Hi,

What is the difference between these two courses? I know in Biology 4F06, you don't necessarily need a hypothesis/methods, and you can just do a literature review.

Does this apply to Life Sci 4B06 as well?

Also, what do students typically achieve in thesis courses? I would assume that as long as you have regular feedback from your prof, an A should be attainable for most people? But I have heard stories of people doing 9 unit thesis and then getting a B+ in it which sucks.

Any one who did a thesis care to give their take on it? Thanks.

I did a thesis, though not one with the course codes you have listed. Basically, people who did 6-unit put in the same amount of lab hours as those who did a 9-unit or 12-unit. You might as well go for the higher unit one so that you have less of a courseload to worry about.

What you get out of the thesis depends on what you put into it (also how well you fit with your prof/lab, to some extent).
Just because an A is attainable for most people, that doesn't mean there aren't people who either cannot achieve that grade, or do not put in the effort necessary to get an A.

Originally Posted by starfish

I did a thesis, though not one with the course codes you have listed. Basically, people who did 6-unit put in the same amount of lab hours as those who did a 9-unit or 12-unit. You might as well go for the higher unit one so that you have less of a courseload to worry about.

What you get out of the thesis depends on what you put into it (also how well you fit with your prof/lab, to some extent).
Just because an A is attainable for most people, that doesn't mean there aren't people who either cannot achieve that grade, or do not put in the effort necessary to get an A.

I read somewhere that for a 6 unit thesis such as Biology 4F06, you don't need to do any hypothesis testing and it's just a huge literature review for something you're proposing, which is something I'm looking for. That would make sense since it's 6 units vs 9 units, but there's no concrete outline.

Hoping that life sci offers something like that.

Originally Posted by bradyr

I read somewhere that for a 6 unit thesis such as Biology 4F06, you don't need to do any hypothesis testing and it's just a huge literature review for something you're proposing, which is something I'm looking for. That would make sense since it's 6 units vs 9 units, but there's no concrete outline.

Hoping that life sci offers something like that.

Generally, there's 2 types of theses: a literature review in which you are just building a library of information and putting it all together and the second is where you try to test your hypothesis. I believe both types are available for both the 6 and 9 unit courses and the type of thesis you do will have to be agreed upon between you and your supervisor. To be frank, I think the only difference between the two courses is just the units and if you say for instance change from a 6 unit to a 9 unit halfway through, it does not change the amount of work you do. The reason why there is no concrete outline is because every student's thesis is different and the way it is evaluated is also different.

I hope this helped.

I'm currently doing Life Sci 4C09. When I was trying to decide which course to do, I was told that the primary difference is the amount of time you *should* be spending on the project every week. It is recommended you spend a minimum of 12-15 hours per week on the project for 4B06 and 15-18 hours a week for 4C09. My thesis supervisor said it was up to me which I wanted to do, and similar to what someone posted earlier, I decided to take the 9-unit option because it meant that I was able to decrease the number of other courses I had to take.

Here is a link to the comparison chart that compares the 3 different Life Sci thesis options. As far as I am aware, you can do a literature review project for any of the three courses, however the higher the number of units, the more work you are expected to put into it (which makes sense)
http://www.science.mcmaster. ca/lif...ve_Chart.p df

Originally Posted by shelbs

I'm currently doing Life Sci 4C09. When I was trying to decide which course to do, I was told that the primary difference is the amount of time you *should* be spending on the project every week. It is recommended you spend a minimum of 12-15 hours per week on the project for 4B06 and 15-18 hours a week for 4C09. My thesis supervisor said it was up to me which I wanted to do, and similar to what someone posted earlier, I decided to take the 9-unit option because it meant that I was able to decrease the number of other courses I had to take.

Here is a link to the comparison chart that compares the 3 different Life Sci thesis options. As far as I am aware, you can do a literature review project for any of the three courses, however the higher the number of units, the more work you are expected to put into it (which makes sense)
http://www.science.mcmaster. ca/lif...ve_Chart.p df

Thanks a lot shelbs! I'm looking forward to doing a literature review project, hopefully I can find a supervisor who will allow me to do it on a project I like!

I was looking at the sample course outlines for Life Sci 4A03/4B06/4C09, and I noticed that Laboratory/Field Work is 30%. What does this mean? Are you required to find your own data, or can you use existing data? It seems to be a major part of a thesis.

Originally Posted by bradyr

Thanks a lot shelbs! I'm looking forward to doing a literature review project, hopefully I can find a supervisor who will allow me to do it on a project I like!

I was looking at the sample course outlines for Life Sci 4A03/4B06/4C09, and I noticed that Laboratory/Field Work is 30%. What does this mean? Are you required to find your own data, or can you use existing data? It seems to be a major part of a thesis.

I'm not entirely sure how that works because for my thesis, I am using data that has already been collected. It is my understanding that a lot of the marking scheme, grading etc. is decided with your supervisor. Obviously, the outline they provide you is what the Life Science department wants, but your supervisor just emails the marks in, so really, what they are giving you marks for is up to them. For mine, we decided that the 30% would be my results/discussion of my thesis and the 20 or 25% that is dedicated to the "written thesis" would be my introduction, background information, etc. This is something we decided on an individual basis because of the way my project is structured. I also think we increased the weighting of the literature review but I can't remember the exact numbers that they suggest.

Originally Posted by AnimeGamer31

Generally, there's 2 types of theses: a literature review in which you are just building a library of information and putting it all together and the second is where you try to test your hypothesis. I believe both types are available for both the 6 and 9 unit courses and the type of thesis you do will have to be agreed upon between you and your supervisor. To be frank, I think the only difference between the two courses is just the units and if you say for instance change from a 6 unit to a 9 unit halfway through, it does not change the amount of work you do. The reason why there is no concrete outline is because every student's thesis is different and the way it is evaluated is also different.

I hope this helped.

If you're doing a literature review, doesn't that require less work than one with data/experiments, and analysis of data and description of methods?

Would a 3 unit course be more appropriate for a literature review type of thesis?

Originally Posted by shelbs

I'm not entirely sure how that works because for my thesis, I am using data that has already been collected. It is my understanding that a lot of the marking scheme, grading etc. is decided with your supervisor. Obviously, the outline they provide you is what the Life Science department wants, but your supervisor just emails the marks in, so really, what they are giving you marks for is up to them. For mine, we decided that the 30% would be my results/discussion of my thesis and the 20 or 25% that is dedicated to the "written thesis" would be my introduction, background information, etc. This is something we decided on an individual basis because of the way my project is structured. I also think we increased the weighting of the literature review but I can't remember the exact numbers that they suggest.

I'm debating if I do a literature review, would a 6 unit thesis be appropriate? It seems kinda light compared to ones where you design an experiment, analyze data, and describe methods?

I kind of want to do a 9 unit thesis, but I'm worried that if I get a low grade in it, it would kill my CA.