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A Sequence of Assignments from Biology 312: Writing in Biology

Steven Brewer, Spring 2007

Projects

The primary focus of this class is completing a series of projects.  Below is a general set of guidelines for how the projects are evaluated.  Each project includes a description and a rubric that explains how the project is going to be assessed.  Please refer to these carefully as you work on projects.

For each group project, plus the methods project, all writing associated with the project must be contributed using the wiki.  I encourage you to do the bulk of your writing using a text editor (as described in the syllabus) and then to paste your work into the wiki as you develop your documents.  The formatting of the document in the wiki is not evaluated.

When the document is complete, each co-author will independently take the text from the wiki and use it to correctly format a word-processor document using the formatting guidelines adopted by the class.  Please submit these documents in Rich-Text Format (.rtf) as a file attachment via email.

Writing and formatting are evaluated separately.  For Group Projects (Observation, Research Proposal, and Research Project), I will evaluate the project and assign it a numeric score.  I will then assess the contributions made by each author by examining the edit history in the wiki.  I reserve the right to reduce the percentage awarded to co-authors if they contributed less than their peers.  Finally, I will assign each author a separate score for the formatting of their .rtf-file.

1. Journal Writing

Each week, I expect students to invest approximately three hours in writing.  These hours do not have to be completed in a single block: 20 minutes here and 20 minutes there is fine – just aim for at least three hours of total time spent writing each week.

This writing can be about anything related to life sciences.  I encourage you to write about things you actually observe, but you can also include rough drafts of on-going projects in this course or work related to other courses.  Please do not paraphrase writing from any other single source, although you could write a synthesis of two other sources.  If you choose to use other sources, please be sure to comprehensively identify these sources (with appropriate bibliographic entries).  You will select one paragraph of this writing to use as a Perfect Paragraph (see below).  Your writing should all be posted in a blog you will maintain at the course site.

Rubric.  There are 50 points possible for weekly journal entries. To receive all 50 points, simply make sure you post a substantial body of writing every week (with the possible exception of spring break) and identify sources, if you use them.  Expect to lose 5 points for any week where little or no writing is posted.  Expect to lose 5 points for any point where it appears that some other work is being paraphrased without the sources being adequately referenced.

2. Methods Project

Scientific writing generally includes a METHODS section, which describes the procedures that were used in the research project described. A primary goal of science is replication: for scientific work to be held valid, others must be able to reproduce the same results that were obtained by the researcher.

The goal of the Methods Project is to produce the best possible photographic representation of a living organism and write a specification of the procedures used that is sufficient for someone else to make an identical figure. Here's what to do:

1. Think carefully. What represents an ideal scientific figure?  What characteristics should the figure need to represent?  Can you represent everything you want to represent with a single image or will you need a composite of images?

Please think carefully also about what "an organism" means.  It doesn't mean a species or a population or just a body part.  I also recommend against creating an image of something that might have organisms in it.  But you could also think flexibly about what is an organism, e.g. the Gaia hypothesis, provided you offer a compelling rationale of what organism you elected to represent.

2. Take Pictures. We have some digital cameras in the BCRC that you can reserve.  Please select a subject for your picture that is a living organism (from whichever kingdom you want: animal, vegetable, etc.) and that is less than 10 minutes walk from the BCRC. Remember that someone else is going to have to replicate your procedures, so be thoughtful of others.  Don't make someone climb a tree or something.

3. Create a Figure. Using Gimpshop, or other imagery manipulation software, create a final figure (by creating composites, adding labels, etc) that best illustrates the living organism you've chosen to represent.  Create a finished figure in jpeg format with a size approximately 400 x 300 pixels, name the file "your-lastname-1.jpg", and keep it secret until after your methods have been followed.

4. Write Your Methods. Create a document in the Wiki called something like "StevenBrewerMethods" and post your methods writing in that document.  Then copy the text from the wiki and send them to me in an email.

5. Follow Someone Else's Methods. As soon as I have some Methods, I will start asking people to follow someone's methods while they're taking their own picture.  If no methods were available when you came in the first time, please schedule a time to come back and check out the camera to follow someone's methods to take the same picture.  Attach your finished file should be posted to their methods paper in the wiki using a filename like "their-lastname-2.jpg".  Once your own Methods have been followed, your matching image should show up attached to your methods and you should be able to complete your paper.  You can then attach your image and look to see how they compare.

6. Write your paper.  In your INTRODUCTION, be sure to describe how you came to select the subject you chose and why you think it represents “a picture of a living organism.”  In your RESULTS, carefully identify all of the differences you can observe between the two pictures.  Do not provide analysis or attempt to guess what led to the differences -- just the differences.  The DISCUSSION should include a thoughtful analysis of what led to the differences you observed.  Explain what things you might have controlled (by selecting a different subject or writing your methods in a more explicit fashion. Be thorough and specific.  Don't forget that you still need an Abstract, Acknowledgements, etc, as per the formatting guidelines.

Note: Writing methods is usually a pretty tiresome topic and so I'm trying to make this activity more fun than it might otherwise be.  So relax!  Have fun with it!  Be whimsical!

Rubric

Process (10 points)
Was the Methods Project Description followed carefully?

Structure (20 points)
Does the INTRODUCTION provide an adequate literature review of the biological topic to explain how the methods were generated?  Is a thoughtful rationale for the work provided?

Do the METHODS describe what the experimenters actually did? Are the METHODS specific and comprehensive?  Things to avoid: Are the METHODS written as a set of instructions to someone else, rather than a description of what the experimenter did?

Do the RESULTS describe and summarize the observations and measurements? Is there a clear narrative supported by tables and figures?  Things to avoid: Does the RESULTS narrative mix describing observations and trying to explain them?

Does the DISCUSSION assess and explain the interpretation of the data and its relationship to the initial questions or hypotheses?  Things to avoid: Were any observations not mentioned in RESULTS referenced in the DISCUSSION?

Are references used in the literature review cited properly in the REFERENCES? Is every reference cited?  Are there any citations for which there are not references?

Writing (20 points)
Strive for simple, clear, well-organized prose. Use paragraphs. Maintain a formal, scientific tone.  Avoid slang, colloquialisms, and jargon.  Avoid using "commonsense" measures and adjectives like "some" or "large".  Don't anthropomorphize (ascribe human characteristics to other living things).  Things to avoid: Are there any grammatical or spelling errors? Are there obvious stylistic changes from one section to another or from one author's contributions to another's?

Formatting (0 errors to receive credit)
Authors must take the text from the wiki and create an independently formatted word-processor document, to be submitted in Rich Text Format. The formatting guidelines must be adhered to strictly. Only submit documents that you believe are perfectly formatted. Documents must:

Authors must submit a perfectly formatted document to receive credit. Each resubmission will incur a 5-point penalty.  Please check your paper carefully before submitting.  Authors who can succeed in submitting two perfectly-formatted papers in a row need not subsequently submit formatted papers.

3. Observation Project

In the Observation Project, student teams should identify a biological topic or problem which they can observe and collect some quantitative data. Over the course of 2-3 weeks, conduct a literature review that describes the biological topic or phenomenon. Based on the review, collect some quantitative data locally that supplement or could be compared with results from other places, times, and conditions.

This project should result in a paper that uses the formatting guidelines we adopt in class.

Rubric.  This paper is worth 25 points of the 500 points possible in the course.  The rubric used in evaluation is similar to that of the Methods project.

4. Perfect Paragraphs

Each week, by noon on Tuesday, you should post a "perfect paragraph" in your blog. Please use an appropriate title, such as "Perfect Paragraph for Week X".  This will be one paragraph you select from the current week's journal writing to polish and improve into a paragraph that is as nearly perfect as you can make.  This paragraph must appear in its original form in your journal and in an improved form as a perfect paragraph.  In this one paragraph, strive to have beautiful prose with no structural, stylistic, grammatical, or spelling errors.

As with all your journal entries, the writing must be life science related, not paraphrased from a single source, and should reference any sources used.

Rubric.  There are 50 points possible for perfect paragraphs.  In assigning points, I will look for evidence that you tried to perfect this paragraph from its original form in your journal.  Expect to lose 2 points for any perfect paragraph that's late.  Expect to lose points for obvious spelling or grammatical errors.  Expect to lose points for repeated errors.

5. Research Proposal

Most scientific work begins as a proposal that provides an INTRODUCTION that lays out the rationale for the work and may include a comprehensive literature review.  The METHODS are generally written in future tense and describe what the researchers will do.  The DISCUSSION describes potential eventualities depending on what the outcomes turn out to be.  There is generally no RESULTS section in a proposal.

The goal of this project is to develop a proposal for a research project that can be actually undertaken by the entire class.  This includes a thorough introduction that lays out a compelling rationale for undertaking the project, a complete set of methods that describes how data is to be acquired (if any), and a discussion that describes potential findings and their implications for changing the course of the project.

The proposal should include specific goals for 8 to 10 teams to complete sub-projects in the larger project.  Again, the goal is for us to actually do this project so please be realistic in terms of time and expense to acquire or build experimental apparatus and gather data.

This project does not necessarily require gathering data independently.  The project could represent a "meta-analysis" (i.e., reviewing findings from many similar studies).  Even a project that simply laid out a rationale for compiling a group of related review projects could work for this assignment.

A key goal of proposal writing is to use persuasive language.  The goal of a proposal is to convince your peers that your project is the best one and the one that the class ought to follow.

Each group will take their proposal and use it to construct a 3 foot by 3 foot poster, to be printed on the BCRC poster printer, and used for a poster session, to be conducted in class.

After the projects have been submitted, we will rate all of the proposals and choose the best one for the class to carry out for the Research Project that follows.  I encourage you to look over the review criteria and use them in constructing your proposals.

Rubric (100 points possible).  This rubric lays out the criteria by which each poster will be assessed. Authors are encouraged to study these guidelines to improve their posters.

OVERALL (10 points)

INTRODUCTION (40 points)

METHODS (40 points)

DISCUSSION (10)

Updated September 3, 2008

 

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