Biology Department Integrative Exercise

Welcome to the Senior Integrative Exercise. These pages contain the definitive set of requirements and instructions, and should be consulted as questions arise during the course of your comps work. If you have any questions, please contact John Tymoczko, who will be in charge of the comps requirement in Biology for the year.

There are three requirements that must be completed successfully to pass Biology comps:

  1. Submit a synopsis and bibliography that provides an answer to the question you've chosen from the list provided. The synopsis is limited to 10,000 characters (approximately 5-6 pages). Spaces, references, tables and figure legends do NOT count toward the character limit. Detailed instructions are given in "Form and Style of the Synopsis and Bibliography" below. This written assignment is due at the end of your first comps term.
  2. Make an oral presentation of up to 25 minutes, based on your answer to the chosen question. The presentation is immediately followed by 30 minutes of questions from the two members of your faculty committee. This takes place in the first half of the second term of your comps.
  3. Attend 10 of the weekly Biology Department Visiting Speakers Series held Monday afternoons from 3:30-4:30 PM. Majors should plan to start attending the visiting speakers seminars during the Spring Term of junior year (no matter which term you are writing your synopsis). You must sign a sheet that will be available in the seminar room for your attendance to count towards the comps requirement.