The major component of the Biochemistry Honours year is the Research Project.

1.  Aim, Significance and Approach - The 'ASA' document
The supervisor will provide the overall approach and aim of the project and suggest the first experiments to commence the research. In March, students will submit a written statement of the aim of the research project, its significance to the group's research (if appropriate) and to the field in general, and finally the approach to be followed. Electronic submission of the proposal (PDF or Word format) to the Honours coordinator is required.

The supervisor will be available to help in the drafting of the ASA.

2. Research
Each Honours student is under the supervision of a member of staff on an assigned independent research topic. They are required to contribute to the experimental design, execution and analysis of outcomes for all experimental procedures. The students are also expected to identify, interpret, critically analyse and integrate relevant material from published scientific literature.   Students are asked to present a formal twenty minute Research Updateduring July/August to the Biochemistry Discipline. This will not be assessed but will provide formative feedback.

3. Thesis

Results of the research project are to be submitted in a thesis.  The thesis will include an introduction that will contain the background to, and the significance of, the research question. The results section(s) should contain data and its interpretation. The final chapter thesis should contain a summary. Students are required to submit the electronic version of their thesis in approximately week 12 of semester 2,with the bound copies to be distributed to the thesis examiners the following week.

Students are also asked to present their thesis orally approximately one week after thesis submission. This examination will start with a short presentation (20-30 min) which is open to anyone in the School wishing to attend. The rest of the time (up to 30 minutes) involves a session open only to the Biochemistry academic staff and invited post-doctoral/research fellows, where questions from the three thesis examiners and other senior staff will be addressed.

BIOCHEMISTRY RESEARCH PROJECT ASSESSMENT

The overall thesis assessment (written, oral and Q&A) will be worth 80% and the supervisor’s mark 20%.

The written thesis will be assessed by a panel of three assessors, comprised of academic staff and senior researchers. The student’s supervisor is excluded from the role of thesis examiner. The marks of the three assessors will be averaged to give the final mark.

Written thesis assessment will be based on the following:

1. Demonstrated knowledge of the experimental literature that forms the foundation of the thesis project; formation of a coherent and logical hypothesis that drives the thesis work.
2.  Detailed documentation of the materials and methods for the thesis experiments.
3. Comprehensive and logical arrangement of experimental results; figures and diagrams should support the written explanation of the experimental results. All major experimental findings should be documented with the appropriate experimental evidence. Appropriate statistical tests should be used to analyse the data.
4. The discussion should examine the experimental results in the broader context of the available scientific literature; scientific conclusions should be supported by clear and logical argument.

Assessment for the oral presentation and Q&A

The oral presentation and Q&A are assessed by the three thesis readers and by all other available academic staff. The marks of all assessors will be averaged to give the final mark.

Oral presentation:

1. Demonstration of understanding of the background to the thesis work and the experimental details of the current work
2. Demonstrate understanding of the significance of the work.
3. Success at condensing the year’s experimental details into a summary of the important aspects of the thesis work
4. Presentation scholarship: appropriate referencing and attribution of data and concepts to the correct sources

Question/answer period (30 minutes):

1. Demonstration of understanding, analysis and evaluation of scientific concepts and scientific relevance
2. Demonstration of understanding, analysis and evaluation of primary experimental details

Supervisor’s mark (20%)

Supervisors are excluded from acting as thesis examiners for their own students. Hence the supervisors mark provides the opportunity for assessment, by the supervisor, of the performance in the Honours research project, and includes an assessment of the quality of the experimental work, intellectual engagement with the project, making suggestions for alternative approaches/experiments, initiative in problem solving/troubleshooting, and maintenance of quality laboratory records.

The supervisor’s mark must be submitted to the Honours coordinator prior to the commencement of the final thesis presentations.

Late submission of the electronic version of the thesis will incur a penalty in the form of a reduction in mark, as follows:

If an extension is not applied for, or not granted then a penalty for late submission will apply.  A penalty of 10% of the value of the assignment for each calendar day that the assignment is late (i.e. weekends count as 2 days), up to a maximum of 50% of the available marks will be applied. This means that an assignment that is 5 days late or more without an approved extension can only receive a maximum of 50% of the marks available for that assignment.