What is the time commitment required for this course?
This directed study course involves a student workload of a minimum of 45 hours work per credit (total workload for the entire semester). Some of this effort involves consultation with the faculty member who is directing the study and the remainder would be time spent by the student reading appropriate literature, completing lab experiments, collecting data, and writing/rewriting the summary report.

How does assigning a significant amount of writing serve the purpose of this course?
Students will have the opportunity to present the results of their research in the format of a scientific article. They will learn to survey the current literature in their area of research, organize data, use statistical analyses if appropriate, and effectively communicate the results of their experiments through construction of tables, graphs, and other figures. Also, students will draw conclusions from their data and use persuasive arguments to convince readers of their interpretations of the data.

What types of writing (e.g., research essays, formal lab reports, journaling) are likely to be assigned?
Students will be required to write a 10-15 page paper in the format of a scientific article. This paper will contain an introduction that surveys the current literature in the student's area of research. The materials and methods section will outline the techniques and approaches used in the research project, and the results section will present the experimental findings. The discussion section will analyze the data, present interpretations of the data, and compare the results with the experimental findings reported by others.

What types of instruction will students receive on the writing aspect of the assignments?
Students will receive general guidelines on writing a scientific paper that outlines the sections to be included. A recent published article in the student's research area will serve as a model. Throughout preparation of the initial drafts of the paper, the mentor will advise the student in data presentation (graphs, figures, etc.). The mentor will read the draft of the paper and comment on format, content and writing style. The student will then prepare a final version of the paper based on the mentor's comments.

How will the students' grades depend on their writing performance?
This course will be graded pass/fail. The final grade will be based on research performance and on successful completion of the paper.

A sample assignment handout for a paper that students will revise and resubmit after receiving feedback on the initial draft:
The writing assignment will involve the preparation of a 10-15 page paper that will be written in the format of a published scientific paper. The paper will include the following: a. Title b. Author c. Abstract (about 200 words) d. Introduction. The introduction will summarize the literature in the field related to the research topic. The student will survey the literature to find the appropriate journal articles to cite. e. Materials and Methods. This section will detail the techniques and approaches used in the experiments. f. Results. The results section will describe the data collected from the experiments that were carried out for the project. Frequently, tables, graphs or other illustrations will be used to summarize data or present the most critical experimental results. Each table or graphic will have a title and a legend or footnotes when needed to make the information self-explanatory. g. Discussion. The discussion section will present the interpretations of the results and will compare the results to other information that has been published in this field of research. h. Acknowledgements. The student will need to acknowledge any help received from other workers in the lab or from other sources. i. References. The journal articles, books, etc. that were cited as sources in the paper will be listed in this section.