Guidelines for Presenters in Monday Journal Club.
Purpose of
Journal Club 		To share papers containing important and interesting new developments in molecular biology with Biology Department colleagues.
 
Choice
of Papers 		Ideally the paper has broad significance in either a novel technique or in a novel finding that would be seen as generally interesting to colleagues. Presenters should not present their own research. Also, papers known to the presenter as "bad" or fatally flawed should not be presented. If during preparation a presenter identifies such flaws, another paper should be selected and the flawed paper dismissed.
Introduction (1) Presenters should summarize for the audience why they should find the papers of interest. (2) Should provide a concise (<5 min) summary of the field and the problems addressed by the paper(s).
Length of
Presentation 		Presentation should be limited to 30 minutes to allow for substantial discussion of the topic.
 
Graphics 		Papers should be well presented. If graphs, tables or figures are small in the text, then they should be enlarged so that they are legible. In many instances, figures can be downloaded from the web in printable format if overheads from hard copy are found to be poor quality. The presenter should preview before Journal Club.
Presentation Many people find a practice presentation to a member of their research group to be helpful before presentation to the Department.
Students,
Postdocs 		Will remain after the presentation for 5-10 minutes and receive a critique from several senior staff members who will provide feedback on the presentation.
Cancellations If unavoidable circumstances preclude presentation, it will be rescheduled for the first available noon (typically the Tuesday or Thursday of the same week).
Schedule
Conflicts 		If a participant identifies a schedule conflict, it is their responsibility to switch with another participant. Experience suggests this should be done as early as possible. People are far more willing to switch for a slot given more lead-time.
Failure to
comply with
Guidelines 		May result in the participant's removal from future Journal Club schedules at the discretion of the Department Chair.

John Shanklin, Journal Club Organizer

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