Frequently Asked Questions
All Questions
  
Video Tutorial
1. Registering an Account

An introduction to the BOLD Student Data Portal website. This video provides an overview of the system and describes how to register and create a course.
2. Submitting Data

This video follows the submission of a DNA barcode record from the specimen data all the way to the sequence. It focuses on the student interface, but it allows instructors to follow the steps students will need to undertake in order to create their records.
3. Overseeing a course

This video provides an overview of the tools available to instructors to monitor student work and participation. It also describes the steps needed in validating and approving student-generated data for publication on BOLD and GenBank.

What should I do with a record that does not meet the approval standards?

If a record does not meet approval standards, the first step is to determine if any data element can be edited to correct the record for approval. For example, this may include having to re-shoot a photograph, or re-edit a sequence, or simply assisting a student upload a component they are having difficulty with. If a record cannot be edited to meet approval standards, it can be rejected from the Record Approval Queue.

It is important to note that all components of a rejected record will be deleted from the course dataset and all individual student contributions will be lost. Therefore rejecting a record should be the final resource. 

Even records that do not meet international DNA barcoding standards can contain useful information. These records can stay in your class project and can even be used as teaching tools. Records with poor quality trace files, contaminated sequences, or even missing specimen data can all be used as examples to help students understand why it is important to create the highest quality records possible - one that includes specimen data, images, trace files, and sequences.

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