Proseminar: Introduction to Graduate Studies in Biology

This proseminar is designed to teach students the writing and critical analysis skills that are required to succeed in graduate-level courses in the neurosciences. Through critical reading and presentation of research articles, students learn how to form questions that can be addressed experimentally as well as how to properly source information. This course also addresses the process of experimental design and current experimental methodologies in pain neuroscience. Students are given opportunities to hone their writing skills through several short writing assignments. Students are expected to participate in class discussions, present a paper to the class, and write a final research proposal due at the end of the semester. In this course, we focus on research articles from past and present that address the behavioral and biological components of pain neuroscience both from basic science and clinical perspectives. We explore how the evolution of pain has occurred as a definition, and how pain is appreciated throughout the brain and body. Articles cover different topics ranging from pediatrics to adulthood, women's health, and pain therapies. Some background in these areas is beneficial but not required. Because skills learned in this course are useful in subsequent courses, it is the first course that prospective Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) candidates should take toward the degree (or the second, if they are completing the expository writing prerequisite). While not designed to be a thesis or capstone proposal course, this course does serve as a foundation for eventual work on the thesis or capstone.