BIOL4960H: Thesis Writing in the Biological Sciences: Developing the Literature Review

In the Fall semester of the two-semester capstone thesis support course, CBS honors students will develop and refine the literature review introduction component of the honors thesis. The course will focus on conceptualizing the gap in knowledge, drafting the literature review, and revising in response to peer and outside reader feedback. We will use the literature to unpack the conventions of authentic scientific writing so that students can begin to draft other sections of their thesis (methods, results narrative, publication ready figures, legends) By the end of the term, students will have developed and peer-workshopped at least one draft module of each data-related thesis section and they will have a revised version of the thesis introduction/literature review to deliver to their faculty research mentor for feedback before the start of the Spring term. Students should be in a research lab and have started their research project before the start of the semester. Students who have not yet fulfilled an upper division WI course in the biological sciences should wait until the Spring (final) semester to register for their major's version of WI directed research or WI directed studies (for example, MicB 4794W or 4793W). The completed and approved thesis will count for the WI.

View on University Catalog