BIO342_2008 Student Presentations:
There will be three dates this semester for student presented primary literature. Each student will do one presentation working with another student partner. Choose a primary literature paper of interest to you. If possible, choose a paper that is relevant to the topics that are being covered in class at that time.
Post this paper on the MOODLE at least one week before the presentation so that other students have sufficient opportunity to read the paper.
Also post 2-3 "discussion questions" one week before the presentation. These questions should be answerable with only the reference you have provided and information from class. These questions should be questions that do not have a right or wrong answer, but rather should stimulate discussion among students. Presenters should be prepared to moderate a short (5-7 min) discussion centered on these points.
The presentation will be an 8-10 minute power point presentation (~ 5 slides). The presentation should include any background that is necessary to fully understand the results of the paper. The presentation should include figures taken (or adapted) from the paper. It is not necessary to present ALL results in the paper. The presentation should include your evaluation of the results and conclusions. Does the data support the authors' claim? Does the data challenge previous understanding? It is not necessary to choose an "earth shattering" publication, it is not even necessary to choose a particularly excellent publication. If you choose to use the presentation to critique a paper it should be done on sound scientific grounds.
Please post your power point presentation to the courses server before 8:00 a.m. the day of you presentation, and before 5:00 p.m. the night before if you want to be sure that all of the graphics work. Presentation may NOT be brought to class on a USB flash drive.
If you have never prepared a PowerPoint presentation of scientific research in the past, please make an appointment with the instructor or a TA to get some general, or specific advice.
All students who are not presenting are expected to choose 2 of the papers that will be presented. Carefully read these papers and answer the discussion questions for each of the chosen papers. Your answers to these questions should be typed prior to class. You will be expected to note any changes of opinion during the presentation and discussion and hand these in as you leave. It is completely acceptable to work in small groups to discuss these papers prior to class but each student should write their own response (not more than a few sentences). Please feel free to read more than two of these papers. Also please feel free to join in the discussion based on the presentation even if you have not read the paper.