Doing Research

There are many opportunities to do research in the Biology Department at Denison University. These include:

1) Investigative projects within a regular course. Students become acquainted with researching the literature and conducting a mini-research project; they write a formal paper, present a poster, or give an oral talk on their results.

2) A project undertaken in conjunction with a course, for additional academic credit. A student may add one credit to any course with the permission of the instructor. The additional credit in many cases would be for a research project that would be in addition to the normal courses requirements.

3) Summer research. This may be research performed on campus or in conjunction with an off-campus program or in a research laboratory of another university or corporation. Stipends are paid for most programs. Many of the off-campus programs are very competitive and require good grades and strong letters of recommendation from science faculty familiar with your work. Check with your faculty adviser for more details.

4) Senior Research. There are two options for senior research in the Department. Most students register for 4 credit hours each semester of their senior year. In January those students wishing to convert a senior research project to an honors project petition the Department for permission to convert their projects. Students may graduate with a Senior Research Project or an Honors Research Project. Titles of Honors Projects are listed in the graduation program and copies of the projects themselves are kept in the Archives of Denison's library. Keep in mind the following:

If a B.S. candidate completes a year of Senior Research, eight courses are required in biology for graduation. If a B.A. candidate completes a year of Senior Research, seven courses are required in biology for graduation. A student who has completed summer research work may petition to have one semester of Senior Research waived. The student receives 4 hours of academic credit. There is no reduction of the number of biology courses required for graduation if a student waives one semester of Senior Research by doing summer research.

There are three levels of honors that can be earned at Denison. They are Highest Honors (Summa Cum Laude), High Honors (Magna Cum Laude), and Honors (Cum Laude). In order to graduate Magna or Summa Cum Laude, a student must complete an Honors Project. For Highest Honors a student must earn a cumulative grade point average of 3.8 and receive an A grade on their Honors Project. For High Honors a student must earn a grade point average of 3.6 or earn a grade point average of 3.8 and receive a B grade on their honors project. Honors can be attained by students earning a 3.6 grade point average, or earning a cumulative grade point average of 3.4 and receiving an A or B grade on their Honors Project.

Graduating as a member of the Honors Program is not the same as graduation with Honors. Participation in the Honors Program does not entitle a student to graduation with Honors from Denison. The criteria for honors graduation is that specified in the previous paragraph.

How does a student identify a research project? Some students may have research interest developed prior to coming to Denison and seek out a faculty member to determine the feasibility of continuing the research at Denison. Other students develop interests by taking courses and being exposed to research problems in different areas of biology.   Students interested in doing senior research should contact potential faculty mentors as early as possible, preferably during Fall semester of the junior year.  Students must obtain a faculty mentor prior to pre-registration or registration. Students may become collaborative researchers in an ongoing faculty research endeavor, or students may design their own research projects and seek the support of a faculty member in order to conduct the research. Check the Research Advisor link or Individual Homepages  inks for descriptions of current research and research advising interests.

Publishing your research: An important part of doing science is communicating your findings. Some Denison students give posters and oral presentations at undergraduate, regional, or national conferences every year, usually in conjunction with their research advisors.