BIOL3800 Research Project in Marine Science

This topic will provide students with practical experience and training in the design, execution and presentation of a research project in marine science. Students, working as a group, will choose a research project and, in consultation with academic staff, formulate a key question, design experiments to address this question, carry out the experiment(s), analyse the data and prepare (i) a written report in the form of a journal paper and (ii) an oral report in the form of a seminar. The projects that are offered will depend on the academics willing to supervise projects in Port Elliot.

The topic will train students in research practices involving identification of important research questions in marine science, sound framing of these questions in terms that allow them to be addressed via experimentation, experimental design, execution of experiments, analysis of resulting data, and presentation of results via spoken and written reports. The topic will provide students with training that allows them to both conduct well-designed research as well as critically assess research by others. Students will also learn how to present research results in a variety of forms.

1. Understand how to identify meaningful research questions
2. Understand how to address meaningful research questions via a series of experiments or field surveys
3. Understand sound experimental design
4. Develop skills in analysis of data
5. Understand and have practical experience in how research results are presented in both spoken and written form
6. Design, conduct and present small-scale research projects and place these into a broader context of the field of study