Biology Department Integrative Exercise
The senior comprehensive project, or “Comps”, is the capstone of every Carleton student’s path through their major. These pages contain the definitive set of requirements and instructions, and should be consulted as questions arise during the course of your comps work. If you have any questions, please contact Professor Rika Anderson, who will be working with seniors on the Biology comps requirement for the year.
There are four requirements that must be completed successfully to pass Biology comps:
- Submit a Comps Paper (synopsis and bibliography) that addresses the question you’ve chosen from the list provided. This written assignment is due at the end of your first comps term. There are a number of deadlines on your path to submitting your paper. See Step-by-Step Instructions for more detailed information.
- Participate in a 30 minute question-and-answer (Q&A) session about your paper with the two members of your faculty comps committee. This takes place in the first half of the second term of your comps.
- Give a poster presentation that summarizes your comps project. There will be one poster session at the end of winter term and one poster session at the end of spring term in which all students who did comps that term will present their work. The poster sessions present an opportunity to share your research with your peers and mentors and will be open to the public.
- Fulfill the seminar requirement by attending 10 research-related talks. This requirement is generally fulfilled by attending the weekly Biology Department visiting speakers series held Monday afternoons from 3:30-4:30 PM. Majors may start attending the visiting speakers seminars during the Spring Term of sophomore year after declaring the major, and should plan to start attending no later than Fall Term of senior year (no matter which term you are writing your paper).