Element 1: Essay and Article (50%)

Summative Assessment

Element 1

Students will submit a 1,500 word essay comparing a key process of prokaryotic to eukaryotic cell biology. In addition, students should also produce a 500 word article summarising a key area relating to the essay title for a non-specialist audience. The submission of the Essay and Article should occur as a single Microsoft Word document.

Essay Title: Genes & Genomes in Prokaryotes & Eukaryotes

Deadline: 4th February 2013

Assessment 1:

Learning Outcomes

The essay comparing a key process of prokaryotic to eukaryotic cell biology will assess a student’s ability to demonstrate their knowledge of key cellular processes (LO1), advances in the theoretical and practical aspects of the discipline (LO6), evolution of these systems (LO3) and their ability to utilise the scientific literature (LO4). Both the essay and the article will be assessed on the student’s ability to produce an informed debate and communicate to a specialist and non-specialist audience

(LO5 & 8). (Learning Outcomes Assessed 1, 3, 4, 5 & 6, 8).

Article Guidelines

Write a 500 word article summarising a specific area relating to the Genes & Genomes in Prokaryotes & Eukaryotes. The article does not have to focus on the topics covered in your essay, but does need to focus on a topic or issue which would be of interest to the general public.

The article should be written in a style appropriate for a broadsheet newspaper (e.g. The Guardian or the Times), and hence a level at which a well educated person could understand. However, the article should be directed to lay individuals (i.e. individuals with no high level knowledge in a

scientific discipline) and therefore should endeavour to explain concepts fully and not be over reliant on technical terms. Consider using points of interest, such as the identity of the researchers, the locations the work is taking place and direct quotations, to engage the reader. You should

ensure the article is accompanied by a title which will be appealing and eye catching for the general public. Citations and references are not required, since the article is not a piece of academic writing.

Essay Structure

The essay must be written in clear and concise English, normally in the past tense, and should comprise:Title. The title should include topical keywords and allude to the interesting conclusions of the essay. A title that emphasizes the main conclusions, or poses a question, has more impact than one that just describes the nature of the study.

Summary. The essay must include a summary (abstract) of not more than 250 words. The summary must be clear and comprehensible in its own right. References should not be cited, and any abbreviations used must be defined. The summary should if possible introduce the subject in the first sentence and present the main conclusion in the last sentence: when someone is skimming

a block of text, the first and last sentences receive the most attention.

Introduction. You should provide a brief background to place your essay in the broader context of

microbiology as a whole. You should also provide an indication of the scope of the topics which will

be covered and the significance of these to the public.

Main Body of Text. The text should be divided into appropriate subheadings (unnumbered; the

term Main Body of Text should not be included as one of the subheadings)

Discussion. Should not be too long. Excessive discussion of few facts often gives an impression

of poor science. The discussion should provide a summary of the key findings. It may be helpful to

list the main conclusions at the end.

References. These should be academic books journal articles and reviews. Typically between 10-

15 references should be used.

Journal Articles & Reviews

It is a good idea to take a look at some of the journal articles & reviews published

in your discipline This will give you a feel for

• Writing style

• Referencing & Citation

• Presentation standards

• Layout

• Sections

• Figures/Tables

• Note you are mimicking the process not copying the content

Presentation of Tables & Figures

• In essays and literature based assignments tables and figures should not be exact reproductions of those which have already been published in the literature. You should attempt to compile tables and figures which draw on information present in multiple sources. As such figures should be selfgenerated using programmes such as Microsoft Powerpoint and imported into the Word document prior to submission.

• Tables and figures should be broadly comprehensible without reference to

the text. Both should be accompanied by a title and a legend if necessary. It is

not necessary to repeat detailed descriptions of methods. Table titles should

precede the table. The figure title should be placed below the figure.

• In tables the symbols * † ‡ § ¶ # should be used for footnotes, rather than

superscript letters or numbers. When results are expressed as percentages, the

absolute value(s) corresponding to 100% must be stated. Figures should be

referred to in text as Fig. 1(a) not FIG 1A, Figure 1(A), etc.; or as (Fig. 1a) not

(Figure 1A). Multipart figures should be labelled (a), (b), etc., not A, (A) or B,

(B)..

You are restricted to the use of one table

and one figure in the essay

Tables should be broadly comprehensible without reference to the text

Figures should be broadly comprehensible without reference to the text

Using Direct Quotes

• It is permissible to use direct quotes

• Direct quotes must be placed in quotation marks

• A citation and reference in the References must be provided.

• Direct quotes should not be used unnecessarily or over used– Over use of quotes shows you can identify key points but are not able to synthesise this information into a coherent

argument

• “The future of humanity and microbes likely will unfold as

episodes of a suspense thriller that could be titled Our Wits

Versus Their Genes” (Lederberg, 2000).

• Lederberg, J. (2000) Infectious history. Science 288, 287-293

Length Penalties

Written submissions should not exceed the maximum word limit (including the figure and table legends and any appendices, but not the summary or references) and/or more than the maximum

number of figures and tables.For submissions which exceed these limits, 5% will be deducted

for each breach of the conditions outlined below to reflect the monetary penalties placed on authors by scientific journals. The penalty will be 5% per 500 words or part thereof over maximum and 5% per figure or table over the maximum (You are restricted to the use of one table and one figure in the essay).

Penalties apply to both the essay and articlei.e. an essay of 1501 words and an article of 501 words will have 10% deducted

Scientific Essay Guidelines

References. These should be academic books journal articles and reviews. Typically between 10-15 references should be used. All sources of information must be referenced and cited according to the

School of Science & Engineering guidance provided in the appendix of the module handbook or at the following site

Biological Species Names. These should be italicised and presented in

full at first mention (i.e. Escherichia coli) and abbreviated according to

scientific convention (i.e. E. coli; see Module Handbook Appendix for

further details).

Abbreviations, Units & other details: Abbreviations should be defined at

first mention in both the summary and main text (see Module Handbook

Appendix for further details).

Recommended & Preferred sources:

Use web sites sparingly and generally focus on publically funded organisations.

Do not use or cite lecture notes. Find an alternative

Journals

Annual Reviews of

Microbiology*

Nature

Trends in Microbiology*

Current Opinion in

Microbiology*

Microbiology & Molecular

Biology Reviews*

FEMS Microbiological

Reviews*

*Journals available electronically

Health Protection Agency

( )

World Health Organisation

(

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(

National Institute for Allergy and Infectious

Diseases (

Genomes Online (

The National Center for Biotechnology

Information

Society for General Microbiology

Microbe World

The Process

• Plan a structure & key

themes (mind map)

• Identify multiple sources

• Make notes & record sources

• Align notes with themes

• Produce a draft on the basis

of your notes

• Review & Edit

• Submit

• Start Early

• Use a thesaurus

• Use a biology dictionary

• Use tools such as

RefWorks (see Library

Workshops)

• Use Turnitin

Genes, Genomes & Genomics

• Gene

– The basic unit of inheritance, by which hereditary characteristics

are transmitted from parent to offspring. At the molecular level a

single gene consists of DNA which exerts its influence on the

organism’s form & function by encoding & directing the synthesis

of a protein, tRNA, rRNA or other structural RNA.

• Genome

– The complete DNA sequence of an organism, consisting of gene encoding DNA sequences & non-encoding DNA sequences

• Genomics

– Discipline of sequencing, mapping, analyzing, and comparing

Genomes

Task

• Each team should take 5 minutes to jot down points

of comparison in relation to the themes

– Genome Location

– Genome Architecture

– Genome Size

– Gene Number

– Gene Structure

– Gene Expression

• Each team should present their comparisons to the

tutorial group