1. Writing Assignment

2. OBJECTIVES Our objective is that you will be able to: express biological concepts in your own words access the research literature effectively.

3. ASSIGNMENT A ONE page essay on a structure or component within the nucleus explaining: 1.What is the structure/component you are looking at? 2.What does it do? 3.Describe one experiment used to study this structure. By this, I mean that you explain in your own words an experiment (what was actually done) without going into the details of the technique (ie. what buffer was used and for how long).

4. The Essay MUST: 1.Discuss your topic, in your own words. 2.Be NO MORE than 1 page (~250 words) 3.Address ALL THREE questions 4.Contain a Bibliography that includes at least one primary research article and one review paper. (Bibliography is on a separate page) 5.Be submitted to Turnitin.com and contain a turnitin paper ID number on the top right corner of your paper. 6.Be handed in by Tuesday July 4th. (every day it is late, you will lose 5%)

5. Marking Scheme (/50) Introduction (10) - including information about your structure Content (5) – discussing function of structure (5) – discussing the experiment In text citations (5) - Are they in the proper format? Are all the necessary citations included? Bibliography (10) - Is it in the proper format? Does it include at least one primary resource article and one review paper?

6. Marking Scheme (/50) Level (5) – Is it written to the level that an average first-year student would understand? Organization (5) - Does the essay have an introduction and conclusion? Do the paragraphs flow from one to another in a logical sequence? Expression (5) - including sentence structure, paragraph structure, creativity of the writing.

7. Plagiarism What is plagiarism? Why do students plagiarize? Take a minute to think about it.

8. Is this Plagiarism? This discrepancy in feeding rates might reflect differences in light intensities. Jones (1994), however, found that light level did not influence feeding rates. Perhaps the difference in rates reflects differences in the density at which animals were held during the two experiments.

9. Is this plagiarism? Smith (1991) suggests that this discrepancy in feeding rates may reflect differences in light intensities used in the two different experiments. Jones (1994), however, found that light intensity did not influence the feeding rates of these animals and suggested that the rate differences reflect differences in the density at which the animals were held during the two experiments.

10. How to avoid plagiarism? Take notes in your own words Understanding is the key to avoiding plagiarism Avoid quotes. Undigested material makes it obvious you haven’t understood. Admit to yourself (or others) that you don’t understand Look up words or phrases Document your sources

11. Referencing Your bibliography should contain at least one paper from the primary literature and one review paper. Primary Research Article: –Conducted and reports on own experiments –Has a “Materials and Methods” section Review Paper: –Summarizes other people’s research Note: websites are not peer-reviewed therefore are not reliable sources!

12. Book: McMillan, V.E. 1988. Writing Papers in the Biological Sciences. St. Martin's Press, New York. (McMillan 1988) ReferencesCitation Journal: Birle, R.A. and Suthers, W.C. 1981. The effects of soft drinks and their constituents on the stamina of rats. Journal of Rat Physiology 23 (2): 14- 22. (Bonilla et al. 1994) CITING LITERATURE

13. Due Date Your paper is due Tuesday, JULY 4 Advice: Start now! Good luck.