Guidelines for Paper

Topic: Any topic (general or specific, theoretical or experimental, taxonomic or paleoecological or morphological or whatever) involving paleontological research. Here are examples of some possible topics: however, please use your imaginations and do not be restricted by this list:

• Review of research on the anatomy, paleobiology, stratigraphic and geographic range, and other pertinent information of some particular clade
• Review of some particular topic of paleontological research (e.g., locomotion; trackways; reproduction; use of computer modeling; neurology; tempo and mode of evolution; etc.)
• Some topic in the history of paleontology
• Phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary trends within some clade: this would be especially interesting if this was a clade which has not yet been subjected to a phylogenetic analysis, and you were the first one to do so!
• Other original research (although obviously, your access to real specimens is limited!). Surprise us!

Length: Body text approximately 8-10 pp., plus bibliography (necessary), figures, tables, appendices, etc. (if any). Paper must have a descriptive and/or creative title (i.e., don't just call it "Paper" or words to that effect) and must have an abstract (a short, 1-2 paragraph long synopsis of the main points covered in your paper).

Schedule of Paper-Related Assignments:

• Topic proposal (short write up explaining your initial plans for your paper topic): October 27
• Initial bibliography (short list of papers you've consulted about the topic, see details below): November 8
• Final paper: December 6

Grade: Out of 100 points, using the grading rubric. Grade on paper incorporates completeness and timeliness of Topic proposal, Intial bibliography, and Abstract, as well as the quality of the final paper itself.

Details on Paper-Related Assignments

• Topic Proposal: Your initial plans for what you would like to write about. The proposal should be a couple of sentences long: enough to suggest that you've begun to think about the idea. Your proposal will be returned with comments (often suggesting references to explore related to that topic).
• Initial Bibliography: In order to keep you on track for the paper research throughout the semester, you will have to turn in an initial bibliography consisting of at least five (5) references germane to your subject that you have already found and consulted. The types of references have to conform to those allowed in the paper itself: see more information below.

References:
The key to research is the ability to document the evidence that support your ideas; if other people don't have a means of double-checking your facts, than they should be skeptical of your conclusions. This is one of the primary reasons for the use of references (the other is to give credit where credit is due).

Not all references are created equal! The emphasis for this (or any other serious college-level paper) should be on primary literature (original work by participants in that field of endeavor), with perhaps some use of secondary literature (reviews or summaries of works of primary literature).

Some forms of reference are entirely unacceptable for this research paper. These include:

• News reports (in print or online) from newspapers, wire services, and other mass media services (e.g., CNN, MSNBC, etc.). These organizations are important for initial reports of the news, and they may be helpful in finding out about new discoveries, but these do not represent scientific reports verified by outside reviewers.
• Dictionaries
• General textbooks: again, these can be useful when you are doing your initial search of information, but textbooks themselves are often simply simplified summaries of other peoples' work. It is better to go to the original sources and cut out the “middle man”.
• MOST web-based sites. There are a few sites out there that represent new, original work or well-reviewed summaries of presently available work. However, beware: anyone with a personal computer, knowledge of web design, and an internet provider can post their own professional-looking site, even if the information in it is entirely wrong!! Web-based sites are most useful for hunting up useable references, but they should not be used as one of your cited references. IF YOU WISH TO USE A WEBSITE AS A REFERENCE, please double check with Drs. Holtz and Merck that it is useable prior to turning in the final version of the paper.
  • A special note: you MAY certainly use web-based version of print-journals, like those linked to on the GEOL 331 website! However, in terms of citations and bibliography, reference these articles by their print version, not by the online version.

Check the bibliographies of the chapters in Bringing Fossils to Life and Invertebrate Palaeontology and Evolution for examples of primary literature. (Incidentally, the chapters in both the texts used for this course are perfectly acceptable secondary literature sources!!). Here are some examples of typical primary literature sources you might want to investigate:

• Science, Nature, Naturwissenschaften: the weekly, weekly, and monthly (respectively) extremely widely read sources of short articles on all fields of science, published in the U.S., England, and Germany (respectively). (Note: most Naturwissenschaften articles are in English!). The University has both print and online subscriptions to these journals, so these are easy to access.
• Specialist paleontology journals, with longer articles then those above. Examples (to which the University has either print or online subscriptions) include:
  • Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: descriptions of new specimens, new faunas, and new phylogenies (and occasional biomechanics) of fossil vertebrates.
  • Journal of Paleontology: concentrates on description of new specimens and new faunas; mostly invertebrates but some vertebrates
  • Lethaia: as above.
  • Palaeontology: as above, but also a number of vertebrate papers.
  • Paleobiology: premier journal for theoretical, functional morphological, evolutionary pattern, and similar studies for fossils.
  • Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology: what the name says!
  • PALAIOS: paleontology with a geological emphasis.
  • Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshelf: despite the title, a lot of the papers are in English.
  • VERY specialized journals ( Cretaceous Research, etc.), biological journals ( Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, etc.), geological journals ( Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, Geology, etc.), museum journals ( American Museum Novitates, etc.).
  • Edited books (i.e., books on a particular subject with each chapter a contribution by one or more different authors).
  • Single author books: less common in the sciences than in the humanities, but still are a number out there.

Typical secondary sources include:

• Review journals, like the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, and Quarterly Review of Biology (again, the University has print and online subscriptions to all of these).
• Advanced general audience journals, like Scientific American and New Scientist, which aren't afraid to use equations and numbers, and which list bibliographies for their articles!
• In a limited number, some less sophisticated general audience journals like National Geographic, Discover, and Natural History.

Citation and Bibliographic style information

Class Location & Time, Policies, Textbooks, etc.

Syllabus & Lecture Notes

Handouts

References and Links

Last modified: 22 August 2006