Journal Club Presentation
Rubric for Biology 4780 Journal Club Presentation
Project Goals and Learning Objectives: As a group, students will select a recent article in cancer research through a PubMed literature search. Students will practice dissecting a scientific journal paper so that they can articulately present the overall study goals, results, and conclusions to their peers in a Power Point format. Students will gain practice working as a group to put together a cohesive presentation. Students will then choose two other presentations to watch and take notes on to prepare for associated questions on the final exam. Thus, students will become knowledgeable of three recent studies in the cancer field, will practice working in a group, and will gain experience preparing and presenting a formal presentation.
Details:
Article must be approved by Dr. Bradford on or before September 29th
Presentation must be uploaded to D2L on or before November 10th
Paper Approval Requirements:
Article deals with an aspect of cancer research and is published in a peer review journal
Article has at least 4 (dense) figures
Article was published within the last 3 years
Full article is easily obtained on PubMed
Presentation Details:
All of the following must be included in the Power Point presentation in sufficient detail for the chosen article:
1. Title/author slide
2. Introduction/Background – has enough detail that peers can understand the study
3. Purpose/Hypothesis/Objectives
4. Materials and Methods – keep detailed explanations to novel/highly technical methods. You do not need a separate Materials and Methods section. It is usually better to incorporate a short discussion of methods while discussing experimental data/results.
5. Results – data and any needed methods should be discussed in enough detail that your undergraduate peers can understand. You may not have time to discuss all of the data in the paper and you may choose to incorporate key supplemental data. Include what you think is most necessary. The presenter should ‘walk’ the listener through the data – using a pointer within Power Point helps with this.
6. Conclusions/Discussion – what are the next steps in the authors’ study? Do you agree with the authors’ conclusions? If not, what else should they have done? How does this study play into the larger context of the field?
All group members must present an equal amount of time/detail. Each group member should explain an equal amount of data as well. Each slide should be made by the presenter of that slide (please put your name in the lower right hand corner of the slide).
Your presentation should fall in the range of 30-45 min in length. Use social distancing when making this presentation – you can create and chat through your own Teams channel etc.
It should be very obvious during the presentation that all group members are very comfortable with the material. Presenters should thoroughly explain the material and keep a good pace. It should not sound like you are reading off of note cards. Good transitions between speakers will be needed for this presentation format.
Grading:
Title/author slide _____ /1 (must include group member names)
Introduction/Background _____ /5
Purpose/Hypothesis/Objectives _____ /2
Materials and Methods _____ /5
Results (with any needed methods) _____ /12
Conclusions/Discussion _____ /5
All group members presented an equal amount of time/detail. Each group member should explain an equal amount of data ______/5
Presenters fully utilized time (30-45 min) ______/5
It is obvious to the professor that all group members are very comfortable with the material, which was thoroughly explained and at a good pace. ______/5
Overall quality of presentation is acceptable for a 4000 level class _____/5
Article was approved by Dr. Bradford on or before September 29th _____ (-2 points for each day late)
Presentation was uploaded to D2L on or before November 10th _____ (-5 points for each day late)
Total points: _________/50
