ConversationApply for biology research: Narrator: Listen to a conversation between a student and a biology department employee. Student: Hi. I read on the biology department website that their house it's available for students. Oh, well, the students who participate in an independent study, you know, where you create your own course. Employee: That's correct. Student: Well my roommate is a biology major and he told me a lot of students doing independent study do their research over at Lee Island University. It'll run through our university? Employee: It is. The biology department here coordinates everything. But most the research that students conduct is typically done there. See, the location of the Island University near the ocean makes it specially suited for those with an interest in marine biology. However you're not limited to that specific branch of biology. Student: I guess their location doesn't make it easy to do work in marine biology. Employee: Yeah. Anyway, you're expected to design the course focus on details yourself. This option is for students entering their third or fourth year. Um ... biology majors who have a good idea of what type of research they want to do and how to do it. Student: Well, that's my question. I will go over the website and it doesn't say that it's open only to biology. Employee: Well, you're going to do biology research. Student: Maybe I'd better explain. I'm English major, but I've taken quite a number of biology courses. Last time I worked for a book publisher on high school biology textbook, writing and editing and fact checking. Anyway, It's something that I want to pursue after I graduate. I really like kind of taking complicated science, especially marine biology, and making it understandable for people who don't have that kind of background. Employee: Okay. But I think it's a skill that participants will do a research in the field rather than writing ... Student: But I'm sure I could design something that combined ... Employee: Okay, Okay. Let me make a suggestion. Why don't I set up an appoint to your Dean Heath? You can charge it as independent study. He may tell you to go ahead and design a focused plan to include in your course application or he may say that what you're suggesting isn't realistic. I don't think he was expecting to get applications from students outside. Student: Well I'm not applying yet. I'm just gathering information. But that point makes a lot of sense. I can tell him about my background and let him know that I'm curious and I'm not wasting his time. Employee: And there's no reason why you should waste your time neither. The course application process, well, it can be time consuming. Okay. Let me check and see what his schedule is like for the rest of this year.