This final-year course further develops skills important for Zoology and Marine & Freshwater Biology: science communication, advanced statistics, and critical reading. 

Normally, 45-minute lectures on Mondays plus practical statistics sessions on Mondays and Thursdays. There will be no scheduled classes for this course during those weeks when field course options are running.

None.

The course will be assessed by a 2-hour statistics and critical analysis examination (60%) and in-course assessment consisting of a literature review (40%). 

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

The aim of this course is to support the acquisition of skills in gathering and critically-assessing scientific data and evidence in different formats, analysing the acquired data statistically with up-to-date methods, and communicating research findings to a range of interested parties.

By the end of this course, students will be able to: 

■ Communicate scientific ideas and results relevant to their subject area in a written form; 

■ Apply statistical techniques and interpret statistical results in a broad range of situations encountered in research; 

■ Critically assess the logic of ideas, experimental design and conclusions in published work. 

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.