A novel approach is described using primary literature manuscripts for the final examination of an upper level undergraduate course in virology. This innovative technique was applied as an alternative to a core comprehensive final examination. A recent primary literature paper in virology was assigned several weeks before the end of the semester. Students were instructed to procure the electronic version of the manuscript, and to thoroughly read, highlight and outline the manuscript in advance. The examination was administered with an open book format and students were encouraged to bring laptops to access information as needed to answer questions. This primary literature‐based examination format is presented here as an alternative to a comprehensive final exam. By comparing student examination scores for both final examination formats over a period of 11 years, it was determined that student performance was strong and not statistically different when compared to conventional comprehensive final examinations. Thus, the examination format described here was a useful assessment tool that provided students with valuable exposure to the discipline specific primary literature. While this article describes an application to an undergraduate virology course, the same examination techniques could be successfully applied to examinations in undergraduate or graduate classes in any areas of biochemistry and molecular biology.

中文翻译：

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本科病毒学课程综合期末考试的新颖的基于原始文献的替代方案

使用原始文献手稿描述了一种新方法，用于病毒学高级本科课程的期末考试。这种创新技术被用作核心综合期末考试的替代方案。最近的病毒学初级文献论文在学期结束前几周被分配。指导学生购买手稿的电子版，并提前仔细阅读、突出显示和概述手稿。考试采用开卷形式进行，鼓励学生根据需要携带笔记本电脑访问信息以回答问题。这种主要的基于文献的考试形式在此处作为综合期末考试的替代方案。通过比较 11 年期间两种期末考试形式的学生考试成绩，确定学生的表现很强，与传统的综合期末考试相比，没有统计学差异。因此，这里描述的考试形式是一种有用的评估工具，它为学生提供了宝贵的接触特定学科主要文献的机会。虽然本文描述了本科病毒学课程的申请，但同样的考试技巧也可以成功应用于任何生物化学和分子生物学领域的本科或研究生课程的考试。这里描述的考试形式是一种有用的评估工具，它为学生提供了宝贵的接触特定学科的初级文献的机会。虽然本文描述了本科病毒学课程的申请，但同样的考试技巧也可以成功应用于任何生物化学和分子生物学领域的本科或研究生课程的考试。这里描述的考试形式是一种有用的评估工具，它为学生提供了宝贵的接触特定学科的初级文献的机会。虽然本文描述了本科病毒学课程的申请，但同样的考试技巧也可以成功应用于任何生物化学和分子生物学领域的本科或研究生课程的考试。