Assignment

This assignment's purpose is to be able to research a topic further than just googling. The sources you use need to be academic. Further, your formating should be exactly what I am asking for.

First and foremost, you will be heavily graded on whether or not your sources are academic. For each non-academic source I will deduct up to 20% off your grade. Since you need three sources, you stand to fail this assignment rather quickly if you don't have the correct sources.

What are acceptable sources? All fields in science have peer reviewed publications, usually in the form of journals. This is how research and conclusions are presented. Peer reviewed means they have gone through a rigorous process and any conclusions presented have to include what methods were used as well as background and analysis. The supplemental readings I have provided in class have all been from such sources.

Here are a few examples in the Anthropology world:

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

American Journal of Primatology

And this will give you possible links to all anthropology journals.

You are more than welcome to bring in publications from other disciplines.

Do NOT pay for publications! Going through the SDSU library will give you access to all journals for free (well your tuition pays for it so it's not really free).

In-text citation: This is a concept that eludes most people. If you are using an idea that is not common knowledge you need to provide a in-text citation (see style guide and assignment). When you are paraphrasing one of your sources, you need to cite. When you quote, you need to cite. When in doubt, cite. Not citing is called plagiarism. I will not deduct too heavily for the exact lack of citations, having a paper without any will have a negative effect on your grade.

Do NOT - have your paper be a bunch of quotes strung together. Use your own words. You stand to fail this paper if all I have from you is other peoples words.

Frequently asked questions about sources:

Once I have my academic sources can I use other non-academic ones? - Yes, you may. But do not lean to heavily on them for the content of your paper or your grade will suffer.

Can I use our book, or lecture? - Yes, but same as above, do not make them your primary sources.
Page length:

This is to be a 3 - 4 page paper. If you give me a short paper you will be marked off from anywhere from 20% to 90% of your overall grade. On the other hand, if you turn in too many pages (5+) you will also lose points. This will be a challenge for many of you. It may be difficult to write what you need to in so few pages, keep it pithy and to the point.

Page Length: I will be using word count to determine the length of your paper. As stated in the research paper instructions: Times New Roman, double-spaced, between 750 and 1000 words. NOT including bibliography.

While this is not a English class and I do expect proper collegiate writing. Two hints: do not start your paper with a "Since the dawn of time" sentence. It is not a good way to start any research paper. Also, set up what you are going to be writing about in the first paragraph. I don't want to read a mystery research paper.

RESEARCH PAPER TOPIC

Your second assignment is a 3-4 page (750 to 1000 words) research paper on a topic of your choosing, as long as it pertains to biological/physical anthropology. Font will be 12pt in Times New Roman, one-inch margins and double-spaced. I will require a header at the top each page with your name and class, in a similar fashion to the header at the top of this page. Please include page numbers on a corner of each page of your paper.

Do not include a title page, rather a bolded title at the top of the first page (similar to this document). Do not over-space the top of the document. The format of your paper will be in accordance with the American Anthropology Association (AAA) style guide. I have posted the AAA style guide on blackboard.

Appropriate topics include, but are not limited to, evolutionary theory, primatology, paleopathology, human skeletal biology, genetic studies, forensics, etc. This can be a fun investigation of something you find interesting.

You will be responsible for finding 3 journal articles that are related to your topic of interest and using their content to support your paper. As this is an academic paper sources must be academic peer-reviewed journals, which means no blogs, no wikipedia, no newspapers (yes this includes National Geographic or Smithsonian). Some books may be acceptable, but I would advise against their use as it may be hard to ferret out what would work and what will lose you points.

Anything that is not common knowledge requires a citation. You will be using intext citations in accordance to the AAA style guide.

CITATION EXAMPLES:

Within text:

Preferred resources are those that are disproportionately selected relative to their abundance in the habitat (Marshall & Wrangham, 2007). If you have more than two authors list the first author followed by et al. (Marshal et al. 2007).

In Bibliography:

Marshall, A.J. & R.W. Wrangham. 2007 Evolutionary consequences of fallback foods. International Journal of Primatology 28:1219-1235.