At the orientation session, the course coordinator and all registered students will discuss the specific challenges encountered by the types of data and arguments frequently presented in molecular biology seminars. The coordinator and the students will identify commonly made mistakes and discuss ways to avoid them. In subsequent weeks, students will meet in small groups of approximately 12 students. Attendance at every session is mandatory. Each week, 3 or 4 students will present a 15-minute seminar based on their current graduate research and will critique the seminars of others. Two professors will also be in the room to help organize, encourage discussion, and evaluate the presentations. Each presenter will be given a set time, uninterrupted, to present the seminar. After the seminar, a typical critique session consists of the presenter running through their presentation again (slide-by-slide), with comments and constructive suggestions from the evaluators (initially the students, then the faculty) being provided at appropriate places. The group will try to identify what makes a "good" slide "good" and how to revise and improve the less effective slides. It is expected that opinions will vary among evaluators, and it will be helpful for everyone to hear a range of opinions.

For each seminar, each evaluator will provide written feedback on the form provided. This feedback will be provided anonymously to the presenter to help them revise their seminar for presentation to the department in the second academic term.