Seminar Courses

[ThatMedGyal]

I'm finishing up my Honours in Biomedical sciences and will do my honours project next year. I'm also considering taking the BIM4900 seminar class but I don't really know what to expect. Has anyone taken a seminar course (Biomed or not) and can tell me the format, the grading and overall experience?

[SnowWhite]

I took the Biomedical seminar course that you mentioned above. I really enjoyed that class and received an A+.

 

It was a full year course. Each semester we had to attend about 2 or 3 seminars (outside of school, for ex: at the ottawa hospital). After each seminar we had to write a two-page critical appraisal. My TA was EXTREMELY tough on marking (although I still did well on them). But after speaking with friends in other seminar sections, they told me that their critical appraisals were marked very kindly...so it just depends on who your TA is.

 

You also have to do one presentation each semester (so 2 in total for the year). One presentation is based on a paper you choose and the second presentation is based on your research from your honors project. These presentations are marked by your classmates. So as long as you put in a good effort, you will do very well on these presentations.

 

Finally, we also had to write two final exams at the end of each semester. The exams required you to read one article and write a critical appraisal on it. (No studying necessary at all)

 

Overall, the workload for a seminar felt much much lighter than a usual course. So from my personal experience, I would recommend it.

[Cytosine]

I took the Biopharm seminar class at uOttawa and had a very similar experience to what SnowWhite described above. The only thing that was different from what SnowWhite described was that our presentations were also marked by the TAs (and not just our classmates) and whatever marks the TAs gave counted for 50% (I think) of our final mark for that presentation. Also, I think we only had one written exam at the end of the year (and not each semester)!

 

I also felt it was fairly light in terms of workload and would recommend it as well.

 

Plus, it was nice to be able to present our honours projects to each other before poster day; it was good practice.