Procedures for Registration and Completion of Research, Teaching, Internship Activities for Credit Through Enrollment in PP 492 or PP 493

Students should first select the course (PP 492 or PP 493) that is appropriate for the experience they plan to obtain. Read the descriptions of the courses below to determine which one is more appropriate.

PP 492: External Learning Experience. Total allowable credits 6, maximum credits per semester 3. May be taken fall, spring, or summer. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing. A learning experience in Agriculture and/or Life Sciences within an academic framework that utilizes facilities and resources external to the campus. Contact and arrangements with prospective employers/supervisors must be initiated by student and approved by the prospective employer/supervisor, student’s academic advisor, and the Plant Biology Teaching Coordinator prior to the experience. Grading will be based on completeness and quality of final report as determined by employer/supervisor and teaching coordinator. Either an S or U grade will be assigned.

PP 493: Special Problems in Plant Pathology. Total allowable credits 6, maximum credits per semester 3. May be taken fall, spring, or summer. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing. A learning experience within an academic framework that utilizes campus facilities and resources. Contact and arrangements with prospective faculty mentors must be initiated by student and approved by prospective faculty mentor, student’s academic advisor, and the Plant Biology Teaching Coordinator prior to the experience. Grading will be based on the completeness and quality of the final report as determined by the supervising faculty and teaching coordinator. Either an S or U grade will be assigned.

Guidelines for and Responsibilities of Students Enrolled in PP 492 or 493 Students should carefully read the following guidelines and responsibilities, and complete the attached contract. The signed contract should be returned to the Plant Pathology Teaching Coordinator, who will enroll students in either course in MyPack Portal for the approved number of hours. Students cannot enroll in PP 492 or PP 493 by themselves.

1. The student is responsible for arranging research/teaching/internship experience with the intended faculty mentor or off-campus supervisor. Graduate students, post-doctoral associates and/or university field or laboratory technicians or staff may not sign off on course contracts or approve final papers for PP 493. 2. The student should work with the faculty mentor or off-campus supervisor/employer to determine the appropriate number of credit hours for which the student should be enrolled. One credit hour is equivalent to approximately 40-45 hours of actual experience. Therefore, 2 credit hours equals approximately 80-90 hours and 3 credit hours equals approximately 120-135 hours. 3. The student is responsible for completing attached contract form (includes stating nature of experience, time involved, signatures, etc.) prior to being enrolled for credit. 4. The student is responsible for completing all tasks set forth in the contract, with reasonable flexibility for changes that may occur in the course of their project. 5. The Student is responsible to ensure all aspects of experience conform to the NC State University Code of Student Conduct, available online at: http://policies.ncsu.edu/policy/pol-11-35-01 6. A final report is required that documents the student’s activities and results/outcomes of their experience. A final version of this report is due to (1) the specified faculty mentor or off-campus supervisor/employer, and (2) the Plant Pathology Teaching Coordinator no later than the second day of final exams of the semester in which the student is enrolled for credit. PP 492, PP 492 Course Contract

Students intending to enroll for credit in PP 492 (External Learning Experience) or PP 493 (Special Problems in Plant Pathology) should complete this contract with their intended faculty mentor or off- campus supervisor and return it to Dr. David Shew, Plant Pathology Teaching Coordinator, 2415 Gardner Hall.

I. ENROLLMENT INFORMATION

Student name (Print): ______

Student ID#: ______

Major: ______Academic Advisor: ______

Course (circle one): PP 492 PP 493

Credit Hours (1-3): ______

Semester (circle one): Fall Spring Summer 1 Summer 2

II. PROJECT INFORMATION

Project Start Date (may be prior to start of enrolled semester, with approval): ______

Project End Date (must no be later than the last day of classes of enrolled semester): ______

Faculty Mentor (PP 493) or Off-Campus Supervisor (PP 492): ______

Email address: ______

If off-campus, Phone Number (if off campus): ______

Company or Business (if off campus): ______

Project Activities: These activities are to be agreed upon and developed cooperatively between student, faculty mentor / off-campus supervisor, and academic advisor.

General Description of Project: ______

______

______

______

______Specific Activities Student Will Engage in During Project: Estimated Time Allocation (%):

1. ______

2. ______

3. ______

4. ______

Where, specifically, will the experience take place? In the laboratory, field, research station, off-campus facility, etc.? ______

______

What are the student’s objective(s) in doing this experience/project? What do you expect to gain?

______

______

______

Comments by Faculty Mentor or Off-Campus Supervisor: ______

______

______

III. APPROVAL We the undersigned, agree to and approve of enrollment in PP 492 or PP 493 for the credit hours and semester specified in this contract. We also acknowledge that the student must complete a final report on their project activities and submit it to (1) the supervising faculty mentor or off-campus experience supervisor and (2) the Plant Pathology Teaching Coordinator no later than the second day of final exams. The Plant Pathology Teaching Coordinator will consult with the faculty mentor or off-campus experience supervisor during final exams regarding the student’s grade, but no grade will be awarded unless a final report has been received and approved by the mentor/supervisor.

Signed:

______Student Date Faculty Mentor / Date Off-campus Supervisor

______Academic Advisor Date Dr. David Shew Date Plant Pathology Teaching Coordinator PP 492/493 Final Written Report Guidelines

The following guidelines should be followed when completing a written report for either PP 492 (External Learning Experience) or PP 493 (Special Problems in Plant Pathology). A written report is required in order for credit to be awarded, and must be submitted to (1) the supervising faculty mentor or experience coordinator listed on the course contract and (2) the Plant Pathology Teaching Coordinator no later than the second day of exams of the semester in which the credit is being earned.

Report Length and Format There is no specified minimum or maximum length. Some reports may be longer than others depending on the scope and depth of the project. All reports should be double-spaced, have page margins between 0.5” and 1”, and written in a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial. A separate title page is not necessary.

You may attach evidence of your work having been presented or published in addition to the report. Examples of evidence include a one-page printout of a poster presented at a research symposium, slides used during an oral presentation of the work, a reprint or prepared manuscript of a journal article or extension publication on which you are an author, and copies of teaching materials developed (in the case of teaching- based projects).

Required Components All reports should contain the components listed below. The majority of the report should be technical, written for a scientific audience and largely follow the format of a standard scientific paper, minus an abstract. All components should be clearly delineated as headings within the paper, and should be presented in order.

Title Introduction Materials and Methods Results/Findings Discussion Conclusions and Impact References* Personal Reflection Broader Impacts

*References and in-text citations should be formatted in a manner consistent with disciplinary journals, which should be discussed with your research or teaching mentor/supervisor. Footnotes generally should not be used.

Specific Guidelines for the Personal Reflection & Broader Impacts The goal of a personal reflection is for you think about the significance of your work and how it has contributed to your overall training. Let this be an introspective activity. Think about what you have learned from the experience as a whole. Address the following as you construct the reflection, but do not respond to these items in question/answer format.

1. Why did you choose to undertake this particular experience or project? What drew you to it?

2. What skills and techniques did you learn? How did your level of expertise and responsibility increase as the project progressed? 3. How did your experience relate to your other coursework? What knowledge or skills from your courses did you use in your experience?

4. How did this experience influence your educational and/or career plans?

Broader Impacts 5. Scientists are often asked about “what they do” or what they are working on. Describe how you would explain your project to someone who is not a scientist. Explain how your project contributes to the knowledge in the discipline as well as the importance and potential impacts of your work.

Evaluation Your report will be evaluated three times as follows:

1. Your experience faculty mentor or off-campus supervisor will evaluate your report and assign a grade by the time grades are due. Your mentor/supervisor may request that you make revisions to the report.

2. A faculty in the Department of Plant Pathology who is not your mentor/supervisor will also read and evaluate your report, providing feedback to you and the Plant Pathology Undergraduate Program Coordinator.

3. The Plant Pathology Undergraduate Program Coordinator will review the report as well as evaluations and comments from the two reviewers. They will also maintain a copy of the paper in the departmental office. Plant Biology (PP) 492/493 Final Written Report Evaluation Rubric

Criteria Unacceptable (1) Marginally Acceptabl Exem Score and Acc e (3) plary Comments epta (4) Title • Title missing or unrelated to the • Title is broad, • Title is broad but • Concise and project providing unspecific accurately describes project accurate description of description of the the project Introduction • Literature summarized that is •projectLimited summary of • Summarizes relevant plant • Summarizes most unrelated to the area of investigation plant biology literature biology literature in area under relevant and current plant • No research literature context related to the area under investigation or exploration, but biology literature in area provided to frame the current project investigation, but enough draws upon literature that may under investigation or • Lack of cogent statement of project to demonstrate familiarity out of date exploration goals and objectives with research literature in • Provides adequate • Provides sufficient the discipline information that establishes the information that firmly • Provides information context for the project establishes the context in that is relevant to the • General statement of which the project was done project, but has difficulty project goals and objectives and why the project is putting the project into but not specific and itemized important to the discipline context • Specific and itemized Methodology • Experimental procedures and • ExperimentalProject goals and • Experimental procedures •statementExperimental of project procedures goals timelines are missing logical procedures summarized and timelines written out with and timelines are explicitly progression and difficult to repeat by minimal information missing, written such that they are • Data analysis and collection methods other researchers as still repeatable repeatable listed without descriptions or completely written • Data collection and • All data collection and absent • Major collection and analysis methods specified and analysis methods are analysis methods listed with some description specified and detailed Results/Findings • Written explanation of •withWritten minimal explanation detail • Written explanation of • Thorough, concise written experimental findings is fragmented of experimental each experiment/procedure is explanation of findings of • Data missing or incorrectly findings is thorough but presented with clarity and each experiment/procedure presented in figures and tables summarized without thoroughness • Figures and tables • Figures and tables detailed explanation of • Figures and tables used accurately assembled and unnumbered and lack captions each experimental/ present most of the assembled organized with accurate • No connections made between procedural outcome data in an accurate context presentation of data graphics and written explanations, • Figures and • Figures and tables • Figures and tables demonstrating little to no technical tables require numbered with appropriate numbered with descriptive knowledge of experimental procedures substantial revision captions captions and outcomes to accurately present • Written explanation and • Written explanation and data graphics are explained separately graphics are well integrated • Figures and tables but still demonstrate strong to explain data patterns and unnumbered but have technical command of procedures trends, demonstrating a captions and outcomes strong technical command • Minimal of experimental procedures integration of graphics and outcomes Criteria Unacceptable (1) Marginally Acceptabl Exem Score and Acc e (3) plary Comments Discussion • Illogical explanation for project • Mix of logicalepta and • Logical explanation • Logical explanation(4) results or findings with hypotheses illogical explanations provided for most results with provided for all results or largely unaddressed for results with most most stated hypotheses findings and the extent to • No connections with previous stated hypotheses addressed which they address stated research addressed • References published hypotheses • Research cited in research cited in introduction • Results or findings put introduction peripherally within context of prior mentioned in connection research cited in Conclusions & • Summary of extent to which project •to projectProject results is or • General, unitemized •introductionClear and itemized Impact met goals absent summarized without summary of the extent to which summary of the extent to • Little or no effort to describe the mention of goals project met goals which the project met specific contribution of the project to knowledge • Makes attempt • Broad description of how goals in research area state how project the project contributes to • Detailed description of • Next logical project or experiments contributes to knowledge in research area how the project contributes to unmentioned knowledge in research • Next logical project or knowledge in research area area experiments hinted at but not • Outlines next logical • Next logical outlined project or experiments project or Literature • Inappropriate or lack of use of in- • Direct literature • Most text includes sufficient • Sufficient in-text citations Citations and text citations to appropriate credit in references or quotes are in-text citing with only minor used to appropriate credit in References majority of report cited but in-text citations instances where citations should all cases • In-text citations lack consistency in are used insufficiently be added to appropriate credit • In-text citations formatted format or are in a format that is atypical throughout the report • In-text citations formatted correctly, consistent with within plant biology research literature • In-text citations correctly, consistent with plant plant biology research • In-text citations and reference lists do formatted correctly, biology research literature literature not match. Reference formatting is consistent with plant • All citations have • All citations have similar to non-scientific publications or biology research literature corresponding references at end corresponding references at lacks consistent format • Citations have of report. References formatted end of report. References • References derived from sources corresponding references consistent with plant biology formatted consistent with that lack scientific merit or credibility at end of report, with few journals plant biology journals (e.g. (e.g. lack peer review) exceptions. References • References derived from American Journal of Botany) formatting is inconsistent credible, peer-reviewed or • References derived with plant biology approved sources from credible, peer- journals reviewed or approved • References sources derived from credible, peer- reviewed or approved Criteria Unacceptable (1) Marginally Acceptabl Exem Score and Acc e (3) plary Comments Personal • Reflective statement missing or • Limited statementepta on • Reflective statement provides • Reflective statement(4) Reflection & explanation for project choice weak with why the project was some introspection on reasons for provided that describes a Broader Impacts no exposition on how the project chosen and completed, choosing and completing the clear rationale for choosing contributes to the student’s academic but with minimal project/experience and describes, the project, new skills program or goals exposition on skills but does not explicitly state how developed and explicitly • Project explanation and broader development or how the project contributes to the states how the project impacts missing, or are present and (1) experience contributes to student’s academic program or contributes to the student’s repeat and restate the technical elements the student’s academic goals overall academic program or of the report or (2) are written in a way program or goals • Project explanation and goals that is not comprehensible for someone • Project explanation broader impacts written in some • Project explanation and outside of the immediate area of study. and broader impacts technical detail, but still broader impacts are written laid out but primarily appropriate for a non-scientific without overuse of written for a scientific audience. technical jargon such that audience. they are apparent to a non- scientific audience

Organization • Report missing one or more required • Information lacks • Information presented in a • Report contains all component/section logical sequence, but the sequence that reader can easily required • Information presented does not have reader can still discern follow components/sections a logical sequence or flow and is difficult the primary points of the • Information presented in to follow text a logical sequence that • Project does not meet one or more engages reader of the formatting requirements • Project meets all formatting requirements

Writing clarity • Sentences lack structure and are • Sentences written • Most sentences clearly • All sentences clearly and style largely unclear inefficiently composed and concise with written and concise • Extensive overuse of passive • Passive voice used only minor corrections • Passive voice minimally voice throughout and minimally required used or not at all • Several misuses of technical terms impacts flow of report • Passive voice used • Scientific • Multiple (>5) spelling and/or • Scientific terminology occasionally but does not terminology grammar errors that obscure meaning of used in appropriate impact flow of report consistently used in statements and impact ability to read context throughout • Scientific terminology used an appropriate paper majority of the report in appropriate context in almost context • Clear evidence that report has not • Multiple (>5) all of the report • No spelling mistakes or been edited or checked for mistakes, and spelling and/or grammar • Limited occurrences (<5) of major grammar errors requires significant editing errors, but those that do spelling or grammar mistakes • Report is not have a significant • Report contains minor polished and impact on readability editing errors that require proofread, error-free • Report requires minimal time to correct proofreading and some editing to correct errors

Score Total: /40