R. Siegel

| Calendar | Assignments | Thesis topics |

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Human Biology
Summer Honors College
Assignments

September, 1999
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

30

31

1

2

+ Revised Thesis Title
+ List of Key Words
+ List at least 3 questions you hope to answer. (Why are these questions important?)

3


+ Peruse Thesis
+ Web search and list of pertinent URLs
+ Outside resource - identify and try to contact

6

7

8

+ Introduction - with scientific and policy implications
+ Bibliographic computer search
+ Bibliography #1

9

+ Methods section (How do you plan to find the answers?) Include section headings

10

+ Expected results (What do you expect to find?)
With graphs, tables, and/or figures

13

14

+ tba

15

+ Oral presentations
Critiques of oral presentations

16

+ Oral presentations
Critiques of oral presentations

17

+ Revised background section with revised bibliography
+ Timeline for completion of project

20

21

22

23

24

* All assignments are due to be turned in on the day they are listed on the calendar.
* Some assignments are linked to additional instructions.
+ Assignments to be peer-reviewed and discussed the next day at lunch.
+ Additional assignments


Oral Presentations

Summer Honors College Presentations

I hope to give you some guidelines without being too rigid.
Some of you have invited your advisors.  That will strongly influence what
you say.  The rest of you should either invite your advisors or pretend
they are there.

In short, your talk should demonstrate your command of your topic.

It should include all the sections we have talked about:
 Introduction and rationale (including perhaps why you chose this topic)
 Background and what has been done in the field
 How you obtained or intend to obtain your data
 What you expect to find
 How you intend to analyze your data
 What your findings mean if they come out as predicted.
 What are the short-comings of the research

I also think you should use the audience as a resource for brainstorming
difficult issues.
 e.g. How can I control for X?
 How can I get around the problem of Y?
 Can you think of any other interpretations of Z?
In order to do this, you must very carefully set the scene (as described above) so the audience has a good understanding of the research paradigm.

Now, if you want to diverge from this format, that is fine, but make sure you use this opportunity to your best advantage.

Your talk should run no more than 10 minutes.
Bear in mind that this 10 minute time limit will be rigidly enforced
when the actual honors symposium rolls around next spring. 
We will also allow a more lengthy discussion than you will get in spring.

For those of you who are still unclear concerning your topic, I believe this opportunity will still be extremely valuable in clarifying what you hope to accomplish with your senior honors project.

Please let me know if you have further questions.

P.S. - As an experiment, can you please email me if you see this message. Thanks.

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Last modified: September 10, 1999