I.       Scientific Method

         A.  The Approach to Scientific Investigation
             1.         Background literature and experience
             2.         Creating an hypothesis
             3.         Testing the hypothesis
             4.         Drawing conclusions
             5.         Revising the hypothesis

         B.  Experimental Biology
             1.         Typical approaches in the specific field of study
             2.         Standard methodologies in the specific field of study

II.      Finding the Literature

         A.  Types of sources
            1.         Popular sources
            2.         Review articles
            3.         Primary research sources

         B.  Constructing a Question
            1.         Summarizing prior information
            2.         Predictions
            3.         Choosing a topic

         C.  Choosing the article

III.    Reading Primary Literature

         A.  Abstract

         B.  Experimental Design

         C.  Methodology

         D.  Results

         E.  Conclusions

 

IV.    Completing the Project

         A. Summary

         B. Analysis

         C. Critique

         D. The next questions

         E. Revising the hypothesis

 

V.         Presentation Formats