Graduating with Departmental Honors in

Biology October 8, 2008

Introductions

  Angela Lee, PhD   angelee@stanford.edu   650-723-3767   Office hours (Gilbert Rm

118)   Mon-Fri 1-4 pm

  Tim Meier, SJ, PhD   http://

cptdrfrtim.blogspot.com/

  Jennifer Mason, MA Ed

  Prospective Honors Graduates

Important Dates for Spring ‘09 Graduates

  SURPS Symposium Oct. 9 Francis Arrillaga Center

3:00-5:45

  Honors petitions due Oct. 27

  Summer Research Papers due Nov. 21

  Admission to the Honors Program

beginning of winter

• Applications for oral presentations due April 6

• Polished drafts due to readers May 1

• Firestone nominations due May 1

• Honors Theses due May 15

• Honors Posters due May 28

• Achauer Honors Symposium May 29

Honors Program Requirements (1)

  GPA calculation – for graduation

  10 units of Bio 199(X), Directed Research

  An approved Honors project proposal   Read and approved by at least 2 AC members   1 AC member must be in Biology   Signed by Departmental Academic Advisor

Honors Program Requirements (2)

  Submission of 2 hard copies of the Honors thesis   Same reader requirements as proposal   A soft copy of the abstract and thesis on CD

  Presentation at Achauer Honors Symposium   Either poster or oral/platform presentation

  The closer you are to your sponsor, the better able they can nominate you for a talk. (A talk can lead to an award $$)

  Oral presentations should be rehearsed at least twice at lab meeting and during a practice session with the Undergraduate Research Coordinator.

  Attendance at Achauer Honors Symposium oral presentation (and in front of your own poster)

Petition

  http://www.stanford.edu/dept/biology/biohonors/info/petition.pdf

  Submit at least 2 quarters before graduation   Spring 09 graduates, petitions due Oct. 27   Autumn 09 graduates, due Feb. 2, 2009   Winter 10 graduates, due April 27, 2009

  Writing workshop - Hume Writing Center   http://hwc.stanford.edu/

GPA Calculation

1. All biology core courses (Bio 41, 42, 43)

2. All biology courses 100-level or above

3. All required Foundational Breadth courses A.  Chem, math, physics B.  Foundational breadth courses in math, statistics, or computer science

(Bio 141, Math 51, Psych 10, Stats 60, CS 106A or X)

4. All approved out-of-Department electives 100-level or above http://www.stanford.edu/dept/biology/student_resources/out_of_dept_electives.pdf

  Courses that cannot be used to calculate your biology GPA   Research courses (198, 175H, 199, 300)   Teaching courses (Biology 290, 291)   Lab courses taken S/NC

Project Proposal (1)   Minimum 5-6 pages, not including refs, double-spaced

  Quality of your final thesis   Title   Objective

  What question is your research addressing?

  Introduction   Referenced

  What’s the significance of your research?

Project Proposal (2)   Materials and Methods.

  Describe the experimental design

  How will this design allow you to answer your research question?

  Detailed enough to be reproducible, but not so detailed as to become a lab manual.

  Preliminary/Anticipated Results.   What do you expect?

  How will you interpret your data?   Your role – design, implementation, etc.

  References

The Honors Thesis

  http://www.stanford.edu/dept/biology/biohonors/info/thesis.pdf

  For spring 09 grads, polished draft due May 1 to Sponsor & 2nd Reader   Even earlier if you want to nominated for a Firestone award

  Final version due by 4 PM May 15 at Undergraduate Research Coordinator’s office   2 hard copies (3 if Jasper Ridge)

  Bound flat   Original signatures

  1 hard copy of abstract   CD with thesis and abstract   Extra copies are a good idea (Firestone readers, research sponsor, parents

are other potential recipients)

  Minimum 12 pages, not including figures and references

Thesis Sections (1) A.  Preliminaries

1.  Title page – thesis title, author, date

THESIS TITLE

An Honors Thesis Submitted to the Department of Biology in partial fulfillment of the Honors Program

STANFORD UNIVERSITY by

AUTHOR

DATE (submitted)

Thesis Sections (2) A.   Preliminaries

2.   Signature Page

THESIS TITLE By

AUTHOR Approved for submittal to the Department of Biology for

consideration of granting graduation with honors:

Research Sponsor (typed name) (signature) Date ______

2nd Reader (typed named) (signature) Date ______

Thesis Sections (3) A.   Preliminaries

3.  Preface with acknowledgments (optional)

4.  Table of contents

5.  List of tables, illustrations and/or figures

B.   Text 1.  Abstract: one page summary 2.  Introduction: background, significance, and history 3.  Materials and Methods

Thesis Sections (4)

B.   Text 1.  Results (data presented in figures, charts, tables, or graphs

may be embedded within the text here or included as data appendices

2.  Discussion/Conclusions: interpretation of the results and relation of results to the context presented in the Introduction

C.  References 1.  Bibliography 2.  Data appendices (figures, tables); these may also be

embedded within the text.

Achauer Honors Symposium

  May 29, 2009 12:30-5:30 PM   Posters should be retrieved from the Undergraduate

Research Coordinator’s office and placed on available easels by 12:30.

  All grads are expected to attend, even if you will be graduating in the autumn or winter quarter.

  Dress is business casual   Be prepared to verbally “walk” people through your poster

  Remember, they may have no background in your area

Posters

  http://www.stanford.edu/dept/biology/biohonors/info/poster.pdf

  Due by 4 PM May 28, 2009 in Undergraduate Research Coordinator’s office

  Professionally printed on a (42” X 36”) sheet   UAR price, $25 (Sweet Hall)

  Contact the Undergraduate Research Coordinator if your lab can’t cover this and cost is an issue

  At least 5 working days needed for printing   http://ual.stanford.edu/Printables/documents/

SURPSPlotterPrintingGuidelines.pdf   Lina Yamaguchi, llama@stanford.edu

  Sections (each with a large heading)   Introduction   Results / Data / Figures “take home” message   Conclusions

48th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology Undergraduate

Student Program

Visualizing How Cellular Legos Build Railroads And Keep Chromosomes On Track

Eva Nogales, University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/HHMI

Saturday, December 13, 2008, 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Undergraduate posters & light refreshments 4:45 to 5:45 pm

Keynote Symposium, Cell Biology in the Genomic Era, by Francis S. Collins, at 6:00 pm

Moscone Center, Room 104 San Francisco, California

Further info: www.ascb.org

Online registration: https://www.ascb.org/ascbsec/student.cfm

Writing Hints (1) (based on Successful Scientific Writing by Matthews, Bowen, & Matthews)

  Organize!   Make your figures/tables   Gather relevant literature   Examine old proposals/papers/drafts   Think big picture

  Outline   Brainstorm different ways to present your results   Go from big picture through experiments back to big

picture   What have I learned?   How would I continue this project?

Writing Hints (2)

  Write a draft   Start with an easy section (M&M)   Write a verbal description of your experiments (Results)

  Active voice

  Logical flow (not necessarily chronological)

  Write a verbal description of your figures (Figure Legends)   Write the introduction

  Use your outline   Use your proposal

Writing Hints (3)

  Write the discussion   Remind readers of intro content   What do I think the results mean?   How do my results advance the field?   What are other explanations, and why is mine better?   Future experiments   Broad relevance to larger field/human disease, if pertinent

  Write a title   Interesting   Concise   Only makes claims you can support

Writing Hints (4)

  Write an abstract   Always do this last!   Simple, but accurate   At least one sentence of background   Clearly summarize your most important findings

  Edit, edit, and edit some more   Reorganize to make ideas flow better

  have someone unfamiliar with your project read it   Does the intro appropriately introduce the experiments?   M&M: If I had never done this, could I figure out how given this

explanation?   Do I mention and summarize all the figures in the text?   Does the discussion make realistic claims?

Writing Hints (5)

  Check for spelling, grammar, etc.   Concise and to the point   Leave plenty of time to have a friend and your mentor

read your draft!   You don’t have to look at it for a little while

  You get helpful comments