INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING YOUR PAPER (DUE 5:00 PM Tuesday May 12, 2020)
Format of your Paper: The text of your finished paper should be 1200 to 1800 words (4-6 pages) in
length, double-spaced and typewritten in 12-point font using 1” margins. Number your pages,
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and do NOT include a separate title page. Simply put the title at the top of the first page,
followed by your name, then the text of the paper. I won’t count your words unless the paper
seems obviously short or long, and then I may deduct points.
Save your paper and submit as a pdf file into the assignment dropbox on Katie.
Grading: Your paper grade will be an equal analysis of two major areas, both content and writing
ability. I will use the grading rubrick previously posted for the class to assign grades.
Style: Biologists follow the “Council of Scientific Editors” (CSE) style for writing papers. These
instructions follow CSE style guidelines.
Title: Select a title that clearly references your topic. If you should change your topic and title later,
you must have it approved by your instructor.
Sources: Use the library, and be sure to try other key words and terms in your computer-aided search
and ask the reference librarians for help, it’s their job (and they are waiting on-line to help you!)
Quoting and Paraphrasing Information: Acknowledge all sources of information using citations.
In scientific writing we almost never use direct quotes, but typically put the information in our
own words with a citation at the end of thes sentence.
Citations: You must list the sources you read and used. You may use either the “author-date” or
“superscript” method to cite your sources (see below for instructions). In your bibliography or
endnotes, these should be in the format shown in the following examples, with both scientific
names and book or journal titles either underlined or italicized:
Book:
Owlfly, B.L. and A.S. Shole. 1980. Flies on Your Food. Good Health Publishing Co.,
Brownsville, Texas. 99 pp.
Cited in text as: (Owlfly and Shole, 1980)
Article in a Periodical:
Westheimer, R. 1987. Courtship and copulation in the western cricket. California
Entomologist 43: 123-131.
Cited in text as: (Westheimer, 1987)
Larsen, K.J., L.R. Nault & G. Moya-Raygoza. 1992. Overwintering biology of Dalbulus
leafhoppers: adult populations and drought hardiness. Environmental Entomology
21(3): 566-577.
Cited in text as: (Larsen et al., 1992) — use “et al.” when 3 or more authors.
Internet Articles:
Lewis, D. 1998. Boxelder Bug.
Accessed 25 March 2004.
Cited in text as: (Lewis, 1998)
For articles with NO AUTHOR, use the name “Anonymous”.
Endnotes: Identify all sources of your information with endnotes as your bibliography, with articles
listed in alphabetical order based on the last name of the senior author (rather than order of
appearance). Information in your own words (which is much easier to work into your paper)
obtained from a resource should be followed by EITHER a superscript number or by the “name
date” citation in parentheses in the text. Direct quotes should be enclosed in double quotes and
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be followed using either superscript numbers or name date citations. Alternative examples of
acceptable citation methods are as follows:
Name-Date Citation Method:
…well-nourished male crickets should be able to mate an average of 2.3 times per day
with receptive females (Westheimer, 1987) in contrast to the cockroach…
In Bibliography of paper:
Westheimer, R. 1987. Courtship and copulation in the western cricket. California
Entomologist 43: 123-131
Superscript Method:
…well-nourished male crickets should be able to mate an average of 2.3 times per day
with receptive females7 in contrast to the cockroach…
In Bibliography of paper:
7Westheimer, R. 1987. Courtship and copulation in the western cricket. California
Entomologist 43: 123-131.
Scientific Names: The genus and species binomen (scientific name) of an insect (and all animals or
plants should always be italicized or underlined. Names of families, orders, etc., are in regular
type. All scientific names of animals and plants should start with a capital letter except for the
species name. Example: Diptera (order), Culicidae (family), Aedes aegypti (genus and species).
Common names are neither italicized nor underlined.
Illustrations, Graphs, etc. These are welcome when they convey information not easily expressed
textually. Be sure to endnote or cite the source if not original, including full URL address if
taken off the internet. Refer to your illustrations in the text of your paper as Figure 1, etc.
ORAL PRESENTATION (DUE 8:00 AM Monday, May 18)
In place of a final exam, you will give a brief approximately 5 minute long oral presentation
on your topic to the class. To make this presentation you can use either PowerPoint