BIO 487LEC—Honors Research Methods

While much of research is learning techniques specific to your own individual project, all lab students need to understand how to comprehend and communicate effectively (and with confidence!) about the primary literature. This course, thus, has three sections: understanding research, critiquing research, and presenting research. Through assignments in each section, students should gain confidence working with the primary literature that will allow them to better integrate their own novel research into a scientific context. In addition to gaining facility with reading and writing about primary research, students should become comfortable critiquing published work, as well as the efforts of themselves and their peers. Bio 487 aims to cover these goals through a mixture of lecture, in-class assignments, and peer-review of work. In a weekly guest lecture series (during class) students will have access to working scientists who will help them understand the breadth of new biological research being done here at UB, as well as the paths these scientists have taken to get to different points in their careers. In all, the course should help students immerse themselves fully in the world of laboratory research so that they come out ready to be confident members of a laboratory team.