BIO481 Marking Scheme2026

Marking Scheme

Notebook assessed once per term (complete/incomplete) (15%)

• Notebooks should provide an outsider with a detailed account of the project

• It should be at least readable for other lab members and ideally an outsider.

• Dates are absolutely essential information in the lab book

• More detail is better than less

• For Bioinformatics and statisical analysis

  • The notebook should be kept on the server in plain text or markdown

  • The notebook should document all data, scripting and analysis in each subfolder 

  • See “Bioinformatics data skills” by Vince Buffalo for more details. 

• For wet-lab work

  • Your lab book is the most important record of your work

  • Clearly document and organize your progress through the experiments 

  • Digital/paper notebooks or a combination are acceptable. 

  • samples and material should be labelled to correspond with specific notebook entries (I always use my name and the lab book date as the key identifier)


Lab meetings - (complete/incomplete) (5%)

• present one lab meeting per term

• attend all lab meetings 

• Your grade is primarily a participation mark. Lab meetings are informal and I want you to know that the quality or quantity of slides is less important than our discussion and your progress. Although you can get feedback on slides if you wish.


Project Proposal (5%)

• Oral proposal for BIO481 course work

• 1 page summary of questions, data and preliminary methods 

• Practice talks in lab meetings are mandatory

• Try to use this to start your introduction/literature review

• Clearly define questions and propose methods


Literature Review/ Introduction - Due last day of class 1st term (10%)

The document will serve as the introduction to your final thesis Formatted like the introduction to a scientific article with references (use style of MBE, Evolution or Genetics) Clearly outlining the motivation and background for the research and the questions to be addressed ~5page double spaced

Progress & Plans - Due last day of class 1st term (5%)

an informal max 1 page report outlining progress and goals for term 2

Final Written report (25%)

• The written report is the single most important component of your thesis.

• It should be written in the style of a scientific paper (Use MBE/Genetics/Evolution as a guide)

• Prior to write up each student should meet with Rob/other collaborators to review results and outline the paper.

• The length of this document should be about 20 pages double spaced (excluding figures/tables/supplemental information). However, it is as short or as long as necessary. It would not be unusual to vary from 15-30 pages. 

• It should include:

  • Title
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • References
  • Tables/Figures
  • Supplemental information if necessary

BIO481 Symposium Oral presentation (15%)

Present 6-8min talk at the BIO481 Symposium and to attend the entire symposium At least 2 days in advanced we will have practice talk for the lab

Work Ethic/Progress (20%)

Students will be graded for their effort, ability and success in independently moving through the project.

Expectations

Expectations of Students:

Attend lab meetings attend bio seminars Work a minimum of 10hrs/week preferably more Meet regularly with Rob and collaborators Meet deadlines Keep detailed notes

Expectations of Rob

Be available for meetings Provide help/guidance Define questions/methods return work quickly and meet deadline