BIOLOGY 410G – TOPICS IN PHYSIOLOGY

Denis Maxwell – NCB 406 - dmaxwell@uwo.ca - 661-2111 ext.81336

Course Objectives

This course aims to develop skills that are essential for any senior science student, including finding and critically evaluating pertinent literature, communicating the salient features of scientific articles to an audience, synthesizing the results of several papers around one coherent theme and communicating this in both written and oral formats.

While most of these tasks exercise the skills of the writer/speaker, the best evaluation of scientific ideas comes from open discussion, which will help students to develop their skills of perception, critical reasoning and even debate.

To develop these skills this course will focus on literature in modern physiology. I interpret the term “physiology” very broadly, and expect students to chose papers that utilize modern biochemical, genetic and molecular tools to address questions that have physiological consequences. Experimental models can include plants, animals, yeast, fungi and bacteria, but because this course is offered by the Biology Department, studies primarily on humans, are not encouraged.

When / Where

Wed. 2:30-5:30 PM, B&G room 116

Evaluation

Nobel Prize Paper                    10%

Journal Club Presentation       20%

Review Paper Draft                  10%

Review Paper                           25%      Group project

Seminar                                     25%

Participation                              10%

Written assignments

Due dates for assignments will be announced in class. Papers are due at the beginning of class, and late papers will be penalized 5% for each day they are overdue. Grading of written reports will be based upon scientific content (including knowledge of the topic and thoroughness of the literature search), format (including grammar, punctuation, capitalization, referencing), and writing style (including clarity, organization, cohesion, conciseness).

Students are reminded that plagiarism is a serious scholastic offense (see Scholastic Offense Policy in the UWO Academic Calendar). I expect students to write their assignments in their own words. Whenever an idea or a passage is taken from another author it must be acknowledged using appropriate referencing format (see above). Plagiarism will not be tolerated, however I do not ascribe to the use of turnitin.com.  Any evidence of plagiarism will result in a grade of 0 for that assignment, and the case will be referred to the Dean’s office.

All written assignments should be prepared using the following format:

            - 8.5” X 11” paper

            - 1” margins all around

            - Times New Roman 12 font.

            - Spacing:   Body of the paper:  Double-spaced

                                         References:   Single-spaced

           - References should be prepared using MLA format or the exact style of either the American Journal of Physiology or Plant Physiology.

            -  A title page and headings are expected to be used.

Oral presentations

Unless there are volunteers the order in which students present will be determined randomly. The time limits for oral presentations will be strictly enforced. Grading of presentations will be equally weighted on scientific content, communications skills (including clarity of speaking, appropriate use of audio-visual aids) and handling of questions.  I will provide each speaker with written comments to help improve their speaking skills.

Speakers are encouraged to use PowerPoint because it is by far the most common platform used in most all presentations (scientific, business…) and as such, learning how to use it, and use it effectively, is important.