2) Meet with your potential faculty supervisor and discuss the research that you might do and the method of assessment of your performance.
Course # & Session: ______________________ Telephone #: _________________________
Directed Research Courses in Biological Sciences (BIOD98Y and BIOD99Y): Summer 2016
General Information Sheet
If you wish to become involved in our independent research courses in Biology, you must first have completed 13.5 credits of which at least 4 must be Biology B or C level courses. You should then consult directly with the faculty member whose research seems most relevant to your interests. Keep in mind that any given faculty member can usually only accommodate only one or two research students. You should acquaint yourself with the general format and requirements of these courses. That is the purpose of this information sheet. Please read it carefully.
Requirements and Deadlines
1) Students working in a lab, or doing field research must complete WHMIS (online) & Lab Safety Training. Students working with animals must undergo animal care training. Students working with biohazards must undergo biosafety training (mandatory 2-day workshop). Contact Human Resources for this training or your supervisors should be able to alert you about the dates that these training sessions will run and the registration process.
2) Important announcements about these courses will be posted on the blackboard site. You should check these sites regularly for announcements.
3) BIOD98 and BIOD99 are Y courses worth 1 full credit.
4) You will be required to submit a full written report on your research.
The due date for your written paper is the last
day of the summer semester,
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2016. This is a fixed university deadline and is not subject to change by you or by your faculty supervisor. A penalty of 20% (of your final grade) per day will apply if your assignment is late. [Note: In an extraordinary case, an extension can only be approved by the Chair of the Biological Sciences Department.]
You must submit one copy of your report to Gloria Luza in SW420B by
4 PM on the date listed above and a
second copy (preferably electronic copy) to your research supervisor.
5) Students working
with off-campus instructors require a co-supervisor from this campus. Approval for doing research with an off-campus supervisor and permission for an on-campus co-supervisor must be obtained from the Course Coordinator (Dr. Ken Welch) prior to registration.
Procedure
Ordinarily, you will begin the research at the start of the semester, meeting with your faculty supervisor to determine the project you will be working on. Once under way, you will work on carrying out the project, meeting periodically with your faculty supervisor. Toward the last two to three weeks of the semester, you should be presenting drafts of your research paper to your faculty supervisor for feedback and revision, so that everything can be finalized by the deadline specified above. Your final paper should be in the form of a standard scientific paper. Please note that students may be asked to submit copies of their final paper to Turnitin.com – please watch for blackboard announcements and instructions. There is no oral presentation required over the summer semester.
Evaluation
Evaluation will be based in part on the research paper and in part on the appraisal by your faculty supervisor of your performance in the research course. You should ascertain the breakdown of your evaluation in this course before signing into the course and your mentor should indicate their grade breakdown on the form submitted to Registrar’s Office and on the template provided on the next page. The second reader contributes 30% to the final mark, based on the research paper. The supervisor contributes the remaining 70% based on his/her evaluation of your performance during the summer semester and your research paper.
Note: Whether the research works out as anticipated
does not affect your grade, assuming that the work has been well done and the paper is a well-written description of the work. You will in no way be penalised because the data were not ideal. You and your supervisor may agree on an arrangement for the work to be undertaken and for scheduling along the way, but the rules you
have just read above apply to ALL BIOD98/99 research students and cannot be contravened in individual cases.
Student name: __________________________________________________________
Breakdown of evaluation of BIOD98/99 students:
The supervisors are requested to use this template as a guide and can choose from specific categories listed below. Mentors can also include additional project-specific criteria for assessment. Note that the value of the written paper is valued at 40% of the student’s final grade.
1. Intellectual contribution to project =
2. Participation & attendance at lab meetings/other group meetings =
3. Effort and time spent on research project =
4. Meetings with supervisor (assessing self-directed learning, punctuality in meeting deadlines etc.) =
5. Lab citizenship / working with others =
6. Oral presentations (final
presentation to department, practice or other group related presentations) =
7. Lab notebooks/ electronic records of experiments =
8. Other: _____________________________________________________________________ =
9. Other: _____________________________________________________________________ =
10. Other: _____________________________________________________________________ =
SUBTOTAL (Sum of items 1-10 above) = 30%
Written paper (final submitted, drafts of final paper or other group related reports)
as evaluated
by the primary supervisor =
40%
TOTAL GRADE contributed by primary supervisor = 70%
Final oral presentation to department = 10%
Second reader grade (paper only) = 20%
TOTAL =100%