Collection-Based Research for Undergraduates
Expectations of Participants
1) Design and conduct of the research project
Working closely with a curator or faculty member, participants will formulate
a research question, a plan of study, and a detailed schedule of investigation.
Progress will be closely monitored by the sponsoring faculty or curator.
At the end of the first semester, an interim report, including preliminary
results and conclusions, must be presented to the review committee.
Students who wish to pursue a second semester of research should also submit
a letter stating such along with a revised schedule of research for the
Spring semester.
2) Discussion of projects with other participants
All participants will meet 3 to 4 times each semester with other participants
and the program director to discuss their projects in a relaxed and casual
atmosphere (with refreshments, etc). Occasional invited speakers
will present results of their collection-based research to the group.
These meetings will serve as a forum to discuss projects, to explore commonalities
of methods and/or problems encountered, and to build a sense of community
among those interested in collections-based research.
3) Final Presentation of Results
All participants will present results of their project in a joint poster
session near the end of the Spring semester and write a paper in standard
scientific format. The paper will include a description and justification
of the problem investigated, methods and materials used, including a list
of all collection specimens examined, results and analysis of data, and
a discussion of the implications of the results including their relevance
to published literature. Two copies of this paper (one to the faculty
sponsor and one to the program director) are due at the end of Spring semester.
Abstracts will be posted on the EEB web site.
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