Undergraduate Paper

Undergraduate Paper

General Information

Topics—All Biogeography students will attend the Connell Lecture presentation “Long-Term Trends in Polar Bear Ecology in Relation to Climatic Change” by Dr. Nick Lunn, Canadian Wildlife Service, Canada, on Thursday, 7 pm, 25 January 2007. After the lecture students will research the biology of polar bears, seals, artic foxes, artic wolves, musk ox or any other artic mammal of their choosing. Papers will be based on detailed scientific literature searches on various aspects of the biology of the species such as:

Life History Patterns
Adaptive Anatomy and Physiology for Life in the Artic
Reproductive Biology
Behavioral Ecology
Conservation of the Species
Impact of Global Warming
Economic Impact of Exploitation
Other topics of your choosing, please seem me.

It should be noted that there is overlap in the topics above and that students can choose two or more interrelated topics to write on so as to insure that they can find adequate information in the literature (example—life history patterns and behavioral ecology).

Key Dates—By 3 February, each student must turn in by e-mail (send to dbechler@valdosta.edu) a specific title for the paper they are going to write such as “The Reproductive Biology and Physiology of the Artic Fox, Alopex lagopus”. By 12 March, students must turn in by e-mail (send to dbechler@valdosta.edu) a list of 12-15 properly referenced citations that will be used in the paper written. Additional references may be used for the final paper, but this first list of references is mandatory.

Cooperative Efforts and Plagiarism—It is understood that students may choose the same topic and species. This is acceptable and students can work on the project together for the literature search and the sharing of ideas. However, each student must write their own paper. If papers are found to contain strong overlap in sentence structure (i.e. both papers have the same or some of the same sentences in them or parts of sentences) or if papers employ plagiarism so that it appears the student wrote the paper or part there of when they actually copied the information off the web or from some other source, the paper will be assigned a grade of “F” (zero points).

Paper Format—Papers must be based on information taken from scientific journals and text books and all information properly cited using the format below in the section Proper Citing of the Literature. Papers should be double spaced and be 8-10 pages long including the citations in a section entitled “Literature Cited”. Papers will be graded on the following:

Thoroughness of the discussion of the topic.
Accuracy of the information and demonstration of an understanding of the information discussed.
An understanding of the interrelatedness of issues and points discussed in the literature (example—how might the coat color of the artic fox impact its ability to avoid predation and at the same time affect thermoregulation).
Succinctness.

The first section of the paper should deal with what you have found in the literature. This section should go into detail on the various aspect(s) of the biology of the species you have chosen.

Finally, the paper must finish with a section that discusses the topic chosen and how it relates to the biogeography of the species. An example might be how the breeding biology and associated social behaviors of musk ox relate to the survival of the species in Greenland.

Proper Citing of the Literature

All references, including textbooks, must be cited where appropriate in the paper and listed in alphabetical order in a "Literature Cited" section at the end of the written paper in one of the following formats.

For a book by a single author or a group of authors:
Ehrlich, H. R.1996. Geomicrobiology. 3rd Edition. Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York. 719 pp.

Ehrlich, H. R. and A. Hunt. 1996. Geomicrobiology. 3rd Edition. Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York. 719 pp.

Ehrlich, H. R., A Hunt, and G. Kahn. 1996. Geomicrobiology. 3rd Edition. Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York. 719 pp.

For a chapter in a book by multiple authors:
Chapelle, F. H., and P. M. Bradley. 1997. Alteration of aquifer geochemistry by microorganisms. In: Hurst, C. J., G. R. Knudson, M. J. McInerney, L. D. Stetzenbach, and M. V. Walter (editors). Manual of Environmental Microbiology. ASM Press, Washington, D.C. pp. 558-564.

For an article in a scientific periodical by a single author or a group of authors:
Suzuki, I. and A. Hunt. 1999. Oxidation of inorganic sulfur compounds: Chemical and enzymatic reactions. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 45:97-105.

Suzuki, I., A. Hunt, and G. Kahn. 1999. Oxidation of inorganic sulfur compounds: Chemical and enzymatic reactions. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 45:97-105.

Format/style for citing references used in a the body of the paper are as follows

For one author with one or more papers:

Martin (1908) reported that daphnia are not a major part of the stream food web.
It has been reported that daphnia are not a major part of the stream food web (Martin, 1908).
Martin (1908, 1910) reported that daphnia are not a major part of the stream food web.
It has been reported that daphnia are not a major part of the stream food web (Martin, 1908).

For two authors with one or more papers:

Martin and Cutler (1908, 1910) reported that daphnia are not a major part of the stream food web.
It has been reported that daphnia are not a major part of the stream food web (Martin and Cutler, 1908, 1910).
Martin and Cutler (1908, 1910) reported that daphnia are not a major part of the stream food web.
It has been reported that daphnia are not a major part of the stream food web (Martin and Cutler, 1908, 1910).

For three or more authors with one or more papers:

Martin, et al. (1908) reported that daphnia are not a major part of the stream food web.
It has been reported that daphnia are not a major part of the stream food web (Martin, et al., 1908).

Author(s) with multiple papers in one year:

Martin (1908a, 1908b) reported that daphnia are not a major part of the stream food web.
Martin and Cutler (1908a, 1908b) reported that daphnia are not a major part of the stream food web.

Note that many of the primary references you will need may not be in Odum Library. You will either have to request them through interlibrary loan or drive to a city with a major research library and copy them--the University of Florida and Florida State University are both within 90 miles and have excellent science libraries. You should start your research early, like yesterday. You should be able to find most references via Galileo or on-line book searches. If you are having trouble see me and I will help you get started. Be sure to note the schedule of class activities below so you know when various items are due to me or to be presented.