LIFE 320 Virus Disease Mechanism 2023/24C/C++

Java Python School of Life Sciences

Coursework assessment for Assessment Cycle [1] (semester [2], 2023/24)

LIFE 320            Virus Disease Mechanism

General instructions to students:

1.    Word count

•    The word count is a maximum (not plus/minus 10%). There is no minimum word count.

•    Please refer to the specific instructions below regarding what is and what isn’t included in the maximum word count for this assignment.

•    Penalties will be applied for exceeding the word count as follows:

o Up to 1% (e.g. up to 2020 for a 2000 word maximum)        no penalty

o Up to 10% (e.g. between 2021 and 2200 words)                   5 % penalty

o Up to 20% (e.g. between 2201 and 2400 words)                   10 % penalty

o Etc. (i.e. 5% penalty for every 10% above word count)

•    Enter your word count at the bottom of your submission

2.    Submission

•    Your work should be submitted via the submission link in your module area in Canvas

•    Please make sure that you follow the guidance on written assessments which can be found on the School Canvas Page.

•    Also refer to the School Canvas pages in relation to the penalties for Late Submission and possible exemptions.

•    If you have any technical problems submitting to Canvas by the deadline, you must

email your work to the module organiser (copying in [email protected] ) by the deadline, as evidence that you have submitted in time. You should also provide a screenshot of the error you are experiencing. You should then continue to attempt submitting via Canvas.

3.    Academic Integrity

The University’s Academic Integrity policy and your annual Academic Integrity declaration apply to this assessment. If necessary, the full range of penalties (Category A, B, C, D, and E) will be available to examiners if they discover contraventions of the Academic Integrity policy. You can consult the University’s Academic Integrity guide for students here:

https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/tqsd/code-of-practice-on-assessment/appendix_L_cop_assess_annex1.pdf

Please remember you should follow the guidance given on making GAI Declarations by including the appropriate statement in your work. :

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI)

GAI declaration:

Declaration for each assignment you submit

I did use GAI in the preparation of this work

I did not use GAl in the preparation of this work

I did use GAI in the preparation of this work

Include a short summary below the declaration

- explain what you used the GAI tool(s) for

- what prompts you used in the GAI tool(s)

Please note: Your answer should be written in your own words. Do not use any verbatim (word for word) quotes. Your assignment may not contain verbatim (copy-and-paste) material that you have submitted for another assessment, either on this or a different module.

Expectations:

SEE BELOW

Specific instructions:

You have been provided with a research paper on a virology topic, for which you have to write a News & Views Article.

To help with this assignment, you should read the paper, try to understand the area and impact.  You will then attend a session (in the timetable) where we will discuss the paper, and be given some help with what the purpose of a News & Views article is, and what makes a good New & Views article.

General Information on News and Views Articles:

News and Views articles  (as they  are  called  in the  Nature  Journals) are found  in  many &n LIFE 320 Virus Disease Mechanism 2023/24C/C++ bsp;scientific journals.  In other journals they are often called commentaries.  It is important for journals to provide its readers with a broad and accessible overview of the most important and interesting advances in the scientific area covered by the journal.  A News & Views article is specifically designed to achieve this goal, by informing readers via short commentaries about interesting advances in the area in the latest published papers.

News and Views articles are always short (i.e. focused), around 1,000 words in length. The central message of the News and Views must be stated clearly in the first paragraph, then put in context of what the paper shows (and in relation to other work in this area).  The piece should be written in a manner accessible to non-specialists (but is not written in lay language). Personal opinions, viewpoints and predictions are encouraged. The inclusion of one figure is mandatory to illustrate the specific points made or the more general context of the research results reported.

So some questions to think about for this assignment: What makes a good News & Views article?

Why is this paper interesting to non-experts/specialists? What question (of general interest) did it address?

What does the paper show (and overall message)? Can you link it to other published work?

The News & Views Article should follow this format:

Title: The title should be between 30 and 40 characters. Try to use ‘catchy’ keywords in the title and be as clear and brief as possible.

Lead: The lead is an important part of the article. The lead appears under the title in the layout of a News & Views article to help give readers a general idea of what the article is about. The lead should summarise the key area of research and the main result of the article.   It should be interesting so to make readers want to read more. Try to use keywords. This should be between 20 to 30 words (two sentences generally or 3 short ones).

Main Text: The main message of the article will have been summed up in the title and the lead. The rest of the text (article) should expand on this but be as clear and concise as possible. Try to use short sentences and break paragraphs up. Think about using one paragraph per concept. Each paragraph should be no longer than 250-300 words maximum. The first paragraph should briefly mention the paper (the subject of the N&Vs) – the background and key message i.e. say why it is important and what (overall) it has found (and cite the paper here). Then the remaining text should focus on the data (evidence/results)

Figure: ONE figure must be included.  It should not be an image/figure from the paper.  It should be a pictorial image to represent the total story [this could be called a graphical abstract, some journals include these for primary research articles]. This figure should be generated by you (i.e. an original figure).

References: I would expect around 5 or 6  references,  no  more than  10.   The  actual  paper  being discussed should only be referenced once or twice at most – once at the very beginning and perhaps again when you start to review the data (after the general introduction).

Coursework Question(s):

To write a news and views article on the following virology research publication.

Reitmayer et al. (2023). Mimicking superinfection exclusion disrupts alphavirus infection and

transmission in the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti.  Proc. Nat Acad. Sci (USA) 120,

e2303080120 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2303080120 This is available as a pdf in the Cycle 1 assessment folder on Canvas