MRES IN MODELLING BIOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY

ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE INTERDISCIPLINARY CASE STUDY ASSESSED ESSAYS

A timetable of all current case presentations can be found here.

Marking guidelines for 2007/08 can be found here, and the student feedback form here.

SUBMISSION DEADLINES

• (Friday) 18th January 2008 (5pm) Deadline for 1st assessed essay.
• (Friday) 14th March 2008 (5pm) Deadline for 2nd assessed essay.
• (Friday) 18th April 2008 (5pm) Deadline for 3rd assessed essay.
• End of September 2008 Oral examination, examiners’ meeting.

Students should submit 3 complete paper copies of each essay and electronic copies, which must include all of the material in the paper copy, preferably in a single file. The paper copies should be submitted to the supervisors and the CoMPLEX administrator. Electronic copies should be sent, by email, to the CoMPLEX administrator, course directors and essay supervisors. (If the file is larger than 5MB, please discuss this option with us first.) Please make sure you have on the first page, the title of your essay, the names of the two supervisors, your name and the total word count.

CHOOSING A TOPIC

1. Each student should submit 3 essays on topics chosen from the collaborative research presentations held during the first two terms. The lecturers presenting these will suggest one or more possible essay titles.

2. If students have any difficulty choosing topics, they should seek advice from the course directors at the earliest possible opportunity.

3. In making their choice, students should bear in mind that in these essays they are required to demonstrate a knowledge of the basic biological and mathematical principles on which the collaboration is based (see 13 below). The essay should then show how to integrate the two disciplines to provide a coherent approach to the biological problem and conclude with at least a small amount of original work. The latter could include analysing or simulating existing models under conditions different from prior work, extending such models, providing novel insight into the functioning of such models, or their relationship to other areas, elaborating or clarifying existing treatments etc (see 14 below).

4. It is inevitable two or more students will undertake topics on the same subject. In such cases, students are encouraged to help each other in understanding the basic material etc. The submitted essay must however be each individual's own work and must make clear their own original contribution (referred to in 3 and 14). Any material that is not the students own (including that drawn from textbooks, journals, public domain software etc) must be clearly identified and its source cited. Students' attention is drawn to the UCL regulations regarding plagiarism, displayed in Wolfson House. In case of any doubt regarding these matters, students should seek the guidance of their supervisors and/or the course directors.

5. No more than four essays from the group may be submitted to any one pair of supervisors. It will be up to each student to ensure this limit is not exceeded, and supervisors will be advised not to accept more than four essays in total.

ESSAY OUTLINES

6. Before starting work on an essay, students should submit to the course directors an outline of the work to be carried out. This should be signed by the student and the supervisors and should be no longer than 2 pages in a font no smaller than 10 point Times.

7. The outline should indicate the goals against which the essay will be assessed. These (see 3 and 13) should cover the biological background, the choice of relevant mathematical or computational methods, the integration of the two disciplines, and some indication of the proposed original content. It is recognized that the latter can only be highly provisional.

8. The purpose of the outline is to help students plan their essays and to ensure that they are clear about what is expected of them. The outlines will not be formally assessed, and students will not be penalized for deviating from them.

ESSAY STRUCTURE

9. There is no formal length restriction for the assessed essays. However, for consistency with the main summer project, it is envisaged that each essay should be no longer than 5,000 words. It is unlikely that essays significantly longer than this will earn maximum marks (since over long essays suggest that the student has failed to make a judgement about what are the most important aspects of a problem). On the other hand, shorter reports can still achieve maximum marks. The word count does not include figures, tables, displayed equations or references, nor supplementary material in appendices. Students are thus encouraged to ensure that the main part of the report is clearly focused, and that detailed material that would distract from this (eg technical mathematical derivations, computer program listings, DNA sequences etc) are placed in an appendix. In case of uncertainty, the advice of supervisors and/or course directors should be sought.

ESSAY ASSESSMENT

10. Together the three essays (each of which has equal weighting) are worth 40% of the total MRes mark.

11. Each essay will be read by the two supervisors who will write (either jointly or independently) a brief assessment on the specially designed assessment form and assign a percentage mark and a project grade. A second examiner will subsequently verify the mark. The external examiner will be given an opportunity to read all of the essays, and be expected to read a representative selection to confirm that essays are of an appropriate standard.

12. The grading scheme used throughout the whole MRes is the standard University of London masters degrees:

• Grade	Interpretation	Percentage
  A	Distinction	=+70
  B	Good Pass (= 2i honours)	60-69
  C	Pass	50-59
  D	Fail, but has learned something	40-49
  E	Hopeless fail	<40

  13. Examiners should satisfy themselves that the report is the work of the candidate (this is perhaps best done during the viva), and should take into account the following points:

  • English style, spelling and grammar
  • the readability and coherence of the both the written and the verbal presentations
  • the difficulty and novelty of the subject
  • the amount of supervision the student received
  • the level of originality and innovation involved

  14. To justify grade C or higher there should be evidence of 4 of the following:

  1. the candidate understands the biological background of the project, and has clearly stated the biological problem to be investigated.
  2. the candidate appreciates the reasons for the particular choice of mathematical, computational or physical methods used to address this problem.
  3. the candidate is aware of the relationship between the biological and mathematical parts of the subject.
  4. the candidate has made some novel contribution to the material (see 3 for examples). In assessing this aspect, examiners should bear in mind the limited time available for the essay.
  5. the candidate has presented their work in a clear and logical fashion, has indicated its relationship to the existing body of published work and has given appropriate credit to relevant sources.

  15. Grade A should only be awarded where the candidate is judged to have achieved a high standard in all 5 of the categories in 13 above.

  16. Grade D should be awarded if the material, though correct, is judged to be wholly copied in a purely mechanical manner.

  17.Reports significantly longer than 5,000 words (not including appendices, tables and program listings) will be penalized.

  18. Penalties for late submission: 5% (compounded) of the awarded mark will be deducted for each working day or part thereof. This will be waived in the case of exceptional circumstances (supported by appropriate documentation). Note however that students are expected to plan their time sensibly, and take reasonable precautions to back-up and safe-guard their work. If they fail to do this computer break-downs, virus infections or similar will not be regarded as sufficient excuse for late submission.

  19.Account should be taken of any relevant medical or personal problems. The intention is to allow each candidate to show what they are capable of, not to make them jump through hoops!

  ORAL EXAMINATION

  20.Every student will undergo an oral examination by the board of examiners (including the external examiner). This will take place on the day of examiners' board meeting and can cover any aspect of the course.