Unit information: Analytical Skills in Palaeobiology in 2012/13

Unit name	Analytical Skills in Palaeobiology
Unit code	EASC20022
Credit points	10
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Professor. Mike Benton
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	Successful completion of year 1 of either the Geology/Biology or the Palaeontology and Evolution degree programme curriculum
Co-requisites	none
School/department	School of Earth Sciences
Faculty	Faculty of Science

Description including Unit Aims

This unit addresses issues of critical and analytical thinking about controversial aspects of Palaeobiology. A range of transferable skills are taught and assessed, such as: essay writing, simple analytical and statistical calculations, PowerPoint talks, poster-making, web-authoring.

Aims:

The unit is a skills unit, covering a variety of communications skills that are required by any science graduate, but especially focused on palaeobiological aspects. Skills in reading and analyzing the scientific literature and the use of electronic and other search tools lie behind all the exercises. In addition, the unit aims to extend students' abilities in writing coherent arguments, and presenting the results in a variety of formats: the standard essay, an abstract, a New Scientist article, a Nature paper, a Powerpoint talk, and a website.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On succesful completion of the unit you will be able to:

• think of your audience and use the appropriate modes of presentation for that audience

• consider the appropriate kind of language, and the level of explanation, that may be required.

• use paper-based and electronic search tools to find the most up-to-date literature on a topic.

• analyse the nature of the debate, identifying the key viewpoints and the evidence that supports each.

• present the debates succinctly and with interesting examples.

• structure your arguments so readers/ listeners can follow the line of thinking

• produce written reports, talks, and websites in a variety of styles.

Teaching Information

Independent work

Assessment Information

This unit constitutes 10 credit points and 100 marks to your end-of year results (see exam structure for full details). Marks are distributed among the six items to be submitted as follows:

1. Essay 20 2. Abstract writing 10 3. Nature article 20 4. Powerpoint talk 20 5. New Scientist article 10 6. Web site 20

The variety of coursework undertaken will be examined using different criteria documented on the marking criteria web site (http://www2.gly.bris.ac.uk/www/admin/assessment/criteria/criteria.html)

Reading and References

There are no general reference sources for this skills unit. We recommend you purchase a good dictionary and look at various style guides in scientific writing.