Difference between revisions of "EEB2245W-S2009"

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(Requirements)
(Schedule and deadlines)
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| 1st two weeks||Library resources meeting||Times will be announced on this website; sign up on HuskyCT
 
| 1st two weeks||Library resources meeting||Times will be announced on this website; sign up on HuskyCT
 
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|Friday, Jan. 30||Term paper topic||A brief description of your term paper topic with a list of at least 3 references you plan to use, including one from 2008 or 2009.  The references should be listed in the proper format for a "Literature Cited" section.  Correspondence with your instructor about possible topics before this deadline is strongly encouraged.
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|Friday, Jan. 30||Term paper topic||A brief description of your term paper topic with a list of at least 3 references you plan to use, including one from 2008 or 2009.  The references should be listed in the proper format for a "Literature Cited" section.  Correspondence with your instructor about possible topics before this deadline is required.
 
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|Friday, Feb. 6||Quiz 1: plagiarism and citations||See HuskyCT
 
|Friday, Feb. 6||Quiz 1: plagiarism and citations||See HuskyCT
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|Friday, May 1||Term paper assignment #4: revision||Revision based on comments received on draft.  
 
|Friday, May 1||Term paper assignment #4: revision||Revision based on comments received on draft.  
 
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==Grading==
 
==Grading==

Revision as of 21:21, 11 January 2009

Instructors

Dr. Elizabeth Jockusch, coordinator | Office: BioPharm 305B, Phone: 486-4452, e-mail: elizabeth.jockusch [at] uconn.edu

Dr. Richard King | Office: TLS 470, Phone: 486-5662, e-mail: richard.w.king [at] uconn.edu

Dr. Chris Simon | Office: BioPharm 305D, Phone: 486-3947, e-mail: chris.simon [at] uconn.edu

Dr. Chuck Smith | Office: BioPharm 410, Phone: 486-4158, e-mail: smithcf [at] hotmail.com

Dr. Peter Turchin | Office: TLS 462, Phone: 486-3603, e-mail: peter.turchin [at] uconn.edu

Kristina Catanese, Writing Fellow | e-mail: kristina.catanese [at] uconn.edu

Announcements

Check this website to find the name of your individual instructor. This information will be posted by the end of the first week of classes. All assignments are submitted to, and graded by, your instructor. Your instructor will also provide additional information, either by email or through this EEB2245W website, about assignment requirements, asignment submission, and required meetings.

Course Goals

The goals of this course are to help you learn to present your ideas and arguments in clear, well-organized prose and to introduce you to library research in biology. Because it is a science course, some of what you learn about writing will apply principally to scientific writing, but your efforts in this course will also translate into enhanced skills in other writing tasks.
The assignments are geared towards writing a term paper on a subject that interests you in evolutionary biology. It is very important that you devote time and thought to your choice of topic so that you enjoy the research that goes into this paper. By the end of the course, you will be an expert on this topic!

Requirements

  • Meetings: All W students must sign up for and attend one session on library resources during the 1st or 2nd week of classes. Sign-up is through HuskyCT. Failure to attend one of these sessions may result in being dropped from the W section. Your instructor may require additional meetings.

  • Quizzes: All students must pass 3 online quizzes, which will be administered through HuskyCT.

  • Assignments: The final written product in this course is a review paper that defends a significant claim in evolutionary biology using data from the primary literature. This paper should be 4500-5000 words in length (about 15 pages) and cite a minimum of 8 references from the primary literature. Primary literature is written by the author(s) of the scientific research. Secondary literature is written by someone other than the author and could contain factual errors. To guide you through the process of researching and writing your paper, there are four term paper assignments.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s ideas or words as your own. In its most blatant form, it involves quoting without quotation marks or without proper attribution of credit, including doing so from another student’s paper or from a commercially available one. This form of plagiarism will result in an F for the course. Paraphrasing without giving credit or changing only a few words (i.e., paraphrasing too closely) even if you give credit are also examples of plagiarism. Penalties for these forms of plagiarism will range from a requirement to rewrite the assignment (if proper citations are included) to a 0 for the assignment to an F for the course (if proper citations are not included). Of course, you’ll be discussing the ideas of others in your paper, but you must express the ideas in your own words and cite the reference for each idea that is not your own in the text.

Getting help

There are many resources available to help you succeed in this course, but you need to seek them out. Good places to start are listed below. Be sure to take advantage of these resources!

  • the EEB245W resource links below: these provide more information about specific assignments and tips to help you avoid common problems.
  • the UConn Writing Center (www.writingcenter.uconn.edu): the Writing Center offers individual meetings with tutors (it’s free). Past experiences of students in this class have been very positive.
  • Suegene Noh's EEB 2245W blog: this blog was aimed toward students in 2245W during the Spring 2008 semester, but much of the information is still relevant and you are strongly encouraged to look at what Sugene has posted. The blog may be accessed at: http://uconnwritinginscience.wordpress.com/
  • your W instructor

Schedule and deadlines

Date Assignment Details
1st two weeks Library resources meeting Times will be announced on this website; sign up on HuskyCT
Friday, Jan. 30 Term paper topic A brief description of your term paper topic with a list of at least 3 references you plan to use, including one from 2008 or 2009. The references should be listed in the proper format for a "Literature Cited" section. Correspondence with your instructor about possible topics before this deadline is required.
Friday, Feb. 6 Quiz 1: plagiarism and citations See HuskyCT
Friday, Feb. 6 Term paper assignment #1 Your instructor will provide guidelines.
Friday, Feb. 27 Quiz 2: science writing conventions See HuskyCT
Friday, Feb. 27 Term paper assignment #2: partial draft A draft of a portion of the term paper, ca. 1500 words (ca. 5 pages) in length. This draft should incorporate feedback received on the first assignment. Your instructor may provide additional guidelines.
Friday, April 3 Quiz 3: grammar See HuskyCT
Friday, April 3 Term paper assignment #3: complete draft Turn in a complete draft of your term paper in the required format. This should reflect a serious effort on your part to produce an already polished paper that you have edited (repeatedly) and proofread carefully. The previously submitted portion should be revised in response to instructor feedback.
Friday, May 1 Term paper assignment #4: revision Revision based on comments received on draft.

Grading

Term paper assignment 110%
Term paper assignment 2 (partial draft)15%
Term paper assignment 3 (complete draft)25%
Term paper assignment 2 (final revision)50%

Grading notes

  • Your grade in the W section is one quarter of your course grade in EEB 245W. In accordance with university regulations, a failing grade for this section will result in an ‘F’ for the entire course.
  • X% of the points will be deducted for each day an assignment is late up to a maximum of XX%. However, each student is entitled to 2 free late days (the first 2 used, no questions asked).
  • No assignment will be accepted until all previous requirements have been met. For example, this means that you cannot submit a revised term paper unless you submitted, and received feedback on, a complete draft.
  • Quiz scores are not used in calculating W grades. However, students must receive at least the minimum passing score indicated on HuskyCT prior to submitting the assignment due the same day. Failure to complete the quizzes as required will result in late penalties for the associated assignment.

EEB2245W Resources

Note: not yet updated from Fall 2008 course.

Details of Term Paper Assignment

Tips for Getting Started

Possible Term Paper Topics

Organization of the paper

General rules for citing sources in scientific writing Here’s a useful (and amusing) example, put together by Dr. Kurt Schwenk, to get you thinking about how to cite references:

Writing Tips


Scientific writing advice


Policy on Plagiarism