3 ECTS credits
75 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4012899ENR for all students in the 1st and 2nd semester at a (E) Master - advanced level.

Semester
1st and 2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
Students who want to enroll for this course, must have passed or be enrolled for 'Master Thesis Biology'.
Taught in
English, Dutch
Faculty
Faculty of Sciences and Bioengineering Sciences
Department
Biology
Educational team
Farid Dahdouh-Guebas (course titular)
Activities and contact hours

13 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
52 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

This course aims at teaching MSc students and PhD Researchers how to find and select essential scientific information to make a scientific presentation (e.g. preparation of research proposal, writing of an assignment, report or thesis, thesis findings to be presented in an international conference), under which form to present methods and results (text, tabulation, illustration and their content and layout) and how to defend them assertively.  It also introduces common standards and practices and explains why it is important to follow them in Sciences. A huge chapter is spent to writing and layout skills and to plagiarism. This course also prepares you for stay within academia (academic career) or for the challenges young graduates face on the employment market (non-academic career).

The course targets first year or second year Master students from the disciplines of Biology, Bio-Engineering, Geography and Environmental Sciences and Management. However, being very generic, the course is open to all other science domains within the Faculty of Sciences and is highly recommended for students wondering what 'writing a thesis' means, what an 'academic career' is, or what to focus un if they intend to pursue a non-academic career. Ideally you follow the course in the first year (because the content will serve you for many other courses), but you validate it officially in the second year (because with few exceptions the evaluation is linked to your second year's thesis).

Table of contents:

1.Scientific proposals:

•Rationale / Background / Problem situation / Context of the subject

•Literature review (source types, Boolean and proximity operators)

•Use of the Internet (what can we trust out there ?)

•Research objectives (disambiguation of purpose, aim, goal, scope, objective, target and ambition)

•Scientific questions and hypotheses

•A selection of 24 examples of logical fallacies

•What does 'a model' mean and what is 'modelling' ?

•Planning a research strategy and schedule 

 

2. Fieldwork, desk work and analysis in scientific research:

•What precedes my research ?

•Methodology

•Field- and labwork

•Samples and sampling strategies (categories)

•Analysis tools

•Making a deadline

•Back-up your data

 

3. Writing and layout skills:

•Basic components of a paper, thesis or proposal (in-depth overview per section from the front cover page to the back cover)

•Scientific and biological standards

•How to work and write scientifically (managing your work, scientific standards from different domains, ISO standards for official codes)

•Citation, paraphrasing and plagiarism (rigorous overview with examples, regulations and penalties)

•How to present data and how to present data badly (text and non-text illustrations in written documents and posters)

•Reference systems (Copyrights, Creative Commons, Plagiarism-detection software)

 

4. Scientific publication:

•Extracting a manuscript from a thesis

•The peer-review process (from what precedes writing of a paper to its final publication)

•Selecting an appropriate scientific journal (incl. Open Access and Open Source)

•Quality indices (common bibliometric measurements for evaluation of journals, researchers and institutes)

•Internet sources for scientific publishing and indexing

•Popular scientific articles

•Talking to the media

 

5. Pre- and post-research presentation and defence skills:

•Public speaking skills (from waht you say to how you say it))

•Public presentation of data

•Use of didactical material

•Presentation and defence (of proposals, of finished research)

•Q&A

 

6. Academic currencies:

•The academic career

•Grading systems

•Scientific publications (SLOSS, FIORI,...)

•Conference presentations

•Awards

•Curriculum vitae design for academic and non-academic purposes (how to advertise your skills ?)

•Time management

 

7. National and international funding:

•Privileged partners

•Conventions

•Networks

•Sources for funding

•Project budgets

Course material
Digital course material (Required) : Wetenschappelijke presentatievaardigheden en loopbaanplanning, Guidelines and examples are provided.
Additional info

Course entirely based on experience and course material available on the e-learning platform. All information will be given in class.

Learning Outcomes

Algemene competenties

Education level: Basic

Ecosystem focus: Methods and tools

 

Upon finalising this course the student should master presentation skills (designed and spoken) and/or assertiveness in presenting and defending own research results. In addition the student should be fully aware of scientific standards and procedures in the career of a scientist or beyond academia.

 

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Oral/written presentation with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

    Note: Oral presentation (15 minutes) evaluated by jury members.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Oral and/or written presentation of the thesis, possibly including a scientific defence/rebuttal. This presentation is irrespective of the scientific level or difficulty. The evaluation can be in the form of a scheduled presentation and Q&A session (comparable to an oral presentation at a scientific symposium), in the form of an informal poster presentation with Q&A (comparable to a poster presentation at a scientific symposium), or in the form of assessment of the written thesis (without defence). The exact format will be communicated by the teacher at the start of the academic year and the VUB e-learning platform will enable upload of the thesis as an assignment.

PhD Students will be exempted from the exam.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of Biology: Molecular and Cellular Life sciences
Master of Biology: Human Ecology
Master of Biology: Ecology and Biodiversity
Master of Biology: AR Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems, start at Brussels
Master of Biology: AR Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems, start at Paris
Master of Biology: AR Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems, start at Cayenne