Invertebrate Diversity Paper Assignment:

Due Date: Nov. 30

Paper length:4-8 pages

Paper guidelines: The paper should be short review paper on a topic of

interest about invertebrates. The topic area is completely open - but

preferably in the realm of topics covered in this class. It should

focus on more than one and preferably many papers on the same topic from

the primary literature (that means a scientific paper and not the

Internet, although you can use the Internet to find the papers!). You

may cover any topic related to invertebrates, but the instructors ask

that you discuss (via whatever means you prefer - a meeting, email,

etc...) what you choose to cover with them before starting.

Paper grading: Grading is based on synthesis of information and

presentation of your own assessment of the research. Therefore, you

should approach the following questions in writing up your report: What

is the broad area the paper is in (e.g. conservation biology, genetics,

biogeography, etc...)? What areas are of particular interest to you?

What is the broader significance of the research to science? The

general public? What parts of the work seemed particularly good? Where

there weaknesses to the methodology or conclusions? What new areas

could be explored based on the research? Did it answer all the

questions it set out to? Who did the research and have they done other

work on the same groups or same kinds of questions.

Especially good papers accrue up to 2% extra credit towards the final

grade. A good paper can therefore bump you as much as half a grade (from

say a B+ to A-). Concise papers often get better grades. Try to say

what you need to with a minimum of words.