Biology 681/691

By the end of the first semester, students will be able to:

1. Articulate a Biological Research Question and Hypothesis
   1. Critically evaluate and synthesize primary and secondary scientific literature relevant to their research topic.
   2. Develop a clear, focused, and testable biological research question and hypothesis grounded in current scientific literature.
2. Plan and Conduct a Research Project
   1. Carry out a biological research project based on an approved senior thesis proposal, including appropriate methodologies and data analysis strategies demonstrating proficiency in laboratory, field, or computational techniques.
   2. Identify and address challenges in the research process, modifying methods as needed while maintaining scientific rigor.
3. Maintain Accurate Research Records
   1. Document experimental procedures, observations, and data systematically in a research notebook or digital format.
4. Analyze and Interpret Data
   1. Begin analyzing collected data using methods, techniques, and tools appropriate to the project.
5. Communicate Research Progress
   1. Present preliminary findings and progress updates in written or oral formats to peers and faculty.
6. Demonstrate Professional Research Practices
   1. Adhere to ethical standards in data collection, analysis, authorship, and citation throughout the research and writing process.
   2.  Employ general lab safety standards.

Biology 682/692

By the end of the second semester, students will be able to:

1. Conduct a Research Project
   1. Carry out a biological research project based on an approved senior thesis proposal, including appropriate methodologies and data analysis strategies demonstrating proficiency in laboratory, field, or computational techniques.
2. Maintain Accurate Research Records
   1. Document experimental procedures, observations, and data systematically in a research notebook or digital format.
3. Analyze and Interpret Data
   1. Finalize data collection and conduct comprehensive analysis to address the original research question.
4. Communicate Research Progress
   1. Present progress updates and thesis drafts in written or oral formats to peers and faculty.
5. Write a Biological Thesis
   1. Produce a comprehensive and well-organized senior thesis that includes cover sheet, introduction and literature review, materials and methods, results, discussion and conclusions, and references.
6. Demonstrate Professional Research Practices
   1. Adhere to ethical standards in data collection, analysis, authorship, and citation throughout the research and writing process.
   2. Employ general lab safety standards.

A senior thesis or senior honors thesis proposal should be two to five double-spaced pages with 1 inch margins and 11-12pt font. The abstract and references are included in the 5-page limit and the proposal should follow disciplinary guidelines and use headers appropriate to the field. If you are uncertain about how to format your proposal, talk to your thesis advisor. All proposals should contain the following:

• An abstract of the proposed research (200 words or less, may be single-spaced) including research question(s). If a hypothesis has been developed, it should be included in the abstract.
• Introduction and literature review, detailing the originality and significance of the proposed project
• Methods section, describing plans for data collection and analysis
• Timeline for completion of project
• Conclusion/future directions
• References (may be single-spaced)

These guidelines are adapted from the Hilldale/Holstrom Application with permission from the Office of Undergraduate Academic Awards.

Students should register for Biology 681-682: Senior Honors Thesis or Biology 691-692: Senior Thesis when a thesis will be completed in a biological science department that does not have its own thesis courses. Go to Biology Major Resources for the Course Authorization Form.

The Senior Thesis or Senior Honors Thesis is a written work produced as the culmination of two or more semesters of research. A biology senior thesis or senior honors thesis is approximately 10-20 pages long. Students will submit an electronic copy of their thesis to their Biology Major advisor by the last day of classes or a later approved date. The senior thesis instructor (principal investigator) is responsible for submitting a final grade.

Cover Sheet. The thesis title, your name, your professor’s name, your professor’s department, the date, and your professor’s signature with the statement, “I have supervised this work, read this thesis and certify that it has my approval” should all be included on the cover sheet.

Introduction and Literature Review. This section is intended to provide a short introduction to the questions addressed in your thesis, including a review of the relevant literature. The literature review need not be extensive, but it should summarize the status of the field at the time the project was undertaken. This section should conclude with the research question(s) to be investigated and a clear, concise statement of the hypothesis to be tested for each research question.

Materials and Methods. In this section, the materials (usually biological and/or chemical) used in your experiments should be reported and all techniques should be described. If a technique has been used essentially as reported in the literature, you can reference it without further description, but you should note any significant modifications of the original report. Methods should be reported in sufficient detail to allow an interested colleague to reproduce the experiments, if desired.

Results. The purpose of this section is to describe your major experimental findings, which are usually summarized in the form of tables or figures. Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively, with each on a separate page. They may be inserted into the text as needed (usually as the page immediately following the text page on which a given table or figure is first mentioned) or collected together at the end of the thesis.

Discussion and Conclusions. This section is intended to provide a discussion, interpretation, and summary of your findings. The conclusions that can be drawn from the data should be stated clearly and defended concisely. It is often appropriate to discuss your results in light of the findings of other investigators, particularly if your conclusions appear to be in conflict with those of others.

References. All references cited in the text should be collected together in a bibliographic listing at the end of the thesis. You should use a consistent format for all references. References may be cited in the text by number (in parentheses or as superscripts) and listed here in order of citation. Alternatively, you can cite in references by name and list them alphabetically here. In the latter case, papers with one or two authors are usually cited in the text by name(s) and year (i.e., Smith and Asen, 2012), whereas papers with three or more authors are usually cited as the first author et al. with the year (i.e., Smith et al., 1999).

Other Sections. It is helpful to include a short (one-page) abstract or summary and a table of contents at the beginning of your thesis. You may also wish to include a page of acknowledgements to express your appreciation to those who were especially helpful to you in your work.

Appendices. Experimental details or findings that are only tangentially relevant to the thesis may be included as appendices, if it seems desirable to preserve a record of the information.