Morphometric Analysis:

Grading

Student’s grades are based on a mid-term exam, a cumulative final exam, and a research project. The percent-contribution of each to the final grade is as follows:

Mid-term exam: 30%
Project: 30%
Cumulative Final Exam: 40%

Research Project
As part of the final grade for the course, each student must complete a research project. The topic, organism, and hypotheses for this project are completely of the student’s choosing, with the proviso that morphometric data will be collected, and will be at least one of the data sets analyzed (one could, say, combine morphological and ecological data in an analysis and satisfy the research project requirement). It is the responsibility of each student to determine what form of morphometric data is most appropriate to their hypotheses and study organisms, but it is assumed that most students will use at least one form of geometric morphometric data.

Students may use the equipment in the Adams Morphometrics Lab (225 Bessey) to collect and analyze their data, but are not restricted to just this equipment. Students may arrange with me any time to use the equipment in 225. Students are highly encouraged to collect, analyze, and interpret their OWN data during the laboratory periods.

At the end of the semester, each student will present a research report, summarizing the results of their project. This report should no longer than 20 minutes (plus 10 minutes for questions), and should in the form of a presentation at a professional scientific meeting. Hypotheses, data types, results, and conclusions should all be presented. At the end of each presentation, there will be a brief discussion period, where experimental design, data analysis, and presentation may be discussed. It is hoped that some of these projects will provide preliminary data for future publishable work.

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