News and Views Guidelines
BIOL420/620 – 2021
Why are we doing this?
In general, I would like you to learn about ideas in biology directly from the primary literature whenever possible. But, I would also like you to be a scientific generalist, who is interested in broad areas of science outside your expertise. It is reasonable to expect that you will get some information from the general news as you continue to learn about science throughout your life.
When you get information from the general news, it is imperative that you evaluate that information against your own knowledge and expertise. Your expertise will be variable – sometimes you will know a lot about the topic and can be very critical. Sometimes you will know a little and it’s important to evaluate new information carefully to integrate it into the models you’ve already constructed.
We are reading the news, in part, because information about genomics is hot right now and its being applied in many ways – both helpful (viruses!) and harmful (race science!). There is a lot of new information coming out very quickly. We don’t have time to read all the primary literature. Thus, we will practice reading and evaluating the news and developing as consumers as information.
What should you do?
Find a news article/podcast/video about any class topic. Then, write no more than 1 double-spaced page that includes:
A weblink so I can read the news and follow your source
A short paragraph on 1) What made this newsworthy or relevant to you, 2) What did you learn that was new or interesting, 3) How does it relate to class concepts
A long paragraph describing your assessment of the news. Your assessment might include questions about the authority of the source, the accuracy and strength of the evidence, consistency with what you knew previously, choice of rhetoric or evidence, etc.
How will you be evaluated? This assignment is worth 10 points.
General: I can not evaluate your assignment if I can not read the original source, so you will automatically lose 2 points if you do not include the source. The rest of your assignment depends on finding a good and reliable news source. I will provide feedback on this, but in general a good source comes from a reputable news site, includes several sources and internal critique (ie: they note possible biases or alternative interpretations). If I determine your source is not reliable, you will lose 2 points.
The first paragraph is personal, and will be loosely evaluated on your ability to clearly communicate why you chose the article and what you learned. Because part of the goal of this assignment is to apply class concepts, you will also be evaluated on whether you have accurately linked the article to things we discussed in class. (1.5 points)
The second paragraph is the meat of this assignment and will be scrutinized closely. You should critically evaluate the news. If you think the source/article is good, justify that statement with evidence. If you think it’s not good, identify specific statements that are unjustified, or inconsistent with your previous knowledge. If you’re not sure, describe the statements that led to your confusion.
Guidelines for presentations
What should you do?
After you have found your article and written your review (see above), you will also be asked to present the news once during the semester. This will be an informal presentation. You do not need to create slides, but you may wish to show images or figures from the news. You should plan to talk for ~5 minutes, including
A summary of the news article
Your own interest in the article
Connections to class ideas
Your evaluation of the source and article
Q & A
How will you be evaluated? This assignment is worth 10 points.
You will be evaluated on three things
1) the strength of your information (summary above) – 3 points
2) the depth of your knowledge (connections, evaluation and Q&A) – 4 points
3) your ability to clearly communicate with the class. – 3 points
Though this is an informal presentation, you should prepare yourself to present. Speak clearly. Organize your ideas so that you use your time wisely. Write out some notes (not a script) and practice any words that you’re not sure about. Do some background research so you are prepared to answer questions. It may be that you don’t know the answers to some questions – that’s ok! You should both acknowledge that you’re not sure AND provide a hypothesis or explanation of how you might answer the question based on what you do know.
