Histology Stanley Shostak
BioSc 1450 Spring 03
My objective for the general histology part of this course has been to show you how to think histologically about tissues (epithelia, connective, blood, muscle, nerve). Your objective for this hour exam should be to show me that you can trace the implications of what you saw in sections to what you heard in lecture and read in the text or atlas.
I recommend that you use drawings as much as possible to illustrate your points. Please use a dark ball point pen rather than a pencil and write on every other line especially if you tend to have small handwriting. If you would like me to comment on your answer, please leave wide margins.
You can take the entire period to write your essay or leave whenever you are finished. In my experience, a good answer will take at least ten well-written and illustrated pages or something more than an hour of writing and drawing.
To paraphrase lines from Snow White, "Tissue, tissue in the body / Which is the purest of them all?"
Ideally, tissues are made up of more or less similar cells performing more or less similar functionsÑfrom what they synthesize to how they behaveÑbut the slides, lectures and texts show that tissues consist of vastly different cells making conspicuously different products and performing a variety of functions. Please (1) choose the tissue you consider the most homogeneous and (2) support your claim by showing that (2a) its cells, (2b) their products, and (2c) functions are more uniform and consistent than (3a) the cells, (3b) products, and (3c) functions of cells in other tissues.
Answers will be evaluated on the basis of cogency and grades will be based on accuracy (directly proportional to correct description and inversely proportional to major errors in content), comprehensiveness (major arguments for and against your choice of tissue) and specifics (as opposed to loose generalityÑi.e., direct and definitive examples). Spelling will not count as long as I can figure out your intention, but correct spelling and attention to grammar always improve clarity, and clarity helps me understand your answer.
Histology Stanley Shostak
BioSc 1450 Spring 03
Special Histology I: (1) circulatory system, (2) integumentary system (skin), (3) skeletal system (chondrogenesis, osteogenesis and joints), (4) hematopoiesis ( red bone marrow), (5) immune system and lymphoid organs, (6) respiratory system, and (7) digestive system (from oral cavity to colon, including pancreas, liver and gallbladder).
Please pick two parts of the SAME organ system (see list of organ systems above) which differ the most from each other and describe each of these parts using the terms of special histology. (Note: for the purpose of this exam, a part can be an entire organ or a specific section of an organ).
1) Before you begin writing, I hope you will think carefully about which parts of any organ system differ the most. You might also divide your exam book in half or organize two exam books before pen hits paper. Then,
(a) use the
histological nomenclature employed in special histology to describe the first
part of the organ system you have chosen;
(b) use the
same histological nomenclature wherever appropriate to describe the antithetical part of the SAME organ system.
2) I urge you to use accurate (if not realistic) and well labeled drawings as much as possible to aid your descriptions.
3) Pencil is acceptable for drawings, but please use a dark ballpoint pen rather than a pencil for writing and skip every other line, especially if you tend to have small handwriting. If you would like me to comment on your exam, please leave wide margins.
4) Take the entire period to write your essay. Of course, you can leave whenever you are finished, but, in my experience, a good essay of ten well-written and illustrated pages takes something more than an hour.
Essays will be evaluated and grades assigned on the basis of accuracy (directly proportional to correctness and inversely proportional to errors), comprehensiveness (Do your descriptions touch every major point?), cogency (Did you make a good choices of parts [i.e., were they very different]?), and specifics (Were your examples definitive?). Eponyms will be accepted, although approved anatomical nomenclature aids description. Spelling will not count as long as I can figure out your intention, but correct spelling and attention to grammar are always beneficial.