Biology 101 Paper
Assignment
You are to write a three-page paper, single spaced on any topic you desire that is related to some aspect of biology. Before writing the paper, you should submit your topic to me for approval. The topic submission should be in the form of a question that you will answer in the paper.
I have three objectives in given this assignment. The first objective is to allow you an opportunity to explore in greater depth a question in biology of direct interest to you. The second objective is to help you understand better how to gather information on a topic from various sources, including the NOVA library system. The final objective is to improve your writing skills.
I would suggest the following process for developing and writing this paper. First, chose a topic of interest to you and one that can be covered in some detail within the page limit of this paper. You should pose this topic as a question. Second, conduct internet and library research on your topic developing a collection of several articles and paper directly related to answering the question posed by your topic. Third, list all the topics and information you want to present in your paper and divide the information under certain subtopics that lead to paragraphs of your paper. This should result in a paper outline. Once you have an outline, you are ready to write a rough draft of your paper. Set the rough draft aside for several days and then return to it and edit it for grammar, spelling, content, and length. Use the edited rough draft to create your final paper.
The information that is not original with you in every statement in your paper has to have a reference to the source where you found the information. Points will be deducted for unreferenced facts. The purpose of a reference is to allow the reader to find out where you obtained your information so the reader can refer to the original document if desired. You need at least three separate references for your paper.
References fall into different categories: scientific journals, popular journals, gray literature, and books. You will find the most accurate and technical scientific information in scientific journals, such as the Journal of Ecology, Science, Nature, etc. Other scientists have reviewed the information in a scientific paper before it is published in a scientific journal. The paper will tell you how the information reported was collected and analyzed. Many scientists list on the internet their papers that were published in scientific journals. You can also find scientific journals in the library. Each year millions of scientific papers are published in scientific journals. The librarians can help you locate papers on your topic published in scientific journals. The library can order articles by inter-library loan from scientific journals that it does not have in its collection. Your paper should have at least one reference from a paper in a scientific journal.
The information in popular journals has not been reviewed by other scientists and is usually less technical. Journals such as National Geographic, Audubon Magazine, Time Magazine, etc. are all popular journals. You want to find most of your information in scientific journals and limit your use of popular journals.
Gray literature refers to reports that have not been published in a journal or book. There are numerous reports available of the Internet from the Federal and State governments and from a wide variety of organizations (for example the Chesapeake Bay Foundation). They often list information from surveys or field data collected by the government agency or the organization issuing the report. The accuracy of the data depends on how it was collected. The conclusions drawn from the data are often influenced by the agenda of the organization. Gray literature, however, is an important source of original information not found in scientific journals. A text reference to a gray literature report should provide the page in the report on which the information used is located.
Rarely will you use a book as a reference in a short paper. DO NOT USE THE TEXT BOOK AS A REFERENCE. You are to find references other than the text book. Scientific books cover a broad topic and usually get their information from many published papers. Get the information from the papers directly if possible. The “References Cited” or “Bibliography” sections of a scientific book often provide information on pertinent scientific papers that you can locate. A text reference to a book should provide the page in the book on which the information used is located.
Within the text of your paper, you need to reference the source of all the information provided that is not original with you. You then attach to the end of your paper a “References Cited” section that lists all of the references you used. Do not list a source in the references cited section that you did not reference in your paper.
There are several ways to list a reference within your text. If the information applies to only on sentence, you generally list the reference at the end of the sentence in parentheses. You list the author (or for gray literature the organization) followed by the date. A comma separates the author and date, for example, (Jones, 1999). The reference is part of the sentence, so the period or question mark at the end of the sentence comes after the reference.
If you plan to write several sentences or a paragraph using the information from one source, you can lists the source at the beginning of that section of your paper and refer to the author in prior sentences. For example, Jones (1999) discusses the symptoms of this disease. He found the following… He concluded that … In this case, you only put the data of the paper in parentheses and the date follows the first use of the author’s or organization’s (for gray literature) name.
At the end of your paper, list all the sources you referenced in the paper in a references cited section. There are examples of proper references at the end of these guidelines. For each reference, you want to first list the author’s last name followed by her or his initials. For gray literature, you list the name of the organization releasing the report. Then you list the publication date of the source. Following the date, list the name of the paper or report. For papers, list the journal name, volume number, issue number, and pages within the journal where for the paper. For gray literature, list the organization the produced the report and how many pages the report is. If you use a book, you need to list the author, date published, books, name, publisher, and number of pages.
For Internet references, you need to provide author's last name, initial(s), the date of document, the title of document, the title of the complete work (if applicable), a version or file number (if applicable) and edition or revision number (if applicable). You should also provide the protocol and address, access path, and directories. Finally, provide the date you accessed the reference. Scientific papers on the Internet often list the journal information and you should also provide that along with Internet address information.
The paper should be within a half page of three pages in length. It should be single-spaced and be in 12 font-size. You are free to use any font type you want as long as it is easily readable.
Item Points
On time 8
Length 4
Proper references 8
Citations done right 4
Writing 8
Discussion of topic 13
Total 45
At the end of your paper, list all the sources you referenced in the paper in a references cited section. Please use the APA citation style as listed below.
JOURNAL ARTICLE (paper copy)
Oguisso, T. (1999). Professional nursing in Brazil. International Nursing Review, 43(3), 81-94.
JOURNAL ARTICLE (online, from an Internet database)
Kavanagh, K., Absalom, K., Beil, W., & Schliessmann, L. (1999). Connecting and becoming culturally competent: A Lakota example. Advances in Nursing Science, 21(3), 9-31. Retrieved March 26, 2001 from ProQuest/Nursing Journals database.
JOURNAL ARTICLE (online, on a web site)
Outbreak news. (2001, February 23). Weekly Epidemiological Record, 76(8), 57-64. Retrieved February 28, 2001 from http://www.who.int/wer/pdf/2001/wer7608.pdf
MAGAZINE ARTICLE (paper copy)
Ulrich, T. (1997, September 22). Linking an Amish hereditary disease with cerebral palsy, a pediatrician challenges a dark inheritance. Time, 150(19), 30-33.
BOOK
Geissler, E. M. (1998). Pocket guide to cultural assessment (2nd ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
BOOK CHAPTER, ESSAY, or ARTICLE when author is credited
de Paula, T. C. M., Lagana, K., & Gonzalez-Ramirez, L. (1996). Mexican Americans. In J. G. Lipson, S. L Dibble, & P. A. Minarik (Eds.), Culture and nursing care: A pocket guide (pp. 203-221). San Francisco: USCF Nursing Press.
ARTICLE in a STANDARD ENCYCLOPEDIA (paper copy)
Islam. (1992). In The new encyclopaedia Britannica (Vol. 22, pp. 1-43). Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica.
ARTICLE in a STANDARD ENCYCLOPEDIA (web site version)
Islam. (1992). In Britannica.com. Retrieved February 9, 2002 from Britannica.com database.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE (paper copy)
Padilla, H. (2000, June 6). Hugo prohibits custom animal slaughter; the vote will officially close a Hmong slaughterhouse, where animals were sacrificed for religious reasons. Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), p. 1B.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE (online, from an Internet database)
Padilla, H. (2000, June 6). Hugo prohibits custom animal slaughter; the vote will officially close a Hmong slaughterhouse, where animals were sacrificed for religious reasons. Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), p. 1B. Retrieved February 28, 2001 from Lexis-Nexis Universe/General News database.