Scientific Investigation - BIOL 093

Syllabus

This course is a general overview of how science is produced through scientific research. It is designed to prepare undergraduate students to conduct scientific research or to use the scientific literature in their work. Topics include what science is and how it works, jobs in science, the structure of a scientific paper, literature review, experimental design, hypothesis testing, statistics, preparation of figures for publication, conferences, posters and submission of a manuscript for publication.

While you will not conduct experiments, you will learn how to convert results into papers, how to publish them and how to make sense of scientific publications. This is a very useful professional skill in a data-driven society. I can also help you make better-informed life decisions. This is not the same as Undergraduate Research BIOL 197, where you run experiments in one of our professors' labs. But it can be taken in preparation for Undergraduate Research or as a complement to it.

Each class will be 45-min long and it will happen once a week. On most days we will start with a 10-15 min lecture-style introduction to a topic and will follow it with a 30-min discussion of part of a text. For example, I may explain how ideas are tested in science and we then check and discuss how it was done in a published paper. Before every class you will be expected to read the part of the text that we will discuss in class and write a question or comment about it (to use during the discussion). After each class there will also be a mini quiz (just 2-3 multiple choice questions) for homework. Some classes may also include an exercise and we may occasionally receive the visit of an invited participant (professor or graduate student) who will tell us about their research. 

This course has a letter grade but there will be no exams or reports. The grade will instead be based on completion of the homework, attendance and participation.

Registration

Credits: 1

Pre-requisites: BIOL 51 or 61. Freshman are welcome!