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Research Skills - BIO00066M

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  • Department: Biology
  • Module co-ordinator: Dr. Angela Hodge
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: M
  • Academic year of delivery: 2023-24

Module summary

In this module students will engage actively with the contemporary literature in an area of bioscience that supports their research project. This will involve two complementary activities: a ‘journal club’ presentation and a short literature review to highlight the state of the art of their scientific project in order to justify the research aims/hypotheses to be tested. Students will be assigned an academic mentor depending on their project topic who will facilitate discussions on critical analysis of published literature while the student’s project director will lend support for the project justification activity.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 1 2023-24

Module aims

The aim of the module is to enable students to engage actively with the contemporary literature in an area of bioscience that supports the research project work they are conducting. This will involve two complementary activities:

  • Students will develop the skills to comprehend, interpret and evaluate scientific studies so they are able to deliver a ‘journal club’ presentation that summarises and critiques a research publication.

  • Students will develop writing skills to concisely review the literature in a scientific topic relating to their research project.

Module learning outcomes

Students will have in-depth knowledge and understanding of the background literature relating to the topic underpinning the research project they are undertaking.

Academic and graduate skills

Students will be able to:

  • Critically evaluate peer-reviewed research literature.

  • Synthesise an argument that draws on several (potentially contradicting) sources.

  • Communicate scientific research via written and oral presentations.

  • Respond to questions and/or defend a point of view relating to the oral presentation of a scientific study.

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Literature Review		 N/A 60
Oral presentation/seminar/exam
Journal Club		 N/A 40

Special assessment rules

None

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Literature Review		 N/A 60
Oral presentation/seminar/exam
Journal Club		 N/A 40

Module feedback

Marks for all summative assessments will be made available to you and your supervisor via e:vision. Feedback will be either individual or cohort-level, depending on the assessment format. You should take the opportunity to discuss your marks and feedback with your supervisor.

For exam-style summative assessment, model answers will be provided for all questions along with cohort-level feedback indicating how students answered questions in general. Marks achieved per question will be added to your script.

For coursework assessments (eg. reports or essays) you will receive individual feedback on your work. This will usually be in the form of a feedback sheet that will include suggestions for further improvement.

During the teaching of the module you will receive formative feedback that may be at a whole class or individual level. Such feedback may include: model answers and discussion of workshop questions, summaries of performance in practicals, VLE-based quizzes, individual spoken comments during workshops, individual written comments on formative work.

Indicative reading

N/A


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.