Guidelines for paper: Plant-Animal Interactions (Bio 262, BioSci 257)

Fall 2000

ASSIGNMENT: Choose a recent paper on a topic related to plant-animal interactions from a major journal, write a brief review explaining the larger context for the paper, and then write an evaluation about of the strengths and shortcomings of the described work. You will also demonstrate your ability to use computerized databases and web resources by submitting (a) the results of an appropriate search in Biological Abstracts and (b) a list of web resources that you have found most useful.

APPROACH: The paper should cover the background of the specific issue, present major views of different authors and the support for their ideas when possible, and provide your scientific assessment of these hypotheses. Your original contribution is very important. I do not look for adherence to a specific school of thought; any well-argued stand is accepted. Remember that the essence of scientific enterprise is to question and reason - not to memorize and regurgitate. Holy cows are not covered by animal-care rules. Question authority.

ORGANIZATION

There are no strict rules for format, but one that works well for many papers is as follows:

Introduction. Identify and define the issue of the paper. Be specific without being unduly narrow. If you choose too broad a subject, it will be hard to grasp. Tell the reader why we should be interested, and briefly lay out the organization of your paper.

Literature review and synthesis. Present a brief history of the topic. Why should we bother? You do this by reviewing one or a few key papers, presumably cited in your paper. Provide citation for each paper, state author's intent, hypothesis, experiments , and conclusions. Then, provide your original assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your specific paper. Is the hypothesis properly defined, are the experiments reasonable and exclusive, and do the conclusions follow logically ?

Further studies. Science is building knowledge on top of knowledge. After this paper, what is the next important question? Are there competing hypotheses that we can test?

Literature cited. * Your report must have this section ! * Throughout the paper, you should quote your sources as you have seen them in research papers that we have read. Typical formats might be:

(Smith 1996) or 'according to Smith (1996)'.

If there are two authors, cite both: (Smith & Jones 1997). If there are more than two authors, list them in the text as (Smith et al. 1996).

Provide an alphabetical listing of all papers cited in the text of your report (but no others) in the general format: author, year, title, journal (or book title) volume: pages. Spell out all the authors. There are some different format customs for books. Three examples, for a journal article, for a paper in an edited book, and for a book, respectively:

Stebbins, G.L. & McArthur, D.B. 1962. The raison d'etre for tertiary compounds. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 3:49-61.

Smith, J.S., I.M. Nunatak & F. Moore. 1997. The role of ant kleptoparasitism in pitcher plants. Pages 16-24 in: Baker, H.G & Opler, L. (eds.) Carnivorous plants. Academic Press, New York.

Darwin, C. 1892. The various contrivances by which orchids are fertilised by insects. Appleton, New York.

LENGTH: The text should not exceed 1500 words (about 6 double-spaced pages).

FORMAT: Typed, double-spaced preferred. Electronic submission fine as long as we have compatible word processors.

ELEMENTS I'M LOOKING FOR: Breadth of discussion, clarity of thinking, brevity and conciseness of language. Paramount attention will be given to your original contribution. Pay attention to your language; undue verbosity, typos, and sloppy grammar take the reader's attention away from your science so run a spellcheck before submission, and let Strunk & White (1979 edition) be your house god.

BIOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS SEARCH AND A LIST OF PERTINENT WEB SITES

Science publishing rate is growing at an exponential pace, and electronic sources and search engines are now crucial for finding the good stuff before you get gray hairs. Once you have decided on a topic, use Biological Abstracts (which is one of the most comprehensive data bases) to do a search that identifies 5-10 pertinent papers for your paper. You can access that database from any networked computer within Vandy ("Other databases" from the Heard Library homepage). If enough people are interested, we can arrange to have a librarian demonstrate how it works. Submit a copy of your printout, with search terms listed..

I also want you to use the web to look for other resources, particularly graphic material that you won't find in books. This class is about concepts, which is a little more difficult to search on than factoids; it's easy to get a picture of an orchid, but how do you find resources about interactions involving those orchids, or stability of mutualism, or what have you? There's a challenge for you! Use the standard search engines to get a start. Evaluate a reasonable number of pages, and select five or fewer pages that you have found useful. Submit a list with the URL addresses and a one-sentence description of each page.

GETTING STARTED: So, by now you're overwhelmed. Relax, sit back, and take in a bunch of classes before you start thinking about a topic. Then, 1) Browse through appropriate sections of the library and the class books, papers, and notes for topic inspiration; look up major references as first readings. Good places to look for happening fields include Nature, Science, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Oecologia, Oikos, Ecology, Evolution, Molecular Ecology, Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics,and Journal of Chemical Ecology. I will help if you run into a wall, and will gladly consult on whether a particular topic would be feasible to pursue.

Judging from past experience, the most difficult part about this assignment will be to find a hot topic that is so specific that you can cover it in the space assigned (1500 words). Many too many have started on a paper, and find halfway through that they are headed for a mighty tome. For this reason, do some exploration into possible subjects and then you must clear your topic with me before getting serious.

CHECKLIST FOR SUBMISSION: 1. Your paper, double-spaced, no more than 1500 words, and a reference list. 2. Your printout from Biological Abstracts or a similar database. 3. Your list of five or fewer web resources.

DUE DATE: Papers will be accepted any time before 9:00 am, November 28, 2000 (i.e., by the first class after Thanksgiving break). Early completion of papers is strongly encouraged.

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