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SCH3244 DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
Lecturer: Andrew Woo

ASSIGNMENT[35%]:
1. Literature Review (25%)
2. Oral Presentation (10%)
Students Learn by Involvement in Unit Content
A literature review exercise forms part of this unit to develop students’ written and oral
communication and research skills. There are TWO PARTS to this assignment:
1. PART 1 Written literature review 25%
2. PART 2 Brief oral presentation 10%
PART 1: WRITTEN LITERATURE REVIEW
Students will be allocated a topic for review, and are required to research the topic, and
present an appropriately formatted review summarizing the current information available
regarding this topic. The review should be prepared in a format suitable for publication in
a scientific journal. This review is due for submission during your allocated laboratory
session in week 8 as a hard copy, and via Turnitin.
PART 2: ORAL PRESENTATION
Students are also required to prepare a brief presentation (5-7 minutes) summarizing the key
information presented in their literature review. The idea is to enable all students to have an
understanding of all the different genes/gene families that have been investigated by the
different students in their lab class. These presentations are worth 10% of your final mark,
and will be held during the laboratory sessions in weeks 11 and 12.
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THE ASSIGNMENTS ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE UNIT AND ARE
DESIGNED TO PREPARE YOU FOR YOUR FUTURE AND FOR EXAMS.
Why do we need to do this and what will you get out of it?
Student learning is greatly enhanced by research. When applying for a job in the near future,
you will be able to provide a summary of your research and laboratory and research skills.
You can give a copy of your paper to future employees. By doing your own research and
presentations you will develop your information sourcing and research skills, and enhance
your knowledge of genetics and developmental biology.
HOW TO DO IT:
 Week 2: Students are allocated genes to research
 Week 4: During your allocated laboratory session, you will be provided with a lesson on
scientific writing, and specific instruction as to how to prepare and present the literature
review article. Questions to consider to direct the planning of your review are presented
below in Table 1. Details regarding oral presentations will also be discussed during this
session.
 Weeks 2-8: Students perform a literature review of their gene of interest and hand in
the Literature review in week 8.
 Weeks 11 and 12: Students present a brief synopsis of their literature reviews to their
peers and lecturer/s.
TABLE 1:
Guidelines For Literature Review (max 1750 words – +/- 10%)
1. Describe the gene, discuss its position in the chromosome, detail any
special sequences or other features of the gene, describe gene homology
throughout phylogeny.
2. Describe the protein it encodes, any features of interest, conserved
domains, functional domains.
3. Describe the biochemical mechanism of action of the protein in relation
to development.
4. Describe the major sites of expression and action of the gene during
development.
5. Describe the effects of mutations of the gene or any diseases that arise as
a result of a gain or loss of the gene/protein.
6. Any further evidence that allows the audience to gain an understanding
of the vital importance of this gene in development and disease.
PRESENTATIONFORMAT:
 Electronic – eg. power point presentations.
 5-7 min presentation per student
 Plus a few minutes for questions if needed.
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STUDENTS WHO SUBMIT THEIR ESSAYS LATE WILL
BE PENALISED AND MARKS WILL BE DEDUCTED AT A
RATE OF 5% PER DAY.
Full written research paper will be assessed as follows:
TABLE 2:
Criteria for Assessing Literature Review Assignments
Criteria % Mark allocation
Evidence of Research
– use of texts, appropriate examples, own words
20%
Clear definition of topic
A clear understanding of concepts
20%
Logical development of argument based on what is in the
literature
20%
Written expression and ease of read
– spelling, vocabulary, grammar, paragraph structure
10%
Relevance to topic – (stick to topic) and brevity – (be brief) 10%
References
– appropriate in-text and end-of-text referencing using
endnote
10%
Presentation, figures, layout of text
A good presentation of graphs and figures
10%
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REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY:
• First it is necessary to ensure that you have sufficient research and critical appraisal
skills to pursue the research project.
• Students should research their chosen topic utilising quality, peer-reviewed journal
articles, and textbooks. Reference to internet sites is strongly discouraged. When using
internet sites (Wikipedia etc.) as a source of information, always refer/cite the original
author/publication as detailed on the web page. PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT
REFERENCES ARE CORRECT.
• USE ENDNOTE TO INSERT YOUR REFERENCES.
• Your in-text references should be name and year (eg Thompson et al., 2007) and end
of text references should be the full reference (eg: M. Thompson, F. Lovicu and M.
Ziman (2004) Neuroscience, 28: 243- 345).
• You should NOT include the information about when and where you downloaded
the paper! This information is not generally included in genetic journals!
• If internet sites were acceptable in other classes they are NOT acceptable as the
source of original references for this assignment.
• Should students require assistance with this part of the project, the choice of suitable
research material can be discussed with the lecturer so that students become proficient
at critical analysis of relevant, quality, published information.
• References are to be included in the oral and written presentations.
• Students are strongly encouraged to use EndNote program for referencing.
SUMMARY OF REFERENCES:
Text books, Journal articles. See Lists of books and journals on Blackboard, in your unit
outlines.
**** Suitable in-text and end-of-text referencing of literature material is
expected of students in the Literature Review. You must use original
references and formatting as found in scientific journals. ****
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WRITING A SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ARTICLE
FORMAT FOR THE PAPER
Scientific research articles provide a method for scientists to communicate with other scientists about the
results of their research. A standard format is used for these articles, in which the author presents the research
in an orderly, logical manner. This doesn’t necessarily reflect the order in which you did or thought about the
work. This format is:
TITLE
1. Make your title specific enough to describe the contents of the paper, but not so technical that only
specialists will understand. The title should be appropriate for the intended audience.
2. The title usually describes the subject matter of the article: Effect of Smoking on Academic
Performance”
3. Sometimes a title that summarizes the results is more effective: Students Who Smoke Get Lower
Grades”
AUTHORS
1. The person who did the work and wrote the paper is generally listed as the first author of a research paper.
2. For published articles, other people who made substantial contributions to the work are also listed as
authors. Ask your mentor’s permission before including his/her name as co-author.
ABSTRACT
1. An abstract, or summary, is published together with a research article, giving the reader a “preview” of
what’s to come. Such abstracts may also be published separately in bibliographical sources, such as Biological
Abstracts. They allow other scientists to quickly scan the large scientific literature, and decide which articles
they want to read in depth. The abstract should be a little less technical than the article itself; you don’t want to
dissuade your potential audience from reading your paper.
2. Your abstract should be one paragraph, of 100-250 words, which summarizes the purpose, methods, results
and conclusions of the paper.
3. It is not easy to include all this information in just a few words. Start by writing a summary that includes
whatever you think is important, and then gradually prune it down to size by removing unnecessary words,
while still retaining the necessary concepts.
3. Don’t use abbreviations or citations in the abstract. It should be able to stand alone without any footnotes.
INTRODUCTION
What question did you ask in your experiment? Why is it interesting? The introduction summarizes the
relevant literature so that the reader will understand why you were interested in the question you asked. One to
four paragraphs should be enough. End with a sentence explaining the specific question you asked in this
experiment.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
1. How did you answer this question? There should be enough information here to allow another scientist to
repeat your experiment. Look at other papers that have been published in your field to get some idea of what is
included in this section.
2. If you had a complicated protocol, it may helpful to include a diagram, table or flowchart to explain the
methods you used.
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3. Do not put results in this section. You may, however, include preliminary results that were used to design
the main experiment that you are reporting on. (“In a preliminary study, I observed the owls for one week, and
found that 73 % of their locomotor activity occurred during the night, and so I conducted all subsequent
experiments between 11 pm and 6 am.”)
4. Mention relevant ethical considerations. If you used human subjects, did they consent to participate? If you
used animals, what measures did you take to minimize pain?
RESULTS
1. This is where you present the results you’ve gotten. Use graphs and tables if appropriate, but also summarize
your main findings in the text. Do NOT discuss the results or speculate as to why something happened; that
goes in the Discussion.
2. You don’t necessarily have to include all the data you’ve gotten during the semester. This isn’t a diary.
3. Use appropriate methods of showing data. Don’t try to manipulate the data to make it look like you did more
than you actually did.
“The drug cured 1/3 of the infected mice, another 1/3 were not affected, and the third mouse got away.”
TABLES AND GRAPHS
1. If you present your data in a table or graph, include a title describing what’s in the table (“Enzyme activity at
various temperatures”, not “My results”.) For graphs, you should also label the x and y axes.
2. Don’t use a table or graph just to be “fancy”. If you can summarize the information in one sentence, then a
table or graph is not necessary.
DISCUSSION
1. Highlight the most significant results, but don’t just repeat what you’ve written in the Results section. How
do these results relate to the original question? Do the data support your hypothesis? Are your results
consistent with what other investigators have reported? If your results were unexpected, try to explain why. Is
there another way to interpret your results? What further research would be necessary to answer the questions
raised by your results? How do y our results fit into the big picture?
2. End with a one-sentence summary of your conclusion, emphasizing why it is relevant.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This section is optional. You can thank those who either helped with the experiments, or made other important
contributions, such as discussing the protocol, commenting on the manuscript, or buying you pizza.
REFERENCES (LITERATURE CITED)
There are several possible ways to organize this section. Here is one commonly used way:
1. In the text, cite the literature in the appropriate places:
Scarlet (1990) thought that the gene was present only in yeast, but it has since been identified in the platypus
(Indigo and Mauve, 1994) and wombat (Magenta, et al., 1995).
2. In the References section list citations in alphabetical order.
Indigo, A. C., and Mauve, B. E. 1994. Queer place for qwerty: gene isolation from the platypus. Science 275,
1213-1214.
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Magenta, S. T., Sepia, X., and Turquoise, U. 1995. Wombat genetics. In: Widiculous Wombats, Violet, Q., ed.
New York: Columbia University Press. p 123-145.
Scarlet, S.L. 1990. Isolation of qwerty gene from S. cerevisae. Journal of Unusual Results 36, 26-31.
EDIT YOUR PAPER!!!
“In my writing, I average about ten pages a day. Unfortunately, they’re all the same page.”
Michael Alley, The Craft of Scientific Writing
A major part of any writing assignment consists of re-writing.
Write accurately
1. Scientific writing must be accurate. Although writing instructors may tell you not to use the same
word twice in a sentence, it’s okay for scientific writing, which must be accurate. (A student who tried
not to repeat the word “hamster” produced this confusing sentence: “When I put the hamster in a cage
with the other animals, the little mammals began to play.”)
2. Make sure you say what you mean.
Instead of: The rats were injected with the drug. (sounds like a syringe was filled with drug
and ground-up rats and both were injected together)
Write: I injected the drug into the rat.
3. Be careful with commonly confused words:
Temperature has an effect on the reaction.
Temperature affects the reaction.
I used solutions in various concentrations. (The solutions were 5 mg/ml, 10 mg/ml, and 15 mg/ml)
I used solutions in varying concentrations. (The concentrations I used changed; sometimes they were 5 mg/ml,
other times they were 15 mg/ml.)
Less food (can’t count numbers of food)
Fewer animals (can count numbers of animals)
A large amount of food (can’t count them)
A large number of animals (can count them)
The erythrocytes, which are in the blood, contain hemoglobin.
The erythrocytes that are in the blood contain hemoglobin. (Wrong. This sentence implies that there are
erythrocytes elsewhere that don’t contain hemoglobin.)
Write clearly
1. Write at a level that’s appropriate for your audience.
“Like a pigeon, something to admire as long as it isn’t over your head.” Anonymous
2. Use the active voice. It’s clearer and more concise than the passive voice.
Instead of: An increased appetite was manifested by the rats and an increase in body weight was measured.
Write: The rats ate more and gained weight.
3. Remain objective.
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There are instances when it is appropriate to refer to yourself in the first person (We completed a series of
experiments….. ), but a literature review is not likely to be one of them. You did not do experiments to study
your gene of interest, you are reporting the work of others. Your job is to summarise the current knowledge on
your topic (you are not required to have an opinion or make critical comments).
SO, avoid first person references (I noticed, I analysed, etc. etc.).
Write: Following observations of …..
The results of the analyses indicated….
4. Avoid dangling participles.
“After incubating at 30 degrees C, we examined the petri plates.” (You must’ve been pretty warm in there.)
Write succinctly
1. Use verbs instead of abstract nouns
Instead of: take into consideration
Write: consider
2. Use strong verbs instead of “to be”
Instead of: The enzyme was found to be the active agent in catalyzing…
Write: The enzyme catalyzed…
3. Use concise terms.
Instead of: Write:
prior to before
due to the fact that because
in a considerable number of cases often
the vast majority of most
during the time that when
in close proximity to near
it has long been known that I’m too lazy to look up the
reference
4. Use short sentences. A sentence made of more than 40 words should probably be rewritten as two sentences.
“The conjunction ‘and’ commonly serves to indicate that the writer’s mind still functions even when no signs of
the phenomenon are noticeable.” Rudolf Virchow, 1928
Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation
1. Use a spellchecker, but be aware that they don’t catch all mistakes.
“When we consider the animal as a hole,…” Student’s paper
2. Your spellchecker may not recognize scientific terms. For the correct spelling, refer to an appropriate
dictionary.
3. Don’t, use, unnecessary, commas.
4. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.