30% of the final grade will be
based upon laboratory performance, which will be assessed by
participation, success and the
lab report.
20% of your grade will be
based upon two papers. The first paper is
due on October 16. It
will be an exposition of
Choi
SK, Yoon SR, Calabrese P, Arnheim N. A germ-line-selective advantage
rather than an increased mutation rate can explain some unexpectedly
common human disease mutations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Jul
22;105(29):10143-8.,
which we will
discuss in class well before the paper is due. Assume that you
are
trying to
explain the article to a genetics classmate.
In other words assume the reader has the same level of background as
you. The second paper,
due on
December 18, will be an exposition of an original
research
article that you chose. Again, assume that you are trying to
explain it to a genetics classmate.
You can pick a paper from any source you like, but check out the
article you choose
with me before beginning to write - hand the
original
article in with your paper.
You have on-line
access to
Trends
in Genetics, Trends
in
Biochemical Sciences and
Current
Opinion in Genetics & Development.
In addition, the library has a print subscription to Annual Review of
Genetics and the department has
Nature Reviews
Genetics
in my office
. You
can browse these
periodicals, which are full of nice reviews on genetic topics.
They are a good place to start when
looking
for an interesting and significant research article because they will
have
references for such articles and they will place the articles in a
broader scientific context.
You must
however, write your paper on a
research article with real data
not a review article. Your
charge is to
convince me that you understand the article. And yes, spelling and
grammar
count.
The final 10% of your grade will be
based on various class assigments you will be given over the course of
the semester.