Neuroscience Journal Club

Neuroscience 690/GDCB 690C

Fall 2005

Thursday, 4:10 PM

Room 115, Science II

Instructor

Don Sakaguchi (dssakagu@iastate.edu)

Organization for Neuroscience Journal Club

The purposes of Journal Club include the training of students in

  • critical reading of scientific literature
  • making scientific presentations
  • participating in scientific discussions
  • learning about major findings/concepts/methods from primary sources

Paper Selection

Students select an important research paper from the primary literature. The article must be current and should contribute significant new information to the field of neuroscience (i.e. from 2004 or more recent). In addition, the article must have been published in a reputable international journal (if you have questions about this please contact the instructor).

In preparing your presentation please make sure that you give a 10-15 minute detailed introduction to your article that will provide your audience with clear insight into the significance of the paper. As you present your journal club article you should critically evaluate the methods that were used by the researchers, their results and their interpretations, as well as their conclusions.         

It is also interesting and insightful if you would also suggest some future directions for the research.

 

Presenters must “upload” the full reference for their journal article to the Journal Club website at least 7 days in advance of their presentation. In addition, please submit the article as a pdf file to Dr. Vlastik Bracha (vbracha@iastate.edu) for posting on the class webpage.  

http://www.neuroscience.iastate.edu/Neuro690/Neuro690_Seminars.asp

Presentation format: Powerpoint presentations

Ideally, you supply a laptop with your presentation loaded and ready to go. 

A back up computer will be available at each class.

 

Evaluations of student presentations:

Peer evaluations will be conducted for each presenter.

Grading (A-F): You will be graded based on your class participation and your journal club presentation.

Responsibilities

Every student has responsibilities every week.

  • You are expected to thoroughly read the paper
  • You are expected to participate in the discussion of the paper.

 

Iowa State University complies with the American with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.  If you have a disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor early in the semester so that your learning needs may be appropriately met. You will need to provide documentation of your disability to the Disability Resources (DR) office, located on the main floor of the Student Services Building, Room 1076, 515-294-6624.