J. GUIDELINES FOR RESEARCH PAPER

This assignment is, in essence, a short research paper. You are required to review a currently active area in cell biology, identify and phrase an important unanswered question in that topic and propose a series of experiments designed to answer that question. The experiments you describe in your paper should be designed by YOURSELF and should aim to help clarify or further improve our conceptual understanding of the subject. You will receive no credit for simply making a precis of work or experiments done by others. 

Take care in selecting your subject matter. To assist you in this assignment a list of suitable journals on molecular cell biology that are currently available in the university library will be provided. However, your choice of subject matter does not necessarily have to be restricted to articles within these journals. You should follow the six steps outlined below to complete this assignment. 

STEP 1: INITIAL ABSTRACT. 

Once you have decided upon your topic, write a short abstract of the proposed study. The abstract should consist of a title and a 50-100 word synopsis of your proposed study. It should introduce the subject matter and inform the reader of the current status of the field. It should also introduce the major issues that remain unanswered in the field and serve to forward the particular question that you have chosen to tackle. The relevance of your question to the field should be made clear.
These abstracts, which are due by February 17th, will provide me with an opportunity to assess whether the subject materials you have chosen are appropriate for the assignment. To help me assess suitability, you should include with your abstract a Xerox copy of a key manuscript that will be central to the theme of your paper. I will return the abstracts and the Xeroxed article, with comments, by March 1st. It is important that you wait for this feedback before you embark on the project. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries concerning my initial comments. 

STEP 2: LITERATURE SEARCH AND COLLATION. 

Upon approval of your topic matter, you should select a number of current articles pertinent to the topic (10-15 primary articles). Various databases and the Internet are available in the Library for you to search the literature and collate a reference base. You should consult the University Reference Librarian if you have problems using these data bases. Occasionally, the Library runs student workshops on how to use search engines and reference databases. Ask the librarian if any are being offered. 

STEP 3: FIRST DRAFT OF RESEARCH PAPER. 

After having read the articles, you should prepare the first draft of your research paper. A suggested outline for your paper is provided below; 

1) Abstract (200 word precis of your research paper) 

2) Introduction (reviewing the current literature on the subject that you have chosen) 

3) Statement of the question and the hypothesis to be tested (a brief presentation of the question and its relevance to the field) 

4) Experimental design (description of proposed experiments and their purpose. The experiments should provide a general research strategy for
answering the question posed in section 3 [see above]. These experiments should provide a rational approach for examining the question and should
be described at a conceptual level rather than in great detail. 

5) Anticipated results and conclusions draw from the proposed study (you should include inferences drawn from both negative and positive findings)

6) Future work (briefly discuss any future experiments which may arise from the proposed research) 

7) References (use conventional methods of citation to list the various sources of information referred to in the text of your manuscript; i.e. author,
title, journal etc.) 

The first draft of your paper is due the March 24th. Your assignment must be typed and should not exceed 10 pages of doubly spaced text when complete. Please supply two copies. 

It is critical that you submit your manuscript on time since it has to be critiqued by a colleague in class and the exchange of assignments has to be synchronous. Students handing in their assignments late will forfeit 10% of the final mark of the research paper/day. It is therefore in your interest to meet this deadline. 

STEP 4: CRITIQUE OF RESEARCH PAPER. 

One of two copies of your paper will be forwarded to a fellow student for critical peer review. I will attempt to match up the topics so that you are critiquing a paper comparable to your own. This critique will provide everyone with an opportunity to evaluate another paper and to have feedback on their own paper prior to submitting their final version on May 12th. Your first draft of the paper will not be graded but you will be graded on the thoughtfulness and rigor of your critique on your colleagues paper. Please submit your critique and hand back the copy of your colleagues paper by April 5th. 

STEP 5: FINAL VERSION OF PAPER. 

The final version of paper should be handed to me in class on the May 12th. It should be double spaced and must not exceed 10 pages in length. Diagrams, photographs, graphs and tables are strongly encouraged if they help to exemplify, simplify or clarify particular aspects of the project. 

Some critical deadlines relating to the research paper to which you should pay particular attention to are listed below.: 

2/17: Title and abstract of Research topic due 

3/24: First draft of research paper due 

4/5: Critique of first draft due 

5/12: Final version of research paper due. 

Please be sure to take advantage of my office hours if you have questions concerning the research paper or any other aspect of the course.