DLR 4: Neurophysiology – Introduction
Instructions
We Are All Responsible for Maintaining Academic Integrity
Read the Academic Integrity section of this Pressbook, including the resources we have provided.
While you are responsible for ensuring you do not commit academic dishonesty (e.g. plagiarism, inappropriate collaboration) according to any of the relevant offenses and explanations listed in McMaster’s Academic Integrity Policy (e.g. section 18 and Appendix 3), we have provided additional details regarding expectations for the LIFESCI 2L03 assessments. You are responsible for reading our expectations in regards to appropriate academic behavior (e.g. for group vs. individual work) and how to reference sources of information for individual assignments.
In order for your assignment to be graded, you must acknowledge on the assessment cover page that you have read the Academic Integrity section of this Pressbook and our expectations (see the links above). The cover page template provided to you contains this acknowledgement.
Refer to the ‘Introduction‘ section of the lab report writing guide (LRWG) for details on how to prepare this section
- This LRWG section, in addition to this assignment overview page, acts as the SPECIFICATIONS for what we are expecting for a submission to be graded with a pass
- Recall that DLRs are graded as pass/fail
- If you do not submit this assessment, it will be noted as 0 in the Avenue to Learn gradebook
- A submission that does not meet the specifications will receive a fail (noted as a 1 in the Avenue to Learn gradebook)
- A submission that meets the specifications will receive a pass (noted as a 2 in the Avenue to Learn gradebook)
- A submission that exceeds the specifications will receive a pass (noted as a 3 in the Avenue to Learn gradebook)
- These numerical notations are not percentages, scores, or anything that can be used to mathematically calculate a new value. In fact, a 2 and a 3 are identical when we record your final letter grade at the end of the semester.
- You should refer back to the GradeGrid if you want a refresher of how DLR completion is used to determine your final letter grade in the course at the end of the semester
- Before beginning, read the ‘introduction‘ section of the lab report writing guide.
- As you can see, an introduction can be broken down into five general sections (click to see an example with each section highlighted)
- Broad background about the topic
- Background more specific to the experiment
- Unknown problem of interest
- Question/hypothesis
- Experimental/study approach
- As you can see, an introduction can be broken down into five general sections (click to see an example with each section highlighted)
- You are going to write an introduction for the Neurophysiology lab activity you participated in this week. We provided you with a brief background to give some context on the slides you were using, but we want you to dig deeper into the literature on the neurophysiology associated with neurodegenerative disorders.
- The neuroinflammation model that was used in the mouse experiments related to ALS research, but you may choose to broaden your introduction content.
- The research question/hypothesis has been provided to you in the introduction for the lab. You may use this statement directly in your introduction.
- The experimental/study approach is what you performed in the lab. You’ll want to briefly summarize that in your own words.
- Here are some topics you can address to get you started (Note: you do not need to “answer” all of these! They are provided to jump-start your research):
- What is the pathophysiology associated with neurodegeneration?
- Which type(s) of neuron(s) are impacted in neurodegenerative disorders?
- Which diseases are associated with neurodegeneration?
- What is known about neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative disorders?
- How are neurodegenerative disorders associated with aging?
- Why is it important to study neurodegenerative disorders?
- Must be 500 words or less, including in-text citations. Anything written after the word limit will not be considered when assessing your answer.
- NOTE: Your DLR assignments MUST include the course cover page in order to be graded. Failure to include the cover page will result in a failed assignment. We require the cover page because it serves as an agreement that you comply with the course academic integrity policy.
- Make sure you have read and understand our expectations regarding appropriate academic behaviour, specifically as it pertains to the use of quotes (no!), paraphrasing (yes!) and referencing (absolutely!)
- While you can use the personal notes you have taken during the class and group discussions in tutorial to help guide your research, you need to use appropriate resources and provide references when completing this assignment
- Details on the types of resources (references) that are appropriate for LIFESCI 2L03
- Help on evaluating different sources of information using the CRAAP criteria
