Finally, you may want to consider what the next steps might be and how insights could be improved through modifications of the procedure you followed.

How Different is the Abtract to What you Submitted to OAS?

The abstract you will place at the front of your final document can be developed from the abstract you submitted to the Ohio Academy of Science in the Fall. The major difference will be that you should incoporate final results and interpretations as derived from your discussion section.

Course Requirements:

You will generally have at least one regularly scheduled meeting with your research advisor each week. Times for these weekly meetings will be established during the first week of classes.

Early in the semester, each student will be responsible for turning in a proposed time-line that identifies benchmarks along the path to project completion and estimates the time required for each component. In addition, it is the student's responsibility to schedule an appointment with their research advisor in that same period in order to discuss and turn in a copy of this document.

Your advisor will return whatever late-semester drafts you may have turned in prior to holidays. In very short order you will be required to turn in revisions with the aim of finishing off the first three sections of your thesis (Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results). Your advisor will quickly focus your efforts on to your discussion section. This section will take more work than any of the others so anticipate a substantial commitment through the early as well as middle parts of the term. The final version of your thesis paper will be due in the middle of the term on date determined by your advisor.

Students should plan on preparing a poster for presentation at the Ohio Academy of Sciences in April as well as for Science Week at the college (be sure to include any Wilds faculty that supported your work as coauthors).

Also one of you will be asked to represent Conservation Science in the annual Bradford Colloquium which is held early in Science Week (so be considering the possibility]. As the our representative for the program to put together a 12 minute oral presentation outlining your research and its results

Before a final grade is issued I must have received from you your final seminar paper and a copy of the file with your OAS poster.

Finally, you will need to complete the senior exit assessment process. There are a number of components to this process:
- The life-science content assessment. This instrument takes the form of a GRE-type exam. You will be advised early in the semester of an evening (or maybe two) during which this exam will be administered. Only the most compelling of reasons will be accepted for your absence.
- The life-science scientific reasoning assessment. This exam will be also be administered during either a late afternoon or early evening. Again you will be advised of the date early in the semester and your participation is expected (see grading policy).
- In addition, I will ask that you help me refine the capstone experience and conservation major for future cohorts by thoughtfully responding to an assessment tool featuring a series of short essay type questions. This assessment instrument will be e-mailed to you with a stated return deadline.

Grading Policy: We have no tests or other typical "objective" means of evaluating your performance. Your grade will be assessed based on your performance relative to the tasks for each semester.

I want to emphasize that my expectations are high in this regard. Once again, the over-arching goal here is to develop a formal document in the form of a scientific paper which will include abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and literature cited sections. We have reviewed and discussed the distinct "mission" of each of these sections to scientific papers as well as what elements need to be included in each section, throughout your coursework in this program. That being said, I will be glad to provide guidance to any questions you may have in developing each part of your thesis paper.

You should expect to work hard and consistently on your project - however in the end it will be the quality of what you turn in that will determine your grade. As a means of providing models of the kinds of work I am looking for, I have assembled copies of papers from previous years that were evaluated as excellent. These documents are available for your inspection and review.

For this semester approximately 70% of your grade will be based on our evaluation of your final paper and with about 15% determined by your participation and performance relative to the presentation events (i.e., OAS and Science Week) and 15% determined by your complete participation in the assessment process.