Elective Courses
MGE785: GENETICS JOURNAL CLUB (Fall 2009)
Graduate students and faculty meet weekly in the Finley Conference Center to discuss recent scientific publications that pertain to the broad area of Genetics. While meetings of journal club may extend beyond the academic year, students enrolled in MGE785 can earn 1 credit on a pass/fail basis in both the fall and spring semesters. The general goals of the course for graduate students are as follows:
- To learn and refine the ability to critically read a scientific paper.
- To develop and refine effective scientific presentation skills.
- To promote long term familiarity with the scientific literature.
An important aspect of the course is to encourage interaction between students and faculty. There will be two ~30 min (including questions and discussion) student presentations per session. Students will work with an assigned faculty mentor, who will define a specific topic for the presentation. After reviewing the recent literature, students should consult with the faculty mentor to choose an appropriate research article for presentation. The mentor will also be available for assistance during preparation of the presentation.
Once the article has been chosen and verified, the student should also notify the MGE785 Course Master (Dr. Dan Sharer) one week prior to the presentation date and provide a .pdf file that can be distributed to other students and faculty.
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Suggested format for the 20 – 25 minute presentation:
Introduction (~5 minutes): Should provide useful background information which will introduce the research topic to the entire audience. In general, try to transition from a general overview to more specific information directly relevant to the research article. A good introduction should at least answer the following questions: What is the current state of research in this field? Why is this research important? What is the hypothesis that the researchers sought to prove or disprove? How is this relevant to genetics?
Research Article (~10 - 15 min): Discuss the major findings of the paper. Describe the data as presented in the tables and figures along with a discussion of the relevant methods used. Don’t dwell on minute details; focus on the major points of the paper and how they were determined. Comment on whether the methods used were adequate to address the hypothesis. Comment on the discussion - does the data support the conclusions reached? Are there any alternative explanations for the results obtained? What are the implications of the research?
Future Directions (~5 min): Based on the findings reported in the paper, predict and describe future research that will likely follow from the findings presented. If you disagree with the findings, describe experiments that will conclusively disprove the author’s interpretations. How would you proceed if you were the director of this research project? What experiments would you do to extend the results and to advance knowledge in this field?
The time remaining will be devoted to group discussion of the paper. All students are expected to have read the paper carefully prior to the presentation and should demonstrate this by actively participating in the discussion.
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Evaluation: All individuals attending the presentation should complete an evaluation form (provided) that should be returned to the course master at the conclusion of the meeting. Student grades (pass/fail) will be determined according to attendance, presentation, and class participation.
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