Assignments

Written Assignment (Due Week #9)

Students will write a critical analysis of a research article of your choice. The article must be a biology-based study of mitochondria. The analysis should be four pages or less (double-spaced). The first paragraph should briefly summarize the background and major conclusions of the article. The subsequent paragraph will discuss the experimental design, describe the key experiment(s) and control experiment(s), and critically evaluate the results and discussion. Consider the following questions:

  • Do you agree with their experimental approach?
  • Do the data support the conclusions?
  • Are there additional experiments that would further test the conclusions of the article?

Lastly, discuss if/how the article contributes to this field of study.

Oral Presentation (Due Week #14)

Students will choose a research article to present from a list of papers provided by the instructor. Students will prepare a 15-20 minute presentation of the article using slides prepared with Microsoft PowerPoint or Keynote. Briefly present the necessary background from the introduction. Present the results by discussing the key experiments. Include your evaluation of how the experiments were conducted and point out the important controls. Discuss the conclusions as they relate to the data and the background. The following questions may be considered:

  • Do the data support the conclusions? Be critical and point out flaws in the paper.
  • How might you expand upon these findings if you were to conduct a follow-up investigation?

Students should be prepared to answer questions from other students and from the instructor during the presentation.