Biology Seminar @ Harding University

How to Begin Preparing Your Seminar

Preparing a seminar for BIOL 440 involves several steps to be carried out over several weeks of preparation. You begin by downloading a copy of the Timeline and Submission Deadlines for seminar presenters.

You will then choose a faculty advisor who has interests in the area of biology you find most intriguing (see the list below for faculty areas of interest). You should choose an advisor at least 12 weeks before your seminar presentation date. Advisees will be distributed among faculty advisors to minimize overloading. 

After a faculty member has agreed to be your advisor, you must notify the Seminar Coordinator. You do not officially have an advisor or Seminar date until it is posted on this web site.

Submit a Seminar Topic Proposal

(download a pdf of Timeline and Submission Deadlines)

You will meet regularly (perhaps weekly) with your seminar advisor. Your first hurdle is choosing a seminar topic. Guidelines, suggestions, and direction are available at Choosing Your Topic. The task of choosing a seminar topic will require searching the current scientific literature. Help with this search is available at Searching the Literature.

Beginning Fall 2008, as a seminar presenter, you must submit a propsal to the faculty requesting approval of your choosen seminar topic no later than 8 weeks prior to your seminar presentation date. Detailed guidelines for the format and content of this proposal are available for download at Seminar Topic Proposal. The proposal will be evaluated by the faculty and returned to you in a timely manner. You should take heed of all comments returnred to you by the faclty regarding your topic.

Put Your Presentation Together

(download a pdf of Timeline and Submission Deadlines)

Your next task in preparing your seminar is to secure the articles to be include in your presentation. Once your read and re-read your selected journal articles, you will be ready to begin creating your seminar presentation. Guidelines regarding the content and format of your seminar presentation are availabe at Presenter's Checklist and throughout this web site.