All Campuses

MED 9510

Preceptors:  Appointed by Campus Dean and/or the appropriate Department Chairman

Approval:  The project and supervisor must be approved by the campus Dean no later than Period 3 of the senior year.

Offered:   All periods (projects may extend over several periods and are limited to the usual four week time frame).  The choice of a specific period for the elective is to allow for the student's intensified work on the research project.

Important Dates: 

1. Period 3 of senior year--Choice of the project, project mentor, and scheduling the period of the elective must be approved by the Campus Dean's office no later than the end of Period 3.
2. The final elective evaluation form must be completed by the project mentor and submitted to the Campus Dean's offie no later than the end of Period 10 to receive credit for the elective.  Those received after that date will create an "incomplete" for the elective and could result in delay of receipt of the graduation diploma

Purpose:  To expose the senior medical student to the principles of medical research and allow the student to conduct actual research under the mentorship of an experienced researcher in the medical field.

Objectives of the Elective:  Following completion of this elective, the student(s) will be able to:

     1.  Complete an abstract
          a.    describing the research question,
          b.    with a review of the literature for existing information relevant to the question,
          c.    collating, distilling and summarizing  the acquired data
          d.    and document the conclusions derived from the acquired data (including applying relevant statistical and/or graphic techniques for the analysis).
     2.  Defend or present the project to the preceptor, mentor, faculty, and/or peers.
     3.  Prepare the data for presentation (oral or poster) and/or manuscript.

Instructional Activities:  During this elective, the student(s) will be involved in/experience:

1. Weekly meetings (minimum) with preceptor, research mentor, and/or content expert to assist activities and determine extent of progress on the project (including data collection, entry, analysis, and manuscript/abstract preparation).
2. Self-learning modules on research design and statistical analysis available from the department in which the research is conducted.
3. Self-learning modules on presentation software available from the department in which the research is conducted.

Criteria for Grading:  During and following this elective, the preceptor will:

1. Complete the specific UND 4th year research elective evaluation form and submit it to the Campus Dean's office by the deadline stated in the "Important Dates" section on the previous page.
2. Grades are defined as Honors, Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory.  In the judgment of the preceptor(s), mentor and/or content expert, an Honors grade will be considered when the student's project manuscript is suitable for submission to a peer-reviewed journal and/or presentation is suitable for submission to regional//national meetings.  A Satisfactory grade will be considered when, in the judgment of the preceptor(s), the objectives are met.   An Unsatisfactory grade will be given when, in the judgment of the preceptor(s), the objectives are not met.