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Program in
Neuroscience

Neuroscience 3861/3862: Undergraduate Research

The purpose of the Neuroscience 3861/3862: Undergraduate Research course is to provide the student with an introduction to the intellectual and technical aspects of research in neuroscience.

In the first semester, students participate in a learning community by signing up for a discussion section titled “Research Kickstart.” In Research Kickstart, students explore what doing independent research means to them, and clarify expectations about what to expect in lab from mentors and for their own work. The community also provides a secondary faculty mentor and the opportunity for students to talk to their peers about their lab experiences and challenges they may face in an independent research environment.

During both semesters, students work in the laboratory of a member of the neuroscience faculty at Vanderbilt and, through both reading and hands-on laboratory experience, learn how the research scientist identifies and attempts to solve important problems in understanding how the nervous system works.

IMPORTANT: To register for research credit, you must begin your contract by the end of the second day of classes. Because the contract and registration process take time, the link to initiate a research contract will close at the end of the second day of classes and registrations will not be accepted after that time. Please plan ahead. We encourage students to meet with potential mentors and obtain an agreement on doing research for credit before classes begin.

Prerequisites

  • Completion of either NSC 2201 or NSC 3860 is a prerequisite for NSC 3861. Completion of NSC 3861 is a prerequisite for NSC 3862.
  • All undergraduate students conducting research in neuroscience must complete the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training. Read the instructions for training requirements and information. When taking the online RCR training, enroll in the Bio/Physical Sciences (VUBPS) course, unless you are working in Wilson Hall with human subjects, in which case, select the Psychological Sciences (VUPSY) course as an alternate.
  • Once online training is completed, you will receive a completion report via email. Upload this certificate to the REDCap survey when initiating your research contract. You will not need to re-upload the report when registering for NSC 3862.
  • All students must take an online quiz that covers the requirements and guidelines of the research courses. The program office will automatically be notified once you have passed the quiz; there is no action needed on your end.

Selecting a Research Mentor

To register for NSC 3861 or NSC 3862, a student must obtain an appropriate faculty mentor and under his/her guidance develop a plan of study for the semester. The plan need not be exceptionally detailed but should identify the primary goals that the mentor and student hope to achieve during the semester.

To find a faculty mentor, look first at the research opportunities available. You will find a short research description of the faculty that are currently approved to mentor students for neuroscience research. If you are interested in working with a faculty member who is not already approved to mentor students but conducts neuroscience research, you must first get permission from the director of independent studies. The faculty member must then agree that they are willing to direct a student’s research for these courses. It is left to your initiative to determine what area of research you wish to pursue.

Once you have identified labs that you are interested in you should learn about the lab by reading about their research, exploring their webpage, and/or by reading some the research papers they have produced. Email the scientists whose research interests you. In your email you should provide some background about yourself (list your relevant course work, describe any research experience, and some mentors will also want to know your GPA in science courses), explain why you are interested in her/his research/working in that lab, and ask whether you could meet with her/him about undertaking the research course in her/his lab. We suggest that you contact more than one lab since some researchers will tell you that they already have several students and cannot take any more.

Application and Registration

  • Read the course structure and requirements.
  • Select a research mentor and work with them to decide on a project. A specific research proposal will be required.
  • Research Contract: Initiate your research proposal and complete the survey in its entirety. This will serve as your research contract. Once submitted, the information will require two approvals: first by your mentor and second by our director of independent studies. If approved by both parties, the information will be routed to the program office for registration. You will be notified after each step is completed and will also be notified once enrolled.
  • Inform your mentor that a REDCap link will be sent to their email and will require action.

A new contract is required for each semester you register, and you will not be able to register yourself. If after following all guidelines you still have questions, contact the program office.

IMPORTANT: To register for research credit, you must begin your contract by the end of the second day of classes. Because the contract and registration process take time, the link to initiate a research contract will close at the end of the 2nd day of classes and registrations will not be accepted after that time. Please plan ahead. We encourage students to meet with potential mentors and obtain an agreement on doing research for credit before classes begin.

Course Structure and Requirements

NSC 3861 (3 credit hours): You are expected to spend 8-10 hours per week in laboratory or doing library work, plus attend and participate in their discussion section. At the end of the semester, you will write a 300-800 word abstract describing your research accomplishments for the semester and your plans for future research (e.g., in NSC 3862), as well as a specific section regarding the neuroscience component. This abstract will be graded by your faculty mentor in conjunction with the course coordinator.

NSC 3862 (3 credit hours): You are expected to spend 12-15 hours per week in the laboratory or doing library work (18-20 hours per week during the summer session). There is no discussion section tied to NSC 3862.

All students are required to write a final paper that summarizes the research that was carried out during the NSC 3861 and NSC 3862 research experience. The paper should be modeled after a typical scientific journal article and include the following sections:

  • Introduction/Background
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion

The document should be 10-15 double spaced pages with 1-inch margins, and in 12pt Times or equivalently clear font. Figures and tables should be embedded within the document and all figures must be accompanied by figure legends. A list of cited references should be included at the end of the paper. The references do not have to fit into the page limit.

The expectation is that you will have read previous papers on the topic of your research and understand the reasoning that led to your research effort. You should also express an understanding of the hypotheses and methods on which your lab efforts were based. In all, you should be able to demonstrate:

  • an understanding of fundamental principles and concepts of neuroscience,
  • an ability to think critically,
  • an ability to organize and communicate conceptual and factual information, and;
  • a depth of knowledge in the area of the research project.

The introduction to the paper should include a discussion of the neuroscience background and significance of the work. If the results warrant statistical treatment, the analytic methods should be included or referenced and wherever appropriate, it is expected to provide the statistical test (such as T-value, F-value, R-value); if a statistical test cannot be provided, include a section explaining what the appropriate test would be and why it was not performed (for instance, the sample size was too small). The discussion should be focused narrowly on the results and their interpretation.

Please contact the program office if you have questions about the organization and style of the paper.

Note: Before submitting any paper to an “undergraduate research journal” it is absolutely critical that you get permission from your research adviser even if the journal does not require it.

Grades

Abstracts (3861) and papers (3862) are due on the last day of class. There will be a deduction of one letter grade on papers received after the deadline. Copies should be submitted to the program through Brightspace AND to your faculty mentor. The abstract/paper will be graded by the faculty mentor, who will submit a recommendation for a final grade to the program office within one week of the due date.

In NSC 3861, one-third of your grade will be determined by your participation in the discussion section; two-thirds will be dependent on your performance in the laboratory and abstract.

In NSC 3862, approximately 75% of your grade will depend on your performance in the laboratory and 25% on your final paper. Please download and read over the guidelines given to faculty for evaluating your performance–it should help you understand what is expected and the basis for grading.