Below is detailed information that you will need to complete your 4-6 page, 1500 word paper on your chosen threatened or endangered species.
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Writing Assignment: You must write a SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL STYLE paper on a species of your choosing that is currently being affect by biodiversity crisis. Please use the Short Guide to Writing About Biology, the CSE Name Year Style Guide and the information contained within this assignment as your guide.
This paper 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. The length of the write-up should be 4-6 pages (please no more than 6 pages), a minimum of 1500 words (not counting citations), 12pt. times new roman or Arial font, double-spaced, and word processed (approx. 1500-2000 words).
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FORMAT: You do not need to place these underline headers in your paper this is just to help you create your paper. No need for an abstract. No cover page needed.
Introduction: describe the topic, indicate the scope and give any history and/or background information that is appropriate. (Cite literature)
Body: Include current information/arguments drawn from a wide array of literature sources and text. Connect the issue to some aspect represented in the text (In other words what have you learned in the class that has enabled you to write on this issue). Develop your ideas sequentially. (Cite literature)
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 its community (if applicable). Also, indicate what the future may hold. (Cite literature)
Literature Cited: Follow the form as given at the end of these instructions. Note: all scientific names are in italics!
For example, if we were doing our paper on tigers, it might look something like this:
Introduction: Introduce what the tiger is, where it is found, what it current status is (endangered/threatened?), how many are left in the world. (Cite literature)
Body: Why tigers are important to the health of the ecosystem, what has caused their decline, what is being done to help conserve the species (Cite literature)
Conclusion/Discussion: wrap up all points into a coherent closing; give ideas/hopes for the future (Cite literature)
Literature Cited: Follow the form as given at the end of these instructions.
Citations: Always give credit for ALL information you have gained from someone else. The only information that does not need to be cited is data generated by you personally or common knowledge. In science, direct quotes are seldom used. Instead, information is summarized and the sources cited. Citations occur within the text using the CSE Name Year format NOT as footnotes. This is an activity to gauge how well you can write, not how well a published author can write. Therefore, DO NOT PUT DIRECT QUOTES FROM YOUR SOURCES. You must REPHRASE the information you have gathered. You must cite all your sources both within the body of the paper AND at the end, in the literature cited section.
We will be using the CSE NAME YEAR style (or Council of Scientific Editors style) for all of our citations. You absolutely must use this style for your citations in this paper. You can find more detailed information on how to cite your references both within the body of your paper and at the end in your literature cited section by going to your course book, Write, Present, Create: Science Communication for Undergraduates (Cognella, 2015 First Edition)
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You must have at least 10 reputable literature sources. Of these 10, you must have:
A minimum of 8 peer reviewed journals
A maximum of 2 can be from an online only website (no minimum requirement for websites)
A maximum of 2 books (no minimum requirement for books)
A maximum of 2 secondary literature resources such as magazines (no minimum requirement of secondary sources)
You MUST HAVE PRIMARY, PEER REVIEWED ARTCILES CITED IN YOUR PAPER. 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 hard copy papers that have been published in paper form elsewhere. Most libraries now store journal articles in electronic form. A web resource, is a website that does not exist in a published, printed format anywhere. If you access an electronic copy from a library database, treat it as a journal do not put any info on what database you accessed it from.
