BSC 4931 Senior Seminar
Sect B51, Spring 2012
Wed 1:00-2:15 PM in Academic 1 266 (Biscayne Bay Campus)
Final exam - TBA

This seminar is the capstone course for the B.S. in Biology and the B.S. in Marine Biology. The course should be taken by Biology and Marine Biology majors who have senior status; juniors should wait to take the course until their senior year. The seminar provides an opportunity to integrate knowledge from different subdisciplines of Biology in the analysis of an important biological issue from current events. It also provides experience in conducting library and online research and in the use of modern presentation techniques, including PowerPoint and website creation. These professional skills are complemented by experience in public speaking and advice for pursuing careers in the Biological Sciences. [Top]

Instructor: Dr. Jim Fourqurean

I am an ecologist who specializes in ecological processes within seagrass beds, mangrove forests, and other coastal habitats. I am particularly interested in the mechanisms that maintain diversity in ecological communities, and the response of marine communities to changes in water quality

Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday afternoons, 2:25-4:00 PM and by appointment in MSB360. I want students to learn and benefit from the course, so please make an appointment with me should you experience any difficulty with your work in the course.

Phone:     305-348-4084
Fax:          305-348-4096
E-mail:     Jim.Fourqurean@fiu.edu
(I receive a lot of spam e-mail so, when you e-mail me, please mention "BSC 4931" in the subject line or your e-mail may be discarded.) [Top]

Textbook:

McMillan, Victoria E. 2006. Writing Papers in the Biological Sciences, 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's. xi + 269 pp. (available in the FIU Bookstore at University Park for $26.00).

In addition to information about writing papers, includes sections about online literature searches, oral (PowerPoint) and poster presentations, and preparing a professional résumé. All work (including citations) that you submit for this course is expected to conform to the formatting guidelines specified in this book and in this syllabus.

Prerequisites: Biology or Marine Biology major with senior standing (90 credits)

Course Format

Start with a recent newspaper article (from a mass circulation newspaper, such as The New York Times, that is not devoted to science) about a contemporary issue in Biology and use knowledge gained from previous coursework in Biology and from research in the library and online to discuss and summarize the biological science that underlies the current event. I want to encourage you to pursue a topic that truly captures your interest, so I have not specified a particular theme for this section of the Senior Seminar, nor have I placed any limitations on your choice of topic. Topics can be selected from any area of the biological sciences, but the topic must be biology. I highly encourage you to make an appointment with me to discuss your topic before you begin your research.

By its nature, the Undergraduate Seminar is an interactive course and you are expected to arrive prepared for each class. If you are the presenter, your website (including an abstract, outline, and hyperlinked reference list) should have been posted at least one week in advance and you should have your PowerPoint presentation ready on either a USB flash drive (memory stick) or a CD. If you are not presenting, you should have visited the speakers' websites and printed out their abstracts to bring to class to hand in (with your name written on them) to stimulate discussion and as proof that you did your homework. Part of our class time is specifically allotted for questions and discussions. Not only will you get more out of the class if you are prepared (including questions for the presenters), but part of the course grade is based on in-class participation. [Top]

Grading Policies

100 points total, divided as follows:

Oral presentation: 30 points
Website: 20 points
Research paper: 40 points
Peer evaluations and in-class participation: 10 points

ETS Major Field Test in Biology: 5 points extra credit for a total score of 156 to 167; 10 points extra credit for a total score of 168 to 200. These scores are equivalent to greater than the 50th percentile and greater than the 80th percentile among all the students at 345 colleges and universities who have taken this test in 2005-07. Other than the ETS Major Field Test in Biology, there is no other provision for extra credit in the course. Please note that although this test may be counted as extra credit if you score 156 or better, taking the ETS Major Field Test in Biology is required in order to pass this course.

The following grading system will be used:

A	90-100%
B	80-89%
C	70-79%
D	60-69%
F	< 60%

[Top]

Your Website

Your website will give you practice in posting information on the World Wide Web. It will also help you to organize the work for your oral presentation and your research paper (below). Your website will also enable the other students to come to class prepared to discuss your presentation and to provide useful peer evaluations of your presentation and website. You may set up your website on FIU's Solix server from any computer connected to the Internet. If you prefer, you may also set up your website using the services of a commercial website hosting service, such as Yahoo Geocities ( http://geocities.yahoo.com ). However, when you use a commercial website hosting service rather than FIU's Solix server, you are solely responsible for learning how to create a website using that service.

Your website will be designed to support your oral presentation and help you prepare your research paper. On your website, you will post:

(1) A homepage with your name, the title of your presentation and a set of website navigation links. Your homepage (Home) should provide a set of hyperlinks to the other pages on your website (Article, Abstract, Outline, References); don't forget to link back from each of these pages to your homepage.

(2) A copy of your newspaper article (with a complete citation) from a mass circulation newspaper that is not devoted to science.

(3) An abstract (summarize the topic posed by the newspaper article, the science behind the article, brief conclusions). Please note that an abstract should be concrete rather than prospective. Do not use language such as "I will present..." or "X will be discussed". As in a published article, your abstract should state the problem/ topic, briefly give the pertinent scientific results (you can include in-text citations), and provide brief conclusions. The abstract should stand on its own as a (brief) source of information about the topic.

(4) An outline, including an introduction to the problem/ topic, pertinent research, and conclusions. For primary research studies that you cite, the experimental approach and the major results should be included. Like the abstract, the outline should stand on its own as a (brief) source of information about the topic. For example, don't just write "Conclusions"; under this section, briefly list your major conclusions.

(4) A list of references, in standard format, following McMillan (2006) and this syllabus (under "Written Paper", below). References that are available on the World Wide Web should be hyperlinked so that a visitor to your website can jump directly to the original reference. Hyperlinked references include any websites that you cite and any research articles that you cited that are "open access" (do not require special electronic access privileges). The list of references must include the original newspaper article and at least 5 articles with original data from the recent scientific (primary) literature, as well as other references from books and scientifically credible websites. Beware of non-scientific websites that are biased, out of date, or trying to sell something.

If you wish, you may also include some images on your website. Any images must be credited by citing the URL (web address).

Very Important: Your website must be posted and you must provide me with the URL (web address) for your website at least one week before the date of your oral presentation. All students in the course must visit the website prior to the oral presentation, print out the abstract and bring it to class on the day of the the presentation. [Top]

Oral Presentation

Your presentation should be planned (and practiced!) to run for 20 minutes. You should bring your oral presentation to class in the form of a PowerPoint file on either a USB flash drive/ memory stick (preferred) or a CD. You must start your presentation with a recent newspaper article (from a mass circulation newspaper not devoted to science) about a contemporary issue in Biology. Then use knowledge gained from your previous coursework in Biology and from your research in the library and online to discuss and summarize the biological research that underlies the current event in the newspaper article. Your presentation should follow the outline on your website and should have a defined structure, with a beginning (the newspaper article and an introduction), a middle (where the emphasis is on your primary research articles), and an ending (summary and conclusion).

On your PowerPoint slides, each slide should have a title/topic and published articles can be cited as follows:

Littler, M. M. et al. 2006. Harmful Algae 5: 565-585. (Use "et al." for three or more authors; for two authors, list both authors.)

On your PowerPoint slides, websites can be cited by giving the URL (web address).

Please note that a list of References Cited at the end of the presentation should include complete information, including the full list of authors and the title, for published articles, or the complete citation for a website (see under "Written Paper", below, for an example).

Under no circumstances will you use product sales information or advertising as the basis of your presentations! You are to CREATE your own web page, not copy and slightly modify a web page you find on the internet.

Following your presentation, there will be an opportunity for questions, class discussion, and written peer evaluations. [Top]

Peer Evaluations

You will be asked to write a peer evaluation for each presentation (including the oral presentation and website). Your peer evaluations will count in the course grade and should show evidence of critical thinking and provide constructive feedback for the speaker. The written peer evaluations, with your name written on them, should be submitted with a hard copy of the abstract (from the presenter's website) on which you have also written your name. I will collate the peer evaluations, remove the evaluator's name, and return the set of written evaluations to the presenter the following week. [Top]

Written Paper

The written paper should follow the outline that you posted on your website. Your introduction should begin by referring to the recent newspaper article about a contemporary issue in Biology and explaining the significance of the topic. Your paper should then build on this using research in the library and online and knowledge gained from your previous coursework in Biology to discuss and summarize the biological science that underlies the current event in the newspaper article. At the end of the paper, you should present your conclusions. Write it as a brief, informative article on the topic that you chose. The purpose of this paper is to tell a biological story, briefly. You should include the Abstract (from your website; 150 to 250 words) as the first page. There should be an Introduction, Discussion (this should be the main part of your paper and include the scientific studies on your topic), and Conclusions (including whether the newspaper article got the science right and what work still needs to be done), which should follow a logical progression and make sense. Out of the universe of primary research articles on your topic that a library database search may uncover, carefully choose a set of articles that contribute to the story that you want to tell in your paper. The citations of these articles in your paper should be meaningful (essential to the argument of your paper), not incidental. The set of primary research papers should not be from the same laboratory.

Papers must be word-processed, double-spaced between lines, and with one-inch margins. Use Times New Roman (or equivalent) 12-point font. Please do not justify the lines on the pages. Also, do NOT put an extra space between paragraphs. You should identify the sections (Abstract, on p. 1; Introduction, beginning on p. 2; Discussion; Conclusions). Required length is 10 pages of text at a minimum, NOT counting the abstract and list of references cited.

The list of References (Literature Cited) must include the original newspaper article and at least 5 articles with original data from the recent scientific (primary) literature, as well as other references from books and scientifically credible websites. Primary scientific literature always includes a Materials & Methods section. Primary literature does not include News & Views or review articles, even if they appear in a journal that also publishes articles with original data. Given the "current events" emphasis of this assignment, you should focus on the more recent (last 5 years) scientific literature. There will be a presentation by an FIU reference librarian that will help you to use electronic databases in your literature search. If the FIU Library does not have a specific article you are interested in, you can request that the article be delivered to you electronically via the Ariel Desktop Delivery Service on the FIU Library website. The in-text references and the references section at the end of your paper should follow the scientific style recommended in the textbook by McMillan (2006).

Your paper will be submitted electronically to Turnitin ( http://www.turnitin.com ), a web-based platform that allows the instructor to grade and mark papers electronically --- and that also offers a powerful tool for detecting instances of plagiarism.

The due date for the written research paper is April 11 (except for oral presentations scheduled on April 4 and April 11, for which the due date for the written paper is April 18). [Top]

Tentative course schedule (subject to change)

Dates and Locations	Presenters	Topics
January 11	Jim Fourqurean	Introductions, course overview
January 18	Jim Fourqurean	Online library research
January 25	No class -	How to create and post a webpage
February 1	Jim Fourqurean	How to create and post a webpage
February 8	Jim Fourqurean	PowerPoint basics
February 15 to April 11	Student presentations	For links to individual student websites, see table of Links to Student Websites
April 18	FIU Career Services	Interview skills and résumé writing
Final Exam - Wednesday, April 25, 12:00-2:00, AC1 266		ETS Major Field Test in Biology

[Top]