Student Research in the Biosciences: “Why” and “How”? 
Case study guidelines

About the publication
‘Student Research in the Biosciences: “Why” and “How”?’ will be the third in a series of guides to good learning and teaching practice in the biosciences. The Guide on student research (focussing largely on final year project work) will contain evidence-based practical advice, supported by case studies and additional materials to enable bioscience lecturers to identify appropriate methods for their context and ‘do it themselves’. The content will be relevant to all bioscience academics, from those in their first year of lecturing through to individuals with many years of teaching experience. Read more about the series at www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/guides. 

Submitting a case study – two part process
We anticipate receiving many more offers of case studies than we can accommodate in the printed Guide and are therefore inviting expressions of interest in the first instance.

1) Expressions of Interest

Individuals are invited to submit expressions of interest outlining the content of their prospective case study. Case studies will be selected to support the main text, to illustrate key aspects or issues and highlight the range of current best practice. Expressions of interest should be submitted by email to Jackie Wilson, j.j.wilson@leeds.ac.uk by Friday 23rd November 2007 (this is an extension of the original 31st October deadline). Successful applicants will be invited to submit full case studies by Friday 11th January 2008. 

2) Submission of full case studies (by invitation only)

The case study should:
•	Start with the situation/issue which prompted you to adopt/develop your current practice – consider what would interest you enough to read a case study
•	Be written in an informal, easy to read style
•	Emphasise learning, teaching and bioscience
•	Focus on pertinent issues at an individual or department level i.e. issues the reader would be in a position to change
•	Be described in sufficient detail for someone else to adopt the practice 

We would like you to write about your teaching practice with enough detail to allow colleagues to ‘do-it-themselves’. For this reason we have not defined any word limit for each heading (see next page), but in order to fit into the printed guide we would envisage a maximum of ~2000 words for each case study. Shorter case studies are welcome, as is additional material in the form of appendices. (Depending on space, these appendices may or may not be included in the printed guide, but will be included in the supporting website.

Editing
Case studies are subject to copy-editing for grammar, style and format by the Centre for Bioscience. There is a limit to the amount of material which can be included in the hardcopy publication so we may edit your submission to fit the space available. The complete text of your case study will be included in the associated website.

Copyright
Copyright of the publication will reside with the Higher Education Academy. Authors will receive a remuneration of £100 for each commissioned case study that is completed on time and accepted by the Guide editor. 

Student Research in the Biosciences: “Why” and “How”?
Case Study Pro-forma

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Please return as an email attachment to Dr Jackie Wilson (j.j.wilson@leeds.ac.uk) by Friday 11th January 2008
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Use the headings below as a guide of how to structure your case study 
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1) Title of case study: 

2) Author(s):

3) Department and Institution:

4) Background reasons for doing what you have done (please include details of the course/unit/module, level and programme and intended learning outcomes).

5) ‘How to do it’ – a description of the activity. Please ensure this section is written so staff elsewhere can take the central elements from your practice (write it like a good cook book). 

6) Tips/things to look out for (what is the key advice you would give someone who has decided to adopt this method).

7) What problems/issues have arisen? 

8) Does it work? In your view what are its strengths, areas where the practice is less effective? What evidence can you provide to demonstrate the success of the method e.g. examples, data from feedback, peer response? 

9) Further developments (how would you/are you planning to change it?).

10) Details of support material (any details you think would help others e.g. the detailed instructions you give students can be attached as a separate file).

11) Relevant references (to published articles/ websites by you or others that describe this method).

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