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SCHOLARLY STUDY GUIDELINES GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

• Scholarly pursuit projects must be focused, mentored and full-time commitments. A key aspect of this activity is that it must revolve around a specific hypothesis and the outcome of the project should involve work that aims to test this hypothesis. This requirement is fulfilled by a 3-month project, a year-long project, or by earning a second degree after matriculation into medical school.
• The scholarly pursuit proposal forms can be obtained from the Registrar’s Office and the proposal includes:
  • Specific Aims
  • Background and Significance
  • Research Design
  • Approval Process (e.g.-IRB approval)
  • Methods
  • Mentorship (including mentor's NIH biosketch or C.V.)
• Students who are accepted for a year-long program with a specific project may use the application as part of the scholarly pursuit paperwork.
• Students are expected to devote at least three months to this project with consecutive months preferred. The mentor is responsible for approving the structure of the project and the time commitment per week. If the project period includes residency interviews or non-consecutive months, the mentor and student need to agree that the project's goals will be met. In many cases, the student might be able to continue his/her work by analyzing results, collecting data, independent reading, etc.
• If a student selects a bench project which is supervised by a non-Penn mentor, then a Penn Med faculty member must approve the project, including the mentor, and the paper.
• If a student selects a non-bench project which is supervised by a non-Penn mentor, special approval is needed from Dr. Goldfarb.
• All projects must be approved one month before the actual start date. The completed proposal needs to be submitted to Maria Hernandez who will seek Dr. Brass' approval for bench projects and Dr. Goldfarb's for non-bench.
• All students must register for their Scholarly Pursuit Project by September 1 before graduation and complete the project by March 1 before graduation.
• To extend a project beyond the original date submit an email to Maria Hernandez indicating that your mentor has approved the extension. To change project topics, the proposal form must be re-submitted to Maria Hernandez.
• A final written report is required and one of the following are acceptable:

1. A draft of a manuscript submitted for publication.
2. A final report, which should be approximately 15 pages double spaced and include:
   1. An opening paragraph (approximately 300 words) summarizing the project and results.
   2. A brief statement of the hypotheses that were tested.
   3. Background information section – this can be from the proposal submitted before the research started.
   4. A description of the results that were obtained.
   5. A description of any unexpected problems that arose – and how they were overcome.
   6. Your conclusions – tentative or definite – and a discussion of what they mean.
   7. A description of what you would do next ("future directions") if you were to continue the project.

The manuscript or paper needs to be submitted to the mentor who will forward the document, with an evaluation form, to Registrar’s Office, Suite 100.

A Poster Presentation at the Research Day in March will be expected.

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