Contact G. Maroni     Contact: Adam Cheely  Lewei Duan  Chevonne Eversley  

These Study Aids were prepared for an online version of this course; all of the suggestions on how to study, however, are very pertinent to the live version.  The Study Aids cover the first part of the course only.   G. Maroni

The goal of this course is for you to acquire a solid foundation in the field of genetics and molecular biology (It is one field of study). This is more than having a nodding acquaintance with a group of selected topics or interesting examples, rather you will have a good understanding of the basic principles involved, and you should acquire enough facility with the material to be able to apply your knowledge to new situations and solve simple problems.

The material is not inherently difficult to understand, but there is a lot of ground to cover and a fair amount of terminology to learn. If you follow our step-by-step plan, we believe you will do well. Remember that this is a four-credit course; its contents, therefore, is approximately 33% more extensive than a regular three-credit course. How much time should you set aside for this course? This, of course, will vary from student to student, but we estimate that the minimum will be in the 8-10-hours-per-week range (You will probably be more effective if your study time is in blocks of 1-2 hours).

This course has as a prerequisite at least one semester of general biology, zoology or botany. Before starting with the first lesson (Chapter 2), we recommend that you review the most basic notions about the function of DNA in encoding the amino acid sequence of proteins using RNA as an intermediate. These are discussed in Chapter 1; If you prefer, you may refer to an Introductory Biology textbook.

You may have noticed that the reading assignments are only 20-30 pages per week, sometimes less. This does not seem like much, especially when so much of those pages are lavishly covered with figures. The apparent lightness of the assignments is misleading. In fact it will be quite a challenge for you to learn everything there is to learn in the allotted time. We suggest you set up a regular schedule to work on this course and keep to it as if you were attending class.

In this sections we give you instructions on how to study Chapter 2 using the tools we make available. The same method can be applied to all other chapters.

We suggest that you start by reading the chapter section by section (Consult the Specific Reading Assignment to see whether any sections should be omitted). Read from p. 26 through the end of the first main section (indicated by all upper case headings such as THE NATURE OF DNA, pp. 26-32). When you finish this section you will probably feel somewhat confused, uncertain of what you read and unable to recall much of it. In this first reading you should not dwell too much in specific points even if they are not clear. You should, however, have an idea of what are the main topics covered. At the end of each subsection (such as "The building blocks of DNA") you could make a brief note reminding yourself of the subject covered. (For example, "We are talking about the molecular composition of DNA. DNA is made up of subunits called nucleotides and each nucleotides, in turn, is made up of a phosphate group, a sugar and a nitrogen base"). Then move on to the next subsection. Once you have finished this main section (reached p. 32) review briefly your notes, leaf through the pages and verify that there are four subsections that you need to deal with. Maybe take a five or ten minutes break

At this point you are ready to take up each subsection in turn. Study each subsection carefully. Make sure you understand all statements, concepts and examples. Two important points are:

Learn the vocabulary. A significant portion of Molecular Biology and Genetics is about vocabulary; without it you will not be able to communicate, and remembering concepts and processes will be much harder. Write out every new word and make a glossary of your own (Note that there is a glossary in the back of the book) so you can review it chapter by chapter.

Study the figures and their legends carefully. Make a point of understanding everything that is shown in a figure, and relating it to what is presented in the text. Text figures and Tables will be listed as Crucial (You will have to be able to reproduce these figures without help), Important (study them carefully even if you do not need to remember all the information) and Skip (these belong to topics that we are not covering). Some figures, those associated with Genetics in Process boxes, are not numbered, they do not have a legend, and usually have less informational content; do not worry too much about them. Note however, that you will be responsible for the text in these boxes.

Once you have finished studying a subsection go to the next. When you are finished with a main section of the chapter, go to Guide and Orientation Questions and begin testing yourself. First look at the objectives and verify that you have achieved them by making a brief exposition, out loud, on each of them. Then try to answer each question. You may need to refer back to the book to answer some of the questions, or explain some objectives, for the first time. These questions cover most of what you need to learn from each section, but in a "bare bones" format; you still need to learn the specifics from the text. Remember, your goal is to be able to answer the Guide and Orientation Questions AND to know the information in the text. When you are finished answering the questions, you can move on to the next section (In Chapter 2 the next main section would be THE STRUCURE OF GENES, pp.32-41).

When you are finished with the chapter work on the END OF CHAPTER PROBLEMS that we have selected. Make sure you can answer all the Orientation Questions without help.

Next, prepare the answers you need to submit for grading without the help of the book. After you are finished, check with the book or notes, to make sure your answer is correct, before you send it in. Note how many changes you had to make, and use this information to evaluate how well you are learning the material.

Please note that the questions submitted for grading are not representatives of all the material covered in the week, and that you should learn all topics in the same detail as the ones you submit for grading.