2006-2007
The goal of these courses is to provide the student with the tools, guidelines, and practice necessary to present quality biological seminars and posters. It is not expected that each of you will become a polished orator by the end of the year, but that each student will show progress as experience in evaluation, preparation and presentation is gained. Feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of each presentation will provide specific guidance for improvement.
Since there is usually much anxiety about the fact of presentation, and evaluation is both subjective and contextual, the courses are designed pass-fail. The additional pressure of a grade is removed, but each student has specific obligations to fulfill in order to successfully complete the course. There will be four seminar presentations by each student for the academic year, three in the first semester and one in the second.
The course is designed to accommodate each of the majors in the biological sciences curricula, biology, microbiology, and environmental sciences, and the teaching certification option. Therefore, the choice of topics is comparably broad and can draw on both the student's interest and expertise for development. The primary requirement is that the topic shows a clear relationship to biology and is developed from a biological perspective.
Seminar is a pass-fail course; you will not fail based on the quality of your seminar. However, presentations which are not carefully prepared or inappropriate in subject matter will result in a requirement to re-present on the same or a related topic. Two conditions will result in automatic re-presentation: 1) not following time guidelines (too short or too long), 2) a seminar based solely on clinical data with no explanations of mechanisms, specific causes, hypotheses, directions for further research, or implications of the data in a biological context. We want biology, not meaningless or isolated phenomena. (If the primary idea and all supporting data come from the Journal of Clinical _______, it is probably too clinical and unacceptable.) Request for re-presentation will usually come from me as course instructor, but may also come from any faculty member through me. It is expected that each student will draw on previous courses and laboratory experiences in order to explain phenomena and hypotheses, give detail on procedures, and guide the audience through the topic of choice.
Each student must have fewer than three deficiencies in the course in a single semester. The bibliographic training and certification and the resumé are absolute requirements and will not be waived. Three or more unsatisfied requirements (deficiencies), or failure to complete the bibliographic instruction or submit a resumé will result in automatic course failure. Again, extreme circumstances may warrant some forgiveness, but, since the requirements are not very difficult to satisfy, I will not be unduly lenient. Basically, if you attend class, meet deadlines, and are conscientious about responsibilities, you should not have problems.
Each formal presentation will be evaluated by faculty and peers in attendance as a guide to our follow-up discussions. You will be made aware of the content of the evaluations but not of the identity of the evaluator making the comment. Samples of the evaluation forms, the deficiency notification form, and the library certification form are included within the web pages for the course.
Problems and questions should be addressed to Dr. Porter as soon as they arise.
Go to the Information Literacy certification form.
Go to the Fall Semester, 2006.
Go to the Spring Semester, 2007.
Go to Internet Job Search Resources.
In addition to the Resources above, there is an extensive listing of Biology career options at the Furman University web site.
Another useful site for career development is Experience.com, particularly for their company profiles.
Go to Graduate School Resources.
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Last revised 26 August 2006
http://is.usip.edu/bs493-4/index.html