The first half of the semester will wrap up with a symposium that brings together the efforts of both sections of Biol 105. In it you will share ideas with other like-minded individuals concerning the role that biotechnology may play in expanding the choices of tobacco farmers. Each person (or, optionally, group of two) will present a poster based on a biological research paper. The goal of the poster should be to present the results and implications of a single experiment, one that you can connect to the transformation of tobacco farming

Feb 26, Mar 1	Individual meetings to discuss posters. Sign up! Bring the article you have chosen and a strategy for the poster.
Mar 1	Submit (preferably by e-mail) the title of your poster
Mar 3	1st UR Symposium on Transgenic Tobacco, 2:40, Gottwald 2nd floor hallway. See map outside S-202 for your assigned location.
Mar 5	Meeting report due

* References from a review

Find a topic of interest in the Timko & Cahoon review you were given (or another pertinent review). Look up some relevant references at the back of the review.

* Search science indices

Biological Abstracts, General Science Index, and others are available from the library web page

* Make sure: research paper, not a review

Recognize the paper as a research article by its description of actual experimental results and the methods used to obtain them.

 

* Broad scientific question

Begin with a statement of a broad, easily understood scientific question that you can relate somehow to tobacco farming

* Question addressed by experiment

Connect the broad question to the question that you addressed by experiment

* Experimental strategy

Describe one experimental strategy used to approach the question

* Experimental data

Present data from one experiment, in a form that is comprehensible by itself. You may have to redraw a figure or edit a table from the paper.

* Conclusions

Draw conclusions from the findings, and relate them to the larger issue with which the poster began

 

* Lists and short phrases

Don't write sentences! Instead, present lists of short phrases. You will supply the sentences when you present the poster.

* Hierarchical structure

Organize your poster as short, easily digestible chunks, using headings and subheadings.

* Stand-alone data

Take great care in presenting your data. Make sure that it can be understood visually and can stand on its own as much as possible.

* Big fonts

Make sure that everything on your poster can be read comfortably from a distance of ~3 feet.

Think of the poster as a series of slides that you will present in an oral presentation. Someone who is listening to your patter has no brain left to read complicated sentences or decipher baroque graphs.

* Don't bite off too much

You are not asked to present an entire paper but rather a single experiment. If you understand 10% of the paper, build on that 10% and let most of the rest go.

* Don't quit too early

You are asked to follow a single question through from beginning to end. Why was the question asked? How does it relate to bigger issues? How was the question experimentally addressed? What was the answer? You are fully capable of understanding any experiment you are likely to encounter, given enough fortitude and given enough help. We'll supply the help. Don't be afraid to set up an appointment with any of us (Brad, Jeff, Sylvie, Margie) at any time.

· Don't start too late

You can understand anything you need to understand,… but it takes time. All-nighters do not work for this kind of thing.

 

* You will be assigned some posters to review, you'll have free choice as well

* For each poster you review, relate:

* Don't write too much, but write what needs to be written