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Exploring strategies to address trypanocide resistance: lessons from uganda , investigating the roles of classic and unusual rna-binding proteins in staphylococcus aureus survival in hostile environments , exploring the role of three deubiquitinases – uch54, uchl3 and usp7 – in the biology of the malaria parasite , protein crystallisation using low-cost electric-field assisted setups for microbatch, vapour diffusion, and in situ diffraction studies , mechanisms regulating human platelet cytoskeleton dynamics and shape change , investigating mechanisms of synaptic loss in progressive supranuclear palsy , post-transcriptional roles of helix-turn-helix transcription factors in regulation of gene expression in methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus , development of a biocompatible lossen rearrangement in escherichia coli , spatial regulation of spindle-associated proteins in oocytes , approximation methods for stochastic systems biology , exploring the role of s-nitrosylation regulators hvgsnor and hvtrxh2 in the barley immune response to blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei , watch-breaker: establishment of a microwell array-based miniaturized thymic organoid model suitable for high throughput applications , bacterial removal of co, ni and mn metals from li-ion battery leachates , modern invasions within the western palearctic: cynipid gallwasps as study models for the development of parasitoid communities , using phylodynamics to inform and evaluate hiv public health interventions across three distinct epidemics , post-transcriptional regulation of fungal cell walls by rna-binding proteins and untranslated regions , evolution of recombination rate variation in a natural population of house sparrows , identification of mutants that affect mono-orientation in meiosis through a mutagenesis screen , investigation of rnai-dependent heterochromatin establishment in schizosaccharomyces pombe , investigating crispr-mediated gene editing and its relationship with dna repair in chlamydomonas reinhardtii .

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Dissertation examples

Listed below are some of the best examples of research projects and dissertations from undergraduate and taught postgraduate students at the University of Leeds We have not been able to gather examples from all schools. The module requirements for research projects may have changed since these examples were written. Refer to your module guidelines to make sure that you address all of the current assessment criteria. Some of the examples below are only available to access on campus.

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Digital Commons @ USF > College of Arts and Sciences > Molecular Biosciences > Theses and Dissertations

Molecular Biosciences Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2024 2024.

Black Holes in TIME: the Effect of GRID Radiation on the Tumor Immune Microenvironment , Rebecca A. Bekker

The Role of L-fucose in Dendritic Cell Antigen Presentation and Polarization , Chase J. Burton

Cornus officinalis extract activates the Keap1/Nrf2 pathway and delays T1D onset in the NOD mouse , Justin D. Fletcher

Androgen Drives Melanoma Invasiveness and Metastatic Spread by Inducing Tumorigenic Fucosylation , Qian Liu

TetR Family Regulator, FarR, Influences Rot-mediated Control of Virulence Factor Expression in Staphylococcus aureus , Julia C. Schumacher

Theses/Dissertations from 2023 2023

Exploring strain variation and bacteriophage predation in the gut microbiome of Ciona robusta , Celine Grace F. Atkinson

Distinct Nrf2 Signaling Thresholds Mediate Lung Tumor Initiation and Progression , Janine M. DeBlasi

Thermodynamic frustration of TAD2 and PRR contribute to autoinhibition of p53 , Emily Gregory

Utilization of Detonation Nanodiamonds: Nanocarrier for Gene Therapy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer , Allan E. Gutierrez

Utilizing neoantigen-specific CD4* T cells and immune checkpoint modulation to advance adoptive cell therapy with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes for metastatic melanoma patients , Maclean Scott Hall

Role of HLA-DRB1 Fucosylation in Anti-Melanoma Immunity , Daniel K. Lester

Targeting BET Proteins Downregulates miR-33a To Promote Synergy with PIM Inhibitors in CMML , Christopher T. Letson

The Role of the DNA Helicase Rrm3 under Replication Stress , Julius Muellner

Regulated Intramembrane Proteolysis by M82 Peptidases: The Role of PrsS in the Staphylococcus aureus Stress Response , Baylie M. Schott

Histone Deacetylase 8 is a Novel Therapeutic Target for Mantle Cell Lymphoma and Preserves Natural Killer Cell Cytotoxic Function , January M. Watters

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Ceramide-1-Phosphate: A Novel Regulator of Golgi Fragmentation, Golgi-ER Vesicle Trafficking, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum Pathogenesis , Anika Nayar Ali

Regulation of the Heat Shock Response via Lysine Acetyltransferase CBP-1 and in Neurodegenerative Disease in Caenorhabditis elegans , Lindsey N. Barrett

Establishment of a Melanoma ESC-GEMM Platform and Its Use to Study PTEN Tumor Suppressor Functions , Ilah Bok

Adrenergic Modulation of Precursor Cells of Ovarian Cancer , Sweta Dash

Determining the Role of Dendritic Cells During Response to Treatment with Paclitaxel/Anti-TIM-3 , Alycia Gardner

To be or not to be: A Tale of Staphylococcal GpsB , Lauren R. Hammond

Origin and Epigenetic Regulation of Cutaneous T Cell Lymphoma , Carly M. Harro

Cell-free DNA Methylation Signatures in Cancer Detection and Classification , Jinyong Huang

The Role Of Eicosanoid Metabolism in Mammalian Wound Healing and Inflammation , Kenneth D. Maus

A Holistic Investigation of Acidosis in Breast Cancer , Bryce Ordway

Characterizing the Impact of Postharvest Temperature Stress on Polyphenol Profiles of Red and White-Fruited Strawberry Cultivars , Alyssa N. Smith

Identification of Secondary Structural Elements Contained Within the Intrinsically Disordered N-Terminal Tail of the Bloom’s Syndrome Helicase. , Vivek Somasundaram

Defining the role of Oxidized Mitochondrial DNA in Myelodysplastic Syndromes , Grace Anne Ward

Lord of the Z-rings: Uncovering the Role of MraZ and FtsL in Bacillus subtilis Cell Division , Maria Louise White

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Multifaceted Approach to Understanding Acinetobacter baumannii Biofilm Formation and Drug Resistance , Jessie L. Allen

Cellular And Molecular Alterations Associated with Ovarian and Renal Cancer Pathophysiology , Ravneet Kaur Chhabra

Ecology and diversity of boletes of the southeastern United States , Arian Farid

CircREV1 Expression in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer , Meagan P. Horton

Microbial Dark Matter: Culturing the Uncultured in Search of Novel Chemotaxonomy , Sarah J. Kennedy

The Multifaceted Role of CCAR-1 in the Alternative Splicing and Germline Regulation in Caenorhabditis elegans , Doreen Ikhuva Lugano

Unraveling the Role of Novel G5 Peptidase Family Proteins in Virulence and Cell Envelope Biogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus , Stephanie M. Marroquin

Cytoplasmic Polyadenylation Element Binding Protein 2 Alternative Splicing Regulates HIF1α During Chronic Hypoxia , Emily M. Mayo

Transcriptomic and Functional Investigation of Bacterial Biofilm Formation , Brooke R. Nemec

A Functional Characterization of the Omega (ω) subunit of RNA Polymerase in Staphylococcus aureus , Shrushti B. Patil

The Role Of Cpeb2 Alternative Splicing In TNBC Metastasis , Shaun C. Stevens

Screening Next-generation Fluorine-19 Probe and Preparation of Yeast-derived G Proteins for GPCR Conformation and Dynamics Study , Wenjie Zhao

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Understanding the Role of Cereblon in Hematopoiesis Through Structural and Functional Analyses , Afua Adutwumwa Akuffo

To Mid-cell and Beyond: Characterizing the Roles of GpsB and YpsA in Cell Division Regulation in Gram-positive Bacteria , Robert S. Brzozowski

Spatiotemporal Changes of Microbial Community Assemblages and Functions in the Subsurface , Madison C. Davis

New Mechanisms That Regulate DNA Double-Strand Break-Induced Gene Silencing and Genome Integrity , Dante Francis DeAscanis

Regulation of the Heat Shock Response and HSF-1 Nuclear Stress Bodies in C. elegans , Andrew Deonarine

New Mechanisms that Control FACT Histone Chaperone and Transcription-mediated Genome Stability , Angelo Vincenzo de Vivo Diaz

Targeting the ESKAPE Pathogens by Botanical and Microbial Approaches , Emily Dilandro

Succession in native groundwater microbial communities in response to effluent wastewater , Chelsea M. Dinon

Role of ceramide-1 phosphate in regulation of sphingolipid and eicosanoid metabolism in lung epithelial cells , Brittany A. Dudley

Allosteric Control of Proteins: New Methods and Mechanisms , Nalvi Duro

Microbial Community Structures in Three Bahamian Blue Holes , Meghan J. Gordon

A Novel Intramolecular Interaction in P53 , Fan He

The Impact of Myeloid-Mediated Co-Stimulation and Immunosuppression on the Anti-Tumor Efficacy of Adoptive T cell Therapy , Pasquale Patrick Innamarato

Investigating Mechanisms of Immune Suppression Secondary to an Inflammatory Microenvironment , Wendy Michelle Kandell

Posttranslational Modification and Protein Disorder Regulate Protein-Protein Interactions and DNA Binding Specificity of p53 , Robin Levy

Mechanistic and Translational Studies on Skeletal Malignancies , Jeremy McGuire

Novel Long Non-Coding RNA CDLINC Promotes NSCLC Progression , Christina J. Moss

Genome Maintenance Roles of Polycomb Transcriptional Repressors BMI1 and RNF2 , Anthony Richard Sanchez IV

The Ecology and Conservation of an Urban Karst Subterranean Estuary , Robert J. Scharping

Biological and Proteomic Characterization of Cornus officinalis on Human 1.1B4 Pancreatic β Cells: Exploring Use for T1D Interventional Application , Arielle E. Tawfik

Evaluation of Aging and Genetic Mutation Variants on Tauopathy , Amber M. Tetlow

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Investigating the Proteinaceous Regulome of the Acinetobacter baumannii , Leila G. Casella

Functional Characterization of the Ovarian Tumor Domain Deubiquitinating Enzyme 6B , Jasmin M. D'Andrea

Integrated Molecular Characterization of Lung Adenocarcinoma with Implications for Immunotherapy , Nicholas T. Gimbrone

The Role of Secreted Proteases in Regulating Disease Progression in Staphylococcus aureus , Brittney D. Gimza

Advanced Proteomic and Epigenetic Characterization of Ethanol-Induced Microglial Activation , Jennifer Guergues Guergues

Understanding immunometabolic and suppressive factors that impact cancer development , Rebecca Swearingen Hesterberg

Biochemical and Proteomic Approaches to Determine the Impact Level of Each Step of the Supply Chain on Tomato Fruit Quality , Robert T. Madden

Enhancing Immunotherapeutic Interventions for Treatment of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia , Kamira K. Maharaj

Characterization of the Autophagic-Iron Axis in the Pathophysiology of Endometriosis and Epithelial Ovarian Cancers , Stephanie Rockfield

Understanding the Influence of the Cancer Microenvironment on Metabolism and Metastasis , Shonagh Russell

Modeling of Interaction of Ions with Ether- and Ester-linked Phospholipids , Matthew W. Saunders

Novel Insights into the Multifaceted Roles of BLM in the Maintenance of Genome Stability , Vivek M. Shastri

Conserved glycine residues control transient helicity and disorder in the cold regulated protein, Cor15a , Oluwakemi Sowemimo

A Novel Cytokine Response Modulatory Function of MEK Inhibitors Mediates Therapeutic Efficacy , Mengyu Xie

Novel Strategies on Characterizing Biologically Specific Protein-protein Interaction Networks , Bi Zhao

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Characterization of the Transcriptional Elongation Factor ELL3 in B cells and Its Role in B-cell Lymphoma Proliferation and Survival , Lou-Ella M.m. Alexander

Identification of Regulatory miRNAs Associated with Ethanol-Induced Microglial Activation Using Integrated Proteomic and Transcriptomic Approaches , Brandi Jo Cook

Molecular Phylogenetics of Floridian Boletes , Arian Farid

MYC Distant Enhancers Underlie Ovarian Cancer Susceptibility at the 8q24.21 Locus , Anxhela Gjyshi Gustafson

Quantitative Proteomics to Support Translational Cancer Research , Melissa Hoffman

A Systems Chemical Biology Approach for Dissecting Differential Molecular Mechanisms of Action of Clinical Kinase Inhibitors in Lung Cancer , Natalia Junqueira Sumi

Investigating the Roles of Fucosylation and Calcium Signaling in Melanoma Invasion , Tyler S. Keeley

Synthesis, Oxidation, and Distribution of Polyphenols in Strawberry Fruit During Cold Storage , Katrina E. Kelly

Investigation of Alcohol-Induced Changes in Hepatic Histone Modifications Using Mass Spectrometry Based Proteomics , Crystina Leah Kriss

Off-Target Based Drug Repurposing Using Systems Pharmacology , Brent M. Kuenzi

Investigation of Anemarrhena asphodeloides and its Constituent Timosaponin-AIII as Novel, Naturally Derived Adjunctive Therapeutics for the Treatment of Advanced Pancreatic Cancer , Catherine B. MarElia

The Role of Phosphohistidine Phosphatase 1 in Ethanol-induced Liver Injury , Daniel Richard Martin

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Changing the Pathobiological Paradigm in Myelodysplastic Syndromes: The NLRP3 Inflammasome Drives the MDS Phenotype , Ashley Basiorka

Modeling of Dynamic Allostery in Proteins Enabled by Machine Learning , Mohsen Botlani-Esfahani

Uncovering Transcriptional Activators and Targets of HSF-1 in Caenorhabditis elegans , Jessica Brunquell

The Role of Sgs1 and Exo1 in the Maintenance of Genome Stability. , Lillian Campos-Doerfler

Mechanisms of IKBKE Activation in Cancer , Sridevi Challa

Discovering Antibacterial and Anti-Resistance Agents Targeting Multi-Drug Resistant ESKAPE Pathogens , Renee Fleeman

Functional Roles of Matrix Metalloproteinases in Bone Metastatic Prostate Cancer , Jeremy S. Frieling

Disorder Levels of c-Myb Transactivation Domain Regulate its Binding Affinity to the KIX Domain of CREB Binding Protein , Anusha Poosapati

Role of Heat Shock Transcription Factor 1 in Ovarian Cancer Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Drug Sensitivity , Chase David Powell

Cell Division Regulation in Staphylococcus aureus , Catherine M. Spanoudis

A Novel Approach to the Discovery of Natural Products From Actinobacteria , Rahmy Tawfik

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Undergraduate Theses, Department of Biology, 2022-2023

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Current results range from 2022 to 2023

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23 catalog results, online 1. a predictive model of human transcriptional activators and repressors [2023].

• Liongson, Ivan (Author)
• May 4, 2023

Online 2. A Representative Role for the Alternative Splicing of Synaptic Genes [2023]

• Choeb, Reyan (Author)

Online 3. Building a B Cell Differentiation Model for X-Linked Agammaglobulinemia Using Pluripotent Stem Cells [2023]

• Hernández González, Elaine (Author)
• May 5, 2023

Online 4. Dissecting the Parasympathetic Neural Circuits of the Heart [2023]

• Nguyen, Annie (Author)

Online 5. Early Life Stress Moderates the Relation Between Inflammation and Nucleus Accumbens Gray Matter Volume in Adolescents [2023]

• Jaeger, Emma L. (Author)

Online 6. Identification of DNA Termini in Sequencing Data through Combined Analysis of End Capture and Local Strand Bias [2023]

• Wang, William (Author)

Online 7. Identifying Endocrine Bases of Parental Neglect and Infanticide in the Mimic Poison Frog [2023]

• Lewis, Amaris (Author)

Online 8. Injectable Biomimetic Hydrogels Providing Prolonged Delivery of GLP-1 Analogues for Enhanced Diabetes Treatment [2023]

• Lu, Katie (Author)

Online 9. Internalization of anti-GD2 antibodies as a key component of the antibody-induced cell death mechanism in pediatric neuroblastoma [2023]

• Wang, Alice (Author)

Online 10. Investigating impacts of heat stress on symbiosis in cnidarian larvae using high-throughput fluorescence-based quantification [2023]

• Paul, Maitri (Author)

Online 11. Mechanisms of Ferroptosis Evasion Promoted by Extracellular Metabolites [2023]

• Alchemy, Grace (Author)

Online 12. Morphological Analysis of Axo-Axonic Cell Variability [2023]

• Linker, Lexi (Author)

Online 13. Mosquitoes in the Anthropocene: A Multi-Decade Study at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve [2023]

• Dutta Gupta, Tanvi (Author)

Online 14. Propagule size has context-dependent effects on colonization success in mixtures of gut microbial communities [2023]

• Goldman, Doran (Author)

Online 15. Spatiotemporal gene expression mapping of brain aging in mice [2023]

• Kedir, Blen (Author)

Online 16. Specific extrusion of Enterovirus-A71-infected cells from human colonoids and consequences for viral spread [2023]

• Craven, Ailsa (Author)

Online 17. Stuck in the Matrix- Patch Matrix Dynamics in Florida Scrub [2023]

• Narasimhan, Sriram (Author)

Online 18. The Junctional Epithelium Organoid: A Novel System for Periodontitis Research [2023]

• Dawid, Isaiah (Author)

Online 19. Using inducible signaling receptors for in vivo fate determination of hematopoietic stem cells to erythroid-specific lineages [2023]

• Majeti, Kiran (Author)

Online 20. We Are What We Eat: The Impact of Agricultural Intensity on the Microbiome of Honeybee Guts [2023]

• Murran, Aisling (Author)
• May 17, 2023
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• 1 Introduction
• 1.1 Current year deadlines
• 2 Guidelines for the dissertation
• 2.1 Proposing a dissertation
• 2.2 Preparing to submit
• 2.2.1 Formatting requirements
• 2.2.2 What to include
• 2.3 Extensions to dissertation deadlines
• 2.3.1 Penalties for late submission:
• 2.3.2 Penalties for exceeding the word limit:
• 2.4 Plagiarism
• 3 Advice on preparing your dissertation
• 3.1 Supplementary information to assist in the preparation of dissertations
• 3.1.1 Latin, generic and vernacular names
• 3.1.2 Figures and tables
• 3.1.3 References
• 3.1.4 Notes on literature retrieval

Introduction

Examples of dissertations topics offered in the past are available here .

You can expect to receive a maximum of four supervisions with your dissertation supervisor. You are expected to meet with your supervisor at least twice during the preparation of your dissertation. Supervisors are only permitted to view a single draft of your dissertation prior to submission.

Course Organisers will tell you when and how dissertation titles will be released; and you will be required to have your title approved by Division of Michaelmas term.

Your dissertation should be prepared in accordance with the dissertation guidelines shown below, which have been issued by the Faculty Board. Please consult these guidelines at an early stage and pay particular attention to the appropriate closing dates.

Current year deadlines

Cite them right https://www.citethemrightonline.com/

Plagiarism Libguide https://libguides.cam.ac.uk/plagiarism/whatisplagiarism

Study Skills Libguides https://libguides.cam.ac.uk/skills

Training programmes https://www.training.cam.ac.uk/cul/programme/5364689

SpaceFinder https://spacefinder.lib.cam.ac.uk/

Biological Sciences Libraries https://bio.lib.cam.ac.uk/

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Guidelines for the dissertation

Proposing a dissertation.

All NST Part II BBS students should take note of the following regulations and guidelines for their dissertation.

The dissertation topic may be proposed by the candidate or chosen from one offered by the relevant Department and should be not more than 6,000 words, on a subject associated with either the Major or Minor subject . You must complete the form available on the BBS Moodle site, following the instructions stated there. This must be done no later than Division of Michaelmas term.  Since in 2024-25 this date falls on a Saturday, the deadline will be  4.00 pm on Friday, 8 November 2024 .

You must notify the Faculty Office of any subsequent changes to either the title or the subject of your dissertation. In order to change your title, please fill in the required form available on the BBS Moodle site so an update can be made with Student Registry. The latest date by which you can change the title of your dissertation is the last day of Lent Term, that is Friday, 21 March 2025 .

Please note that you are free to do a dissertation in your minor subject, but you should inform your major subject Course Organiser if you take this option.

Preparing to submit

Your dissertation, in its complete form, must be submitted in electronic form via Moodle, in accordance with the guidance provided by the department you have written your dissertation in, by the deadline of 12.30 pm on Friday 2 May 2025 . Please refer to the BBS Moodle Site for instructions on how to do this.

The marking scheme for dissertations can be found here .

The electronic version of your dissertation may be run through a plagiarism-detection software program. For information, please see the Faculty Board's statement on plagiarism.

You will not examined by viva voce examination for your dissertation.

Formatting requirements

Your dissertation must not exceed 6,000 words, excluding the cover sheet, title page, summary, appendices, contents page, tables (and table legends), figures (and figure legends), footnotes, bibliography and acknowledgements. References and citations within the text count towards the word total. Students can submit the electronic version of their dissertation in either PDF or Word format. Please contact the Faculty Office if submitting in the above formats is undesirable.

Your dissertation must be typewritten or word-processed, double spaced, with 2.5 cm margins, a font size for main body text no larger than 12pt and no smaller than 10pt. 

Please remember it is your responsibility to write and submit your dissertation on time.

What to include

Please note that you should follow Departmental guidelines for BBS students if these are different from those below

Your dissertation must be accompanied by an A4 cover page (a sample form is available by clicking here ) , and must include:

• the full title (as approved)
• your full name
• your supervisor's name
• your college
• a signed declaration that it is your own original work, and that it does not contain material that has already been used to any substantial extent for a comparable purpose
• a statement that this is a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the Regulations for NST Part II Biological and Biomedical Sciences.
• a statement saying " I have read and understood the Faculty of Biology statement on plagiarism found here:  https://www.biology.cam.ac.uk/exams/AllExams/plagiarism "

You should include a title page, which should include the title of your dissertation, the name of your supervisor, the word count and your examination candidate number – please do not include your name on the title page, or any page other than the cover sheet referred to above . If you have not yet received your examination candidate number (BGN), please contact the teaching administrator of your major subject Department.

The dissertation must include a summary of not more than 300 words. The summary must be immediately after the title page.

Due to copyright/intellectual property issues, please do not include the University logo anywhere on your dissertation.

Extensions to dissertation deadlines

In line with the University's Dissertation and Coursework extensions policy , students can self-certify for extensions to coursework for up to a maximum of 7 days. Extensions can be requested for any reason (medical or non-medical) and students are not required to provide evidence of their reasoning. However, students will be required to confirm that they have informed their Tutor of the extension. If departments have concerns about additional support needs or a student’s wellbeing resulting from a student self-certifying for numerous pieces of coursework, they may contact the student’s Tutor directly to notify them further. If you require an extension longer than 7 days, you need to apply, with the support of your college, for a further extension through the EAMC.

To self-certify and provide the evidence needed students should fill out this form .

Where coursework extensions are applied there are likely to be delays to feedback.

Students are reminded that time management within the NST is important, and it can be easy to fall behind with work and deadlines. This policy should not be relied on to meet those deadlines as this simply pushes the workload to one week later. Please speak with your Director of Studies or Tutor if you are struggling to meet these deadlines.

Penalties for late submission:

You are required to self-certify prior to the original submission date (or at the point of submission at the very latest). Retrospective requests will not be accepted.

Where a student does not self-certify and does not submit their coursework by the original submission date, zero marks will be awarded.

Where a student has self-certified and does not submit their work by the revised submission date, zero marks will be awarded, unless a further extension has been granted by the department or EAMC (see below).

Where a student has applied for a further extension via the department (for Parts IA and IB) or  EAMC  (for Parts II and III) and does not submit their work by the agreed submission date, zero marks will be awarded.

If you have any concerns about the supervision you are receiving please contact the Course Organiser/dissertation organiser as soon as possible.

Penalties for exceeding the word limit:

Following the framework for assessment, any work that exceeds the stated word limit will not be marked.

The Faculty Board has issued a statement on plagiarism , and you should read this carefully before preparing your dissertation. For information on plagiarism issued by the Board of Examinations, please click here. In addition your work may be submitted to the Turnitin plagiarism software program.  The BBS Turnitin policy is as follows:

"Work submitted for assessment as a component of Part II BBS (i.e. Dissertations) may be submitted to Turnitin UK software according to the policy of the examiners within the relevant department. Some departments may choose to submit all work to the software; other departments may choose to submit work if and only if the examiners have specific concerns regarding the originality of the particular piece of work. Please consult with the relevant Department on what their specific policy is for use of Turnitin. If the relevant Department does not use Turnitin, the BBS examiners reserve the right to utilise Turnitin in cases where they suspect plagiarism has taken place. Students are required to submit an electronic copy of their dissertation at the same time as a hard copy of their dissertation

If Turnitin UK detects matches between your work and another source, the Examiners will review the resulting originality report to judge whether the matches are innocent, or whether you have appropriately referenced these matches (if not, this may constitute plagiarism), and/or whether you have made excessive use of material from other sources (which may be poor academic practice).

The Examiners will mark your work purely on the basis of its academic merit. However, depending on the extent and context of the matches, your work may be referred to the Proctors for further investigation. In such cases the Turnitin UK originality report may be used as evidence. If you are found to have plagiarised, the penalty may be severe and your degree may be withheld. "

Advice on preparing your dissertation

The purpose of the dissertation is to give you an opportunity to produce a substantial piece of original work, which will form part of the assessment on which your class in the Tripos will be based. The advice that follows relates particularly to dissertations on scientific subjects; if you are doing a dissertation in a discipline which is not, in the narrow sense, scientific, you should listen particularly carefully to the advice of your supervisor and model your work on well-written reviews in the field in which you are working. Nevertheless, much of the advice that follows is applicable to all writing - scientific or otherwise.

• Define your topic: The dissertation must not exceed 6000 words. It is an extended account of a topic or question that lies broadly within the field of one of the courses you are taking. Before you begin, you should spend time defining your topic, discussing this with your supervisor, other members of staff and your colleagues. If you can define your objectives clearly, you will find that the rest of the process is much easier.
• Focus on the essential question: Beware of trying to do too much. You will find that you will need to refine your initial topic to make your dissertation manageable. Remember that, if you try to cover too wide a canvas you will not be able to do your topic justice in the space you are allowed. For example, "The role of genes in cancer" would be too wide but, "Is the xxx gene implicated in cancer of the lung?", would be manageable. Focusing on the essential question is a critical first step; be prepared to spend time on this and interact with your supervisor during this process.
• Writing Style: The dissertation is a scholarly piece of work. That means that you should write it in the style of a scientific document. The exact form depends on what you do, but your dissertation should be divided into sections, reflecting the nature of the evidence that you are reviewing and the arguments should be backed by references, where appropriate. The overall objective is a critical assessment of a restricted topic. This means that part of your dissertation will be devoted to presenting the evidence or data which forms the topic (hence the need for references), and part will be your own assessment of what you have read or otherwise found out. You should make sure that a reader can distinguish which is which.

Sources: The sources of your material can be various. Reading the relevant literature is essential and, at the end of your text, you must provide a list of the references you have quoted. If you quote a reference, it will be assumed you have read it. If you have not, you should refer to the source in which it was cited. Your supervisor will help you with the literature and also point you in the direction of other people who have knowledge in the area you have chosen. The task of locating the relevant literature is made much easier these days by the use of computerised literature searches; if there is a particular key paper in your field of interest, a computer (using Web of Science, for example) can tell you all the more recent scientific papers that have cited it - a particularly useful method for tracking the development of a subject following a key contribution. Resist the temptation to include every paper you have seen or can think of. Most dissertations contain about 20 to 40 references. Do not exceed the latter figure without very careful thought and consultation with your supervisor.

• Hint toward future research: It will often be a good idea to include a separate section setting out promising lines of future research. This could, in some cases, represent a substantial part of your dissertation, and you might approach the writing of this section as if you were preparing a research proposal for a grant-giving body. It is an opportunity for you to display real originality and creativity. You may even lay the foundations for your future research career!
• Proofread multiple times: Short sentences are better than long sentences! Try to be entertaining without being either facetious or colloquial. Remember that a good critic justifies his/her criticism by careful argument. A good critical assessment is a creative process. Do not be afraid of uncertainty. Prune the first version of your dissertation mercilessly.
• Final product: The final product should look like an extended, balanced, informative critique. You should have assessed the various categories of evidence and weighed them. You should point to gaps in the knowledge (see paragraph 7), or to flaws in the evidence. You should say why your topic is important. Beware of starting the work for your dissertation with your mind already made up.

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Supplementary information to assist in the preparation of dissertations

Latin, generic and vernacular names.

Latin names of the genera and species in the text etc should be underlined or written in italics. Where a generic name is the same as the last mentioned it may be abbreviated as the initial letter with full stop, eg Agrostis canina and A. tenuis . If in doubt, use the full generic name throughout. Vernacular names of organisms can be used without capital letters unless a proper name is involved eg 'bottle-nosed dolphins', but 'Mediterranean seals'. The Latin name should accompany the first mention of the vernacular name and subsequently either may be used. Anglicised names of higher taxa should not have initial capital letters eg 'carabids'; but not 'Carabidae'.

Figures and tables

Figures and tables can be used to illustrate the essay, compiled or copied complete from original papers or books. Each should be numbered, eg Figure 1, and provided with a caption. They must be referred to in the text, eg 'Table 2 shows ...'.

References should be given in the text by using the author's name with year of publication in brackets - Smith (1992). No comma is required between name and date when the whole reference is in brackets (Smith 1992), but use (Smith 1992; White 1971), (Black, 1972, 1975). If the reference has three or more authors use (Smith et al 1992) or (Smith et al 1992). Place the list of references at the end, in alphabetical order by first author and then date order, with the journal name preferably in full, eg Smith, A., Black, B. & White, E.J. (1967). The ecology of natural communities. Journal of Ecology, 42, 460-53. Or if a book: Smith, A. (1976) Mountains and Moorlands. Collins, London . (Italics for journal and book titles and bold for volume number may be excused for essay purposes). All the references should be accurate and cited by author and date in the text as above - be consistent in using (ed), pp, etc. Please also consult your home Department's guidelines for citation of references.

Notes on literature retrieval

Literature retrieval is more of an art than a science and there are many ways of achieving your goal of finding all/most of the relevant literature on your chosen subject. Experts working in the same field often provide a helpful start, especially if approached in person!

are usually out of date when published, but may provide a useful starting point (eg The Handbook of British Mammals ). Look for authors or titles in Books in Print .

'Trends in';, 'Advances in', 'Progress in', 'Annual Review of',

etc, as well as symposium articles and recent reviews of your subject are also useful, but beware of imitation! The review journals mentioned above are useful as well as the review articles in many ecological journals such as Oikos and Ecology.

Computerised or printed indexing or abstracting services

(including the Internet) may provide lists of references/abstracts from recent journals and earlier literature may be found from Zoological Record (ceased 198?) (Balfour), Biological Abstracts (1926-, SPL), Science Citation Index (1964-, SPL - including papers referring to a particular author), Excerpta Medica (1947 - Medical Library), and bibliographies in papers, etc.

Online services

in Cambridge are available via ISI Web of Science or ATHENS National authentication system, which provide access to MIMAS, EDINA and NISS.

Specialist abstracting services

are also available in print such as Key-word Index of Wildlife Research (Swiss Information Service) and Wildlife Review (North American literature), but these are difficult to find outside personal subscriptions (ask your Supervisor).

Alerting systems

such as Current Contents (SPL and available on the Internet) and even the index to New Scientist (SPL) may help in bringing the review right up to date.

The Internet

gives summaries of research in progress and details of research workers' interests as well as much, much more.

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BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES MAJOR

Senior thesis examples.

Graduating seniors in Biological Sciences have the option of submitting a senior thesis for consideration for Honors and Research Prizes .  Below are some examples of particularly outstanding theses from recent years (pdf):

Sledd Thesis