BIO481 marking scheme

Below is a breakdown of how a BIO481 should progress through their project in the lab. The key thing I want to see is a dedication to the project and a development of scientific curiosity and rigour. Inherent throughout the marking is productivity and progress through the project. The actual scientific result will not directly influence your grade because reality is not your fault, but I want to see progress which is why there is an emphasis on notebooks, lab meetings and early writing. 

If you are a normal member of the lab you will get many of these grades by default. Every responsible scientist keeps a notebook, everyone in research labs presents their results and the writing and formal presentations are all part of the requirements for the course. However, I think the breakdown of marks presented in advance allows you to structure your schedule. 

Marking Scheme

Notebook assessed once per term (complete/incomplete) (10%)

• 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 statistical analysis

  • The notebook should be kept on the server in plain text or markdown or jupyternotebooks
  • 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/year (whatever you are asked)
• 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
• Inform Rob when your proposal is going to happen
• Show this to Rob to get feedback
• 1 page summary of questions, data and preliminary methods 
• Try to use this to start your introduction/literature review
• Clearly define questions and propose methods

Literature Review/ Introduction

• Due between last day of class 1st term and start of 2nd 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
  \3~5page double spaced 

Final Written report last day of second term (40%) 

• 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  (30%)

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

Expectations of Students:

Attend lab meetings
Attend biology seminars
Work a minimum of 10hrs/week preferably the majority of hours are in the lab
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 deadlines