All first year students will complete this course during the first rotation period. Papers from the scientific literature are used to help set the foundations for students to develop their ability to think along a logical path, to critically analyze information and data, and to present scientific results to a group.

Students are encouraged to develop an approach to understanding the scientific literature that includes asking the following questions about each experiment considered: What is the question that the authors asked? How was the experiment performed? What techniques were used and why? What is the nature of the data produced? What represents a significant result? What were the conclusions made by the authors? Does the author's data justify the conclusions made? And, what conclusions would the student make?

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