Summer 2014 Biology 21 (Poffenroth) Humans and The Global Environment Writing Project
Summer 2014 Biology 21 (Poffenroth) Humans and The Global Environment Writing Project All deadlines are firm – No late papers will be accepted (150 Total Points) Overview/Due Dates (All are due by 11:59pm PST) Stage 1: Research Methods, Topic Choice, and Paper Outline Activity (20 points). Due June 11. No Late Assignments Stage 2: Submit your rough draft to ETS Criterion (5 points – Credit/No Credit). Due June 13. No late assignments. Stage 3: Blind Peer Review via PeerMark (20 points: must submit AND review the papers of TWO students in our class in order to receive credit). Upload your draft by: June 17. PeerMark papers will be available on: June 18. PeerMark papers must be reviewed by: June 20. – No late assignments. Stage 4: Submit complete FINAL DRAFT to turnitin.com for faculty grading (100 points). Due June 27. Stage 5: Peer Analysis and Reflection, In-Class Assignment (5 points). July 1. Stage Details Stage 1 (20 points): Research Methods and Outline (20 points) Complete the Stage 1 worksheet found on Canvas. Submit this by the due date above. No late papers will be accepted. You will submit this DIRECTLY THROUGH CANVAS. No need to submit Stage 1 to turnitin.com. All instructions can be found on the worksheet. Stage 1 is where you will choose your topics. Stage 2 (5 points): Submit your well-written draft to ETS Criterion (Credit/No Credit) Once you have your topic approved in Stage 1, begin to write your draft. Please see the detailed instructions on how to complete this Scientific Literature Review Paper at the end of this handout. Upload your rough draft to ETS Criterion by going to: www.etscriterion.com and entering our class code: 5EYP - Y8U5 If you do not have an ETS Criterion account, please enroll in a free account before trying to add into our class with the class code above. Review the comments made by ETS Criterion. ETS Criterion is meant to assist you in finding mechanical mistakes. Please note, it is a machine and by no means perfect. It will most likely mark correctly spelled scientific words as incorrect. That being said, it still has value in finding mistakes a word processor may not. Use your discretion on addressing comments made by ETS Criterion. This draft should be at least 500 words. It does not need to be fully complete. This can be a very rough draft. You are not required to upload your literature cited section for Stage 2, unless you wish to do so. You may also upload any future drafts, as many times as you wish, to ETS Criterion. Any uploaded drafts beyond the first one by the above due date is optional. Stage 3 (20 points): You will upload a nearly complete draft to turnitin.com by the due date above. Then you will be given (randomly and anonymously) two other student’s papers to review. You will read through your peer’s papers, make suggestions for improvement and address the questions provided within the PeerMark interface. In order to receive credit for this stage you must submit your paper and adequately review/comment on the two student’s papers you receive. Although your peer will not know who reviewed their paper, I will. I have full access to everything that is written within turnitin.com and who wrote it. Therefore, when making comments/suggestions you must maintain professional and supportive language at all times. If any comments are made during the review processes that are deemed abusive or unprofessional, the originator of the comments will receive a zero for this assignment. When reviewing your peer’s papers, provide constructive criticism, but do it in a polite and supportive way. Again, abusive language will not be tolerated. If you receive comments from your student reviewer that are unprofessional, please come see me immediately and we will work on it together. You must have your two student papers reviewed on turnitin.com no later than review due date above. This draft should be between 10001500 words and contain your literature cited section for all works cited in your paper. Absolutely no late papers will be accepted for this stage. Also, do not wait until the last minute to submit your paper to turnitin.com. Submit early to allow buffer time for technology issues/user error. Stage 4 (100 points): Submit your complete FINAL DRAFT to turnitin.com for faculty grading. Please see the RUBRIC file for details on how your paper will be graded. No canvas copy needed. No hardcopy needed. The final draft must be at least 1500 words. Once papers are graded, they will be released via turnitin.com. You will receive an email once your paper is ready. You must then sign into your turnitin.com account to review your comments and final grade. Please do not expect graded papers back before the last week of lectures. Late papers up to 3 days will be accepted for this stage only at a penalty of 10 points per day. Stage 5 (5 points): Peer Analysis and Reflection, In-Class Assignment. This assignment will occur in class. You must be present to complete this assignment and to earn the points associated with it. No makeups are available. Writing Assignment Details You must write a SCIENTIFIC, primary literature review paper based upon the topics you chose in your Stage 1 Activity. It should be an example of your best efforts at written communication. Part of your grade will be based on form, style, and grammar, while the content of your report will carry the heaviest weight towards your grade. You will be turning all written assignments into turnitin.com ONLY. You will be able to see your originality report upon submission and you will have the option to resubmit your paper until the due date. – No hardcopy is needed. Remember, this is a biology class and therefore your paper needs to include the biological aspects of your chosen topics. Draw upon what we cover in lecture and lab to guide you. The grading rubric that will be used to grade your final draft is available for you to view on Canvas. To Be Addressed in Your Writing Assignment: The vast array of environmental problems we are currently facing knows no boundaries. Borderlines drawn upon a map do not stop pollution, global climate change, disease, or resource depletion. In this assignment you will write your paper based upon topics that bring together global environmental issues with their direct impact on human health, using an international lens. Using your chosen topics from Stage 1, address all of the following Questions A-D in your paper (order does not mater. The order in which you address these will depend upon how you structure your paper) – Remember: This is a biology class, so make sure your paper keeps that biological sciences focus (i.e. don’t make it an argument paper, an opinion paper, or a humanities paper). • • • • Question A: The Science Behind Your Chosen Environmental Issue: Introduce the science/biology behind your chosen environmental issue. How has science/biology directly impacted your topic (for better or for worse)? Remember: This is a biology class – so you will need to make sure that you are covering your topic’s biological aspects adequately. Question B: The Ethics of Your Issue: Examine the ethical implications of this environmental problem on human society. What groups of individuals does your chosen topic most greatly impact? Is the impact different for developed nations versus developing nations? If so, how? Question C: The Laws and Politics of Your Issue: Discuss the laws and/or politics that allowed this problem to occur and allow it to continue today. How do laws and politics influence the science behind your topic? Are there any laws/politics that prevent your global environmental issue from being addressed? Question D: The Impact on Human Health: Correlate your chosen human health main topic to your chosen global environmental sub-topic(s). Use specific examples (both from developed and developing nations) to illustrate how they are connected. Cite all your sources of information. Compare your topic/issue by finding examples from a developed nation and then compare/contrast with examples from a developing nation. Are they similar or different? Basic Format Requirements of the Paper: • • • Minimum of 1500 words and a maximum of 2000 words. (Under 1500 and over 2000 words will have points deducted). Use 12pt. Times New Roman or Arial font, double-spaced, and word-processed. You will need a total minimum of 7 peer reviewed journal articles. Fully cited within the body of your paper and at the end in the literature cited section. o Although you need 7 peer reviewed journal articles, you are not required to have any Internet or book sources. There is no maximum number of references. o As long as you have your minimum peer reviewed journals, you can cite all additional secondary sources that have been published, no maximum. o There is no min/max for books and you have a maximum of 3 reputable website sources. o Use the CSE Name-Year style guide format for citations. See below for more information. • • • • • • • • No direct quotes. Paraphrase everything and cite your original sources. Remove personal bias and do not include personal information. Do not use, “I, Me, My” statements. Write in a scientific, professional tone. Do not use slang. Do not use an editorial, conversational, or argumentative tone. Use research and facts/data to support all of your main points. Do not include points that you cannot support with reputable information. Unsubstantiated personal opinion does not belong in a scientific literature review paper. Unoriginal percentage must be under 20% (this will account for common language and citations). All references must be cited within the body of the paper AND at the end in the literature cited section. All standard grammar and writing rules apply. No images (no pictures or graphs). The purpose of this assignment is to: 1.) 2.) 3.) 4.) 5.) Learn as much as you can about your topic Evaluate the benefits and pitfalls of using a combination of primary and secondary sources (references). Draw conclusions as an informed member of society. Learn how to write a concise, grammatically correct, non-plagiarized review paper. Learn from your mistakes by completing a draft and final version of your paper. Please utilize the book Pechenik, Jan A. A short Guide to Writing About Biology 7th edition. and check out the SJSU Writing Center http://www.sjsu.edu/writingcenter/ for additional help with general English writing structure and grammar. This paper must have all the attributes of a well written SCIENTIFIC paper. This includes having good sentence structure, excellent grammar and a logically, well thought out overall flow. Useful Note: all scientific species names (e.g. ‘Homo sapiens’) are written in italics! This is a SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE REVIEW STYLE PAPER. NOT an opinion, creative, essay or argument paper. Absolutely no direct quotes. Additional notes on FORMAT (Use this format for your paper, no need to place headings or numbers in your finished work): 1. Give your piece a short but informative title 2. Introduction: Introduce and describe your chosen topic, indicate the scope and give any history and/or background information that is appropriate. (Cite literature) 3. Body: Include current information/research drawn from a wide array of primary/peer reviewed literature sources and text. Develop your ideas sequentially. Talk about the impacts and effects of your chosen topic on wildlife/the Environment and Humans. Does your chosen topic also have an impact on the human food supply? If so, how? (Cite Literature) 4. Conclusion/Discussion: Pull together the information and ideas to make a coherent picture. Give some idea of the importance of the topic and its role in the natural and human community (if applicable). Also, indicate what the future may hold – is anything being done to combat the negative effects of your chosen topic? (Cite literature) 5. Literature cited: Follow the form as given at the end of these instructions. All scientific names are in italics. Literature cited section does not count toward your word requirement. You must cite all sources within the body of your paper and at the end in this section. They must be in the format stated below. NOTE: Always give credit for ALL information you have gained from someone else. If it did not come from your brain or is not common knowledge, then you must cite your source. In science direct quotes are seldom used. Instead, information is summarized and the sources indicated. Citations occur in the text in the following format (Author last name, year article written) NOT as footnotes. DO NOT PUT DIRECT QUOTES FROM YOUR SOURCE. Turnitin.com will recognize that as plagiarism and you will receive a zero on your paper. You must REPHRASE the information you have gathered. You MUST follow the literature cited format as stated below. You must cite all your sources both within the body of the paper AND at the end, in the Literature Cited section. Again, absolutely no direct quotes. Paraphrase the information you find in your research into your own words. This is an activity to measure your skill in writing and research, not your skill in copy and paste. Citing Your References in CSE Name-Year Style You MUST Use this format for your Literature citations within text (use ONLY this format): (Single Author) Alligator lizards are active during the day (Jones 1984) while desert geckos are nocturnal (Smith 1982). (Two Authors) Alligator lizards are active during the day (Jones and Davis 1984) while desert geckos are nocturnal (Smith and Kirk 1982). (More than 2 Authors) Alligator lizards are active during the day (Jones et al. 1984) while desert geckos are nocturnal (Smith et al. 1982). (Websites) Alligator lizards are active during the day (worldwildlifefund.org, 2008) while desert geckos are nocturnal (nature.org 2008). If you have used a reference multiple times within the same paragraph, you may cite your reference at the end of the last sentence in your paragraph. Otherwise, cite your source at the end of the thought/idea of which you are using their information. These references are then included more fully in the Literature Cited section at the end of your report, in the following format. If you have used the Latin abbreviation et al., (which is short for ‘et alia’, or ‘and others’) within the body of your paper you MUST spell out each author’s name in the literature cited section. Literature cited section: You MUST Use this format for your Literature Cited section (use ONLY this format; no extra information is needed). Each individual citation is single spaced with a double space separating individual citations. No hanging indents. All left justified. Alphabetized by last name of first author (or website). Do not include URL information for peer reviewed articles you retrieved from an online database. To cite a peer reviewed journal article in CSE Name-Year Format: Jones, V.W. Smith, L.V., and Patel, M. 1984. Activity periods of alligator lizards. Journal of Lizard Research. 34(2):182-189. To cite a book in CSE Name-Year Format: Smith, I.M., Barlow, T.K., and Jerome, M.M. 1982. The Life of the Gecko. College of the Desert Press, Tucson. 333pp. To cite a website in CSE Name-Year Format: World Health Organization. Malarial mortality in Africa. 3 July 2001. http://www.who.int/rbm/Presentations. [accessed 2003 May 5] Your sources must be diverse! You must have Peer Reviewed, primary Journal literature sources. You may have NO Wikipedia resources! If you use multiple pages from a single website, it is still considered just one website-one source. When you access journals from the library through the Internet, these are considered NON-WEB resources because they are simply electronic versions of printed media.