Assignment: Write an 8-10 page paper on one of the topics listed below (topics may not be duplicated – to be determined on a first come, first served basis). General: Remember that the audience for this paper is a college educated biologist, so very simple terms need not be defined. However, proper use of citations is expected, please see below for instructions. I expect you to proof read your papers for any of spelling and grammar mistakes as I will take off points for this. If you feel that you need help writing, feel free to take advantage of the wonderful people at the TAMUCT writing center, be sure to make an appointment first and do not wait until the last minute! **Be assured that the university has a strict policy on plagiarism and cheating. I will uphold that policy and anyone caught conducting academic dishonesty will receive a zero – consider yourself warned!** Research: I expect that you will research your topic using the library, the internet, your textbook and, especially, professional journals. Use a variety of sources, not just the internet (I will take off points if more than 40% of your sources are from the internet). Be very careful when reading information that is not from a peer-reviewed source (i.e. not professional journals) because many groups/people tend to post information that serves their particular agenda and is not necessarily scientifically correct (I have seen several of these). I expect that if you use one of these sources, you will check the validity of their facts. Be sure to introduce and define your topic broadly first, then give more detail and examples to demonstrate your points. You should also end with a summary section that neatly ties the paper together. Tables, figures and pictures are to be on separate pages at the end of the paper (after references); they are not to be inserted in the pages of text. Text Format guidelines (I will be strict about this): Double spaced lines (except for literature cited, which should be single spaced) 1 inch margins (check this, most defaults are 1.5; you can change it in page setup) Times New Roman font, size 12 No space between paragraphs No page breaks between sections Citations: Please use the Council of Scientific Editors (CSE) ″Name, Year″ citation style for your writing: https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/documentation/doccse/nameyear/ (Links to an external site.) Other miscellaneous: The following hints will improve your writing: Avoid long run-on sentences. We are trying to write concisely and clearly. Don’t use twelve letter words when simpler ones will do just fine. Genus and species names in Latin are always italicized or underlined. Only the first letter of the genus is capitalized. Homo sapiens, Danaus plexippus, etc… Write numbers as numerals when they are associated with measurement units (2 km), spell them out only for numbers ˂ 10 (e.g. five hamsters; 20 geese). Always spell out a number if it is the first word of a sentence. DON′T use quotes. Follow the advice of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said, ″I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.″ Instead, paraphrase the author and cite him/her. Quotes interrupt the flow of your text. Don′t use contractions in formal writing. Scientific writing is formal communication. Don′t use conversational language, colloquialisms or slang. Proofread, proofread, proofread! Some frequently misused/misspelled words (spell check will not catch most of these): affect/effect ″Effect″ is a noun (usually). ″Affect″ is always a verb. “The effect of their misuse will be that your grade will be affected by subtracting five points”. it’s/its ″It′s″ is the conjunction ″it is″. ″Its″ is the possessive form their/there/they’re I assume this is just carelessness, proofread your paper. between/among Between refers to two things, while among refers to more than two. fewer/less Use ″fewer″ if you can count the items, ″less″ if you can′t. (less water, but fewer boats) amount/number Use ′amount″ if you can′t count them, ″number″ if you can. (The amount of sand and the number of rocks) oftentimes Drop the ″times″; it′s redundant. different from / different than Different from is correct; different than is not. than/then “than” refers to a comparison – proofread your paper for mix-ups The word data is plural and the word datum singular