A journal club is a good way for a research group to stay informed of recent results.  

Each session, a recent paper is selected and announced in advance. Everyone is expected to read the paper thoroughly and try to make some sense of it.  One member presents the paper with a series of slides that typically provide some background on the group(s) who wrote the paper and their interests, the major issues in the field, a summary of the actual results, and some thoughts on their significance. The paper should be put in context of previous and current work. Parts of the paper that were unclear (or that the presenter simply doesn't understand) can be identified and provide a good starting point for discussion.

In this unit, with help from one of the lecturers each student will select a paper from one of the top journals: Nature, Nature Photonics, Nature Communications, Nature Phyics, Physical Review Letters,  Science, The Astrophysical Journal etc.  The paper should be chosen to be as accessible as possible given our limited experience and the broad range of fields we are looking at.  The paper should be selected and circulated to the class at least one week before the presentation.

At a scheduled class meeting, the student will present the paper with a series of slides for around 20 minutes. We will have some practice/demo examples early in the session.  As well as describing the actual work in the paper, students are expected to uncover some of the background of the field and the interests of the group.  Students will be assessed on

• clarity and accuracy of the presentation
• degree to which they have investigated the background of the authors and their interests
• degree to which they have put the paper in context of previous and current research
• quality of arguments about the merits and potential impact of the work
• ideas for future directions

Students are expected to have read the weekly journal club paper.

During and following the presentation, there will be a discussion of the ideas in the paper and any unclear concepts.
Marks will be awarded on a "micro-point" basis for all constructive contributions to the discussion, whether raising questions about elements that were unclear to the student, or more general comments about the paper, the group, or the field etc.

Participants should demonstrate that they have read and studied the paper prior to the Journal Club presentation.

Making two constructive comments per session for 8 sessions will be sufficient to obtain 75% of this component.  Additional insightful comments or very active contribution will be awarded additional marks towards the remaining 25%.

Regular engagement with the research seminars and colloquia is a very important part of being an active and engaged researcher in any department, and is a vital part of PHYS700. Students will be expected to attend a minimum of 8 seminars/colloquia and respond to these on the online forum in iLearn. 

As the session progresses, we will identify weekly seminars and colloquia that are most likely to be accessible to the group. We can expect that some talks will not be easy to understand and part of this assessment is about the skill of making whatever sense we can of unfamiliar concepts.

After each seminar, students will write 250 word responses to the seminars using an iLearn forum that will be made available.  These responses may take a number of forms: a summary of the key ideas, some detailed comment on a particular area of the talk, an explanation of connections to related areas you may be familiar with.

Submitting these 250 word responses will then provide access to the discussion part of this forum. They will be able to read other student's responses, and then similar to the journal club, students will engage in a forum discussion of the ideas that come up using short posts.  We can expect this to take place over a 2-5 days each week.  Students should check in every now and then to participate.

75% of the marks for this task will be allocated to the 250 word responses based on insight, independent thinking.  The remaining 25% will be awarded for the discussion component.  An average of 2 insightful and reasonably independent contributions (only a few lines each time) per seminar will be sufficient for full marks.
Posts that depart from professional and constructive debate will attract negative marks. 

Students will prepare a 1500 word essay on the research opportunity relating to a recent research breakthrough of their choice.

All research is set in the context of what has been done before, and what may follow. Breakthrough papers often claim to open up many new avenues for research, and to present a major step over what has already been achieved. In this essay students will critically evaluate the broader context of a recent research breakthrough (such as may be published as a paper in a high profile journal like Science or Nature), including how the research reported fits into the global picture that includes for example competing research programs tackling the same problem. Students will also critically evaluate opportunities for further research based on the breakthrough claimed in their chosen paper. An outstanding essay will not only provide both a critique of the opportunities claimed by the authors themselves, but also consider other possibilities offered by the reported breakthrough.

Essay topics must be discussed with the unit lecturers and a 1/2 page outline must be submitted before the mid session break.