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Module co-ordinator : Dr. A.D. Bates
The research project provides experience of the practical aspects of research, supervised by a member of the School of Biological Sciences or an associated Department. This module is assessed in terms of ‘Approach and Technique’, a written introductory essay, a final report and an oral presentation.
The Research Project aims to foster an appreciation of scientific research methodology and to provide an opportunity for you to gain first-hand experience of the practical, organisational, intellectual, communication and attitudinal skills associated with research in Molecular Biology.
On completion of their project work, you should have demonstrated your competence through your ability to:
Practical:
Organisational:
Intellectual:
Communication:
Attitude:
The project is the equivalent of six weeks full-time study variously distributed to fit in with other parts of the course. In practice, you are expected to spend an average of 15 hours per week between weeks 3 and 19 on your research. You should average no more than three days work per week in the laboratory. This will be strictly enforced.
During Week 1 you will be given a list of available project topics. The number of topics equalling the number of students on the course. The list gives a brief description of each project, and includes a table in which the order of your preference for the listed projects can be indicated. Supervisors may be consulted for further details of the project work. As far as possible, projects will be assigned according to student preferences. Project assignment will be completed during Week 2. You should then meet with your supervisor AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to obtain initial guidance in the preparation of your Preliminary Report, and to agree general working arrangements for when you start your Laboratory Work.
Mrs A.F. Chapman, the School Safety Co-ordinator, will give a lecture on safety and the use of radioisotopes and centrifuges, at 3.00 pm in Life Sciences Lecture Theatre 3 on Tue Sept. 26. Attendance is COMPULSORY.
You must be familiar with the Departmental Code of Practice on Safety and any other specific Codes of Practice which apply to your project before you start work. Permission to work outside normal hours i.e. after 5.30 or at weekends can only be granted by the Head of School, Professor A.B. Tomsett. If this is a regular and necessary part of your project, your supervisor will have obtained a swipe card for you. You must not borrow a swipe card from anyone, even your supervisor, in order to gain access to the building. If you are working out of hours, you must be accompanied by another person.
The Preliminary report (about 1500 words plus figures and references) should take the form of a review of the literature in your research area, leading on to a statement of the aims of the project and a work plan. It will form the basis of the "Introduction" to your final project report. Normally, you should use the word processing software, available on the University and Departmental computer networks, to type your report. Guidance in the use of the computer network word processing facilities is given in Module BIOL424. Your preliminary report must be handed in to the MODULE CO-ORDINATOR (not to your project supervisor) by Friday of Week 7. It will be marked by your supervisor, and by a second assessor, and returned to you by the end of Week 12.
The ability to give an oral presentation of your work is important in many professional areas, not just science. Guidance on how to give an oral presentation will be given as part of the TACS course (Jan 24). On Feb 9 you will give a five-minute practice talk in the form of an introduction to your project. This will be based on your Preliminary report, but might contain a result from your work, if available. This talk will be assessed by two members of staff, in order to provide feedback, but the assessment will not contribute to the project mark. On March 29, you will give a longer presentation (10 min) on your project, which will be followed by questions. This talk will be assessed (see below).
Laboratory work should have begun by Week 5. Work should normally be carried out between 09.00 and 17.30 hours (but check these times with your supervisor, as they may vary between departments), Monday to Friday.
During Weeks 5-19, a substantial amount of the time should be spent on reading, planning your experiments and interpreting your results. Your supervisor will be glad to help you but remember that your project is part of your training, during which you should achieve increasing ability to plan and interpret experiments independently. Your assessors will seek evidence of your ability to think independently when they examine your project work.
You must finish your practical work in the laboratory by Friday of Week 19 (March 9).
A proper laboratory notebook must be kept throughout the project, and will be routinely inspected by your supervisor.
The laboratory notebook is the most important item produced by a scientist. Brilliantly designed experiments, conducted with the greatest skill and accuracy and producing results worthy of a Nobel prize are valueless if they are not accurately recorded in a well kept, authenticated, laboratory notebook. Moreover, the notebook should be readable and easily understood by a fellow scientist who could then repeat the experiments exactly and expect to obtain the same results as those originally recorded. (This should also ensure the author can understand the notebook a year or two later when preparing a report, thesis or paper!)
Keeping a good notebook is not merely an academic exercise for researchers in academic laboratories It is a vital requirement for scientists in all industrial, government and health services laboratories and many (if not most) employers will have set procedures for keeping notebooks. This is not only because they want reliable data but also to protect them against future enquiries or even litigation relating to patent claims, incorrect diagnosis, fraud etc.
An excellent and very readable book on this subject is ‘Writing the Laboratory Notebook’ by Howard M. Kanare, American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C. (1985). Although this is written from the USA perspective the major points and recommendations are mostly universally applicable.
The following recommendations should be followed in keeping your notebook for your Honours practical project:
2. The first page should give your personal information such as included in Example 1.
3. The next two pages should be reserved for the notebook index which should be filled in as the notebook entries are completed (Example 2).
4. Page 4 could be reserved for abbreviations which will be used in the notebook and it should be filled in as new abbreviations occur during the course of writing up work.
5. You can write on both sides of a page if you wish although some employers may prefer only the right hand page be used leaving the left hand one blank. Number all the pages consecutively in the top right corner (Example 3). It is recommended that as a safeguard in the event of possible legal problems every page should be used in sequence with no blank pages or spaces remaining. This requires that any blank page or space remaining at the bottom of a page is ‘crossed’ and signed and dated with the statement ‘No entry’. Pages should not be torn out or added - this can lead to doubts about the authenticity of entries. Deletions, corrections or additions should be initialled and dated by the author. If something needs to be added as an afterthought at a later date it should be entered with the date of writing and the statement ‘continued from…’ and then cross referenced on the appropriate page with the statement ‘related work or notes on pages…’ (see Example 3).
6. The date on which work is conducted should be entered near the outer margin so that it can then be easily found when quickly checking through for some particular entry - although if the index is kept up to date this should present no problem!
7. At the bottom of each page, the author of the notebook should sign and date the entry (Example 3). Many employers will also require that each page be signed and dated by a witness, usually a supervisor, as a further safeguard in the case of patentable work or protection in the event of litigation. In the university laboratory it is desirable that the notebook should be checked and signed on a weekly basis by the student’s supervisor.
8. The style used for writing up the notebook will be a personal choice but the aims are clarity, accuracy and completeness. Usually each experiment can be divided into (a) background, (b) experimental plan, (c) description of how work is done, (d) record of all results, (e) analysis of results and, (f) conclusion. Using these or similar headings in the notebook will help ensure that all are given adequate coverage. If the experimental plan includes a detailed description of a method, then a note of any specific safety hazards and precautions should be made. When recording results, enter everything directly into the notebook when it happens. Do not keep notes on scraps of paper to write up later - the notes get confused or lost and ‘spare’ time is always elusive and there is the temptation to leave it until tomorrow with the result that it may never be done properly.
Writing the notebook should be an integral and methodical part of the experiments, just as important as switching on the electrophoresis run or taking readings from a spectrophotometer. Remember to make a note of supplier, catalogue number and batch number of chemicals used in experiments. In order to keep track of samples and data develop a code system that you (and others!) can easily understand. Wherever possible, data should be presented in tabulated form. Hard copy results produced by instruments (e.g. spectra, GLC traces, photographs, scintillation counter results) should carry the appropriate descriptions, dates and codes and be stuck into the notebook, or, if too bulky, filed (e.g. in ring binder) so that they can be easily located, identified and interpreted. You should discuss with your supervisor at the start of the project how to present your notebook and he/she will have many helpful suggestions.
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