BIOSCI 500 Spring 2018 TERM ASSIGNMENT - INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT FINAL ESSAY

General feedback from Outlines

 I have used ‘track changes’ to annotate your outlines. In the REVIEW tab at the top of the
word document, you can see the ‘tracking’ tab. Toggle the ‘Simple Markup’ to ‘All Markup’
Within the Tracking Tab, you see ‘track changes’. By clicking on ‘Track changes’ you can turn
off or on. To accept to reject the changes, go to ‘Changes’ tab to the right of the Tracking
tab, and highlight the change and click accept or reject. You can also see this if you highlight
the change and right click (depending on your version on word). You need to remove all
these edit marks before submitting anything.
 Avoid vague statements. Also be specific about effects – rather than ‘changes’, if it is an
increase, say ‘increase’, if a decrease, say that!
 All latin plant or other organism names need to be italicized and the genus needs a capital
and the species name no capital letter. After the first mention when you use the full name,
subsequent mentions can abbreviation. E.g. Arabidopsis thaliana was used for experiments.
Three replicate A. thaliana plants were sampled.
 Don’t cut and paste ideas from papers or references from a database or other paper. This is
a temptation to use this with only minimal editing to avoid plagiarism. It is bad practice and
invariably leads me quickly to the source (within a 10 sec google search). Putting “ “ around
it and a citation makes it not plagiarism but it is still not acceptable for this assignment. You
need to understand the idea and re-write in your words. If you don’t understand the idea,
either don’t use it, or come and talk with me and I can help you. The formatting which
comes with pasting is usually visible if you click the ¶ button up the top, looking like this
“three secondary compoundso increased on a per plantobasis in both species…” With odd
marks which tell me it has been cut and pasted from another source.
 Please use appropriate sub and superscripts e.g. CO2, H2O, 14C. If you highlight the number
or letter, then go to the bottom right of the ‘Font’ tab, click and select superscript or
subscript.
 Please make sure you proof-read your work. Reading out aloud can be helpful to catch
grammatical errors, and check spelling carefully (spell-checks do not catch everything or
context).
 References need to be correctly and consistently formatted. See comments on your
outlines. In text citations should include the author name and year. For single author papers
(Smith 2007), for two authors (Smith and Bloggs 2007), for more than 2 (Bloggs et al. 2008).
In the reference section at the end you include all the article details, so do not include
within the text.
 Some outlines have extensive ecological context but lack physiological ideas or examples –
for this ‘Plant Physiology’ course, the main focus needs to be physiology, though some
ecological context is also appropriate
Full Essay Assignment Guidelines and Grading Rubric

 Use your Outline as a structure for your writing – you can change things around but aim for
a similar structure where you have sections with subheadings to help organize your work
 Flesh out the outline ideas with full sentences and paragraphs, retaining concise headings
and subheadings.
 Clearly explain each idea first in your words, then illustrate with examples from the
literature, stating briefly what was found and any relevant details of the conditions,
measurements or plant used in the study. Aim to integrate similar ideas from two or more
difference sources, with citations of both in your text.
 Your essay should be approximately 1500 – 3000 words (you can find a word count within
the ‘REVIEW’ tab in MS word). Try to be concise with your expression – better to write
fewer words well than long, vague or waffley sentences.
 Submit essay in MS word or open office document file to D2l dropbox before end 30 April.
 I am happy to look at near-complete drafts, but you can also get help from the Writing
Center https://uwm.edu/writing-center/

Term Assignment Full Essay Grading Rubric 70

Title: Includes a coherent title which describes specifics about the topic to be presented /2
Your name is present on the file /1
Introduction – presents key background ideas to introduce the big-picture context of /5
environmental change and the topic you will focus on
A clear statement of the scope of the essay – what you are going to cover /3
Body of essay includes at least 3 clear headings of the key ideas to be covered and /3
subheadings for particular ideas
Clear, coherent ideas expressed concisely, mostly focusing on physiological or eco- /15
physiological ideas and processes
Each main idea illustrated with cited articles, including examples of plants and studies /15
providing important evidence to support the idea
Cited research ideas are clear and relevant to the point being made /5
Conclusion – short, clear coherent summary and commentary on future /5
References - at least 10 research articles (not popular science or websites) cited /10
Reference formatting consistent and complete for the references listed /5
Within 1500 – 3000 word limit and submitted in MS word format on time /1