BIO230 Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Weighting:

4% of your final grade.

Learning Outcomes:

• Practice drafting your own thesis or central purpose statement for a topic in molecular, cellular or developmental biology.
• Develop your information literacy skills;
• Improve your critical reading skills as you find relevant information in the literature to support your thesis or central purpose statement; and
• Practice writing within the discipline.

Please note that this is an individual assignment so you should not work with other students. Nor should you plagiarize...you must paraphrase - Please see Appendix 3 of the Self-guided Annotated Bibliography Assignment Instructions and page 19 of your course manual for more details on paraphrasing and academic misconduct.

Tasks:

• Carefully read the Annotated Bibliography Assignment Introduction.
• Carefully re-read the Self-Guided Annotated Bibliography Assignment Introduction and Appendices 1-3.
• Consult the file "Common Errors and Student Samples 2015" posted in the Annotated Bibliography Tab on Blackboard.
• Complete your Annotated Bibliography Assignment in the format indicated below.

Due Date:

Cycle 1: At the beginning of your regularly scheduled lab the Week of Oct. 19th.

Cycle 2: At the beginning of your regularly scheduled lab the Week of Oct. 26th.

BIO230 Annotated Bibliography Assignment 2015 2

Topic:

Your TA will have assigned this in Lab 1. Your TA may ask you to research a mechanism, protein, or interaction. If the topic is particularly broad, your TA will provide guidance to narrow the scope of the assignment. The topics have been chosen to expand beyond the topics covered in lecture or lab and to interest students in a variety of areas of cell, molecular, and developmental biology.

Assignment:

In this annotated bibliography assignment you first need to find 2 peer-reviewed primary scholarly articles within your assigned topic area (provided by your TA in Lab 1 and Lab 2). You will then continue to complete Parts 1-3 below. The annotated bibliography must be double-spaced, font 12, and no longer than 2 pages in total (failure to follow these guidelines will result in a 10% penalty).

Part 1: Write a sentence or two that indicates to the TA your context for the selection of your two primary articles. This should take the form of a thesis or central purpose statement (see pages 4-5 of the Self-guided Annotated Bibliography Assignment Instructions for guidance). You should be clear, concise and scientifically accurate. This statement should show analysis and depth of thought, not only a description. You should expect to draft and refine this sentence(s) a number of times as you search, evaluate, and re-evaluate the literature.

Here, we provide some additional information/guidance for constructing a thesis or central purpose statement for this assignment. A good thesis statement should: be limited to one main idea (topic) which must fall within the scope of your assigned topic, be a declarative statement without qualifiers (i.e. maybe, perhaps), and be clear, specific and concise. The statement must contain three components; the subject or topic, an opinion or stance on the subject or topic, and an indication of the importance, value, or interest in this area of research (Note that these components must be integrated into one or two sentences). Both of your primary articles should clearly support your thesis or central purpose statement.

Part 2: Cite each of your references using the citation-sequence style on pages 17-19 in your course manual. Cite your references carefully, since your TA must be able to find the paper. Below each of your citations, answer the guiding questions listed in Part 3. Note: I place this in bold because this was a common error in this assignment last year...do not make the same mistake).

Part 3: Answer both guiding questions for each of your two primary research articles (i.e. you will answer each question twice; once for each primary article). These questions must be answered in full sentences. Bullet points or point-form notes are unacceptable and will not be marked. Please make sure your sentences are clear, concise, logical, and scientifically accurate. Be sure to use your own words to answer these questions (do not plagiarize - See Appendix 3 of the Self-guided Annotated Bibliography Assignment and page 19 of the course manual for a short discussion on paraphrasing and how to avoid plagiarism).

Primary Article Guiding Question 1: What is the main or central research question addressed by the authors in this paper? Summarize this in your own words using no more than 3 sentences.

BIO230 Annotated Bibliography Assignment 2015 3

Primary Article Guiding Question 2: Imagine that you are writing a paper using the thesis or central purpose statement that you developed in Part 1.

a) Briefly describe, in your own words, the findings of one experiment in each primary research article that supports your thesis or central purpose statement(s). Most primary research articles contain a series or set of experiments. You need to critically analyze each of the set of experiments in your chosen article to find the experimental finding that provides the best evidence or argument to support your thesis or central purpose statement. Do not summarize the detailed methods used in the experiment, but do make it clear to your TA which experiment you are discussing.

b) Clearly and explicitly link these experimental findings to your central purpose or thesis statement. In other words, you need to explain clearly to your TA why you have chosen this article and how it is relevant to your thesis or central purpose statement.

The answer to guiding question 2 should be 3-6 sentences in length and should include answers to parts a) and b).

Note that in your annotated bibliography assignments you are not required to include in-text citations since you will be including the full citation above your annotated bibliography (follow the guidelines for format). However, this does not mean that you can plagiarize the authors' written material (results or opinions). Please see Page 19 of the course manual and Appendix 3 of the Self-guided Annotated Bibliography Assignment Instructions for a short discussion on paraphrasing and how to avoid plagiarism.

Additional Pointers:

Finding and Focusing Your Topic

Carefully read and critique your assigned review article on the topic. Are there any conflicting issues, areas that are not well understood, different experimental approaches, or different explanations/theories that you find interesting? You may find thinking along these lines to be a valuable approach to determining your potential thesis or central purpose statement. Your statement will then guide you to find relevant primary research articles that will support your thesis or central purpose statement(s) and make it easier for you to answer the guiding questions for the annotation of each citation.

Writing and Formatting Your Assignment

Write concise, full sentences (no bullets or point-form notes please) and make sure your statements are scientifically accurate. Proofread your work to eliminate spelling and grammatical errors and to ensure that you are saying exactly what you mean. Type (size 12 Times New Roman) and use 2.5 cm margins on each page (max 2 pages). Your citations may be single-spaced, but you must double-space the text portions of the assignment (your TA needs room for comments). Do not include diagrams or figures for this assignment. At the top of your assignment, please include the following information: Name, Student ID, and Lab Section.

Be explicit, particularly when outlining your thesis or central purpose statement and when you are linking the findings of the primary research articles to this statement. Do not assume that by describing a set of experimental findings that your TA understands how you intend to make the

BIO230 Annotated Bibliography Assignment 2015 4

link. Your job is to demonstrate to your TA your critical thought processes-you can only be given marks for what you write, not for what you were thinking or meant to say.

The assignment has been described in 3 parts to break it into manageable parts for students; but to save space, there is no need to provide headings or indicate which question you are answering. If the assignment is done well and completed according to the assignment instructions, this will be clear to your TA.

Please do not go over the page limit (10% penalty and extra material will not be read). Part of the challenge of this assignment is to write concisely. Don't include a title page: just type your name, student ID, and Lab Section on the first page of your assignment. Hand your assignment in on time since late penalties are high-see page 12 of the course manual. Check page 19 in the course manual and Appendix 3 of the Self-guided Annotated Bibliography Assignment Instructions for tips on how to avoid plagiarism.

Expect to revise and edit your work several times before handing it in. Please re-read pages 2-3 of the self-guided annotated bibliography assignment for more details.

You may ask general questions regarding the assignment on the electronic discussion board. A separate forum will be set up for this purpose. Please note that because you will have the opportunity to revise this assignment based on constructive feedback provided by your TA, she/he will not be responding to e-mail on this assignment. We want students to work independently as much as possible. However, you can ask him/her questions during Lab 2.

Sources: You will need to find your own sources (either from the references cited in your assigned review article or from an independent literature search - your TA will provide some guidance in Lab 1 and Lab 2) and cite them using the citation-sequence style (see pp. 17-19 of the course manual). Please make sure that your primary research articles come from a peer-reviewed journal. If you are not sure if your article comes from a peer-reviewed journal, check the course Blackboard site under the 'Additional Information' tab. Please do not include more than 2 primary research articles as extra articles will not be marked.

BIO230 Annotated Bibliography Assignment 2015 5

BIO230H Fall 2015 Annotated Bibliography Rubric

Name: Mark: /28

User ID: Lab Section:

Content

Missing

Major flaws

Good

(minor flaws)

Excellent

Thesis/Objective Statement: The student clearly indicates his/her thesis or central purpose. The statement(s) is/are clear, concise and scientifically accurate. The student has stayed within the assigned topic and uses own words*.

0

1-2

3-4

5-6

Sources: The student has chosen peer-reviewed sources that clearly contain information that supports his/her thesis statement or central purpose. 2 marks for each article.

0

1-2

3

4

Guiding Question 1 for Primary Article 1: Student uses own words* to clearly and concisely summarize the central research question in the article. Scientifically accurate.

0

1

2

3

Guiding Question 2 for Primary Article 1: Student uses own words* to accurately and clearly summarize evidence from one experiment. Clearly indicates how this evidence supports the thesis or central purpose statement(s).

0

1-2

3

4

Guiding Question 1 for Primary Article 2: Student uses own words* to clearly and concisely summarize the central research question in the article. Scientifically accurate.

0

1

2

3

Guiding Question 2 for Primary Article 2: Student uses own words* to accurately and concisely summarize evidence from one experiment. Clearly indicates how this evidence will support the thesis or central purpose statement(s).

0

1-2

3

4

Citations in citation-sequence style

Missing

Major flaws

Good

(minor flaws)

Excellent

0

0.5

1

2

Overall organization, spelling, grammar, and style

Poor (unclear and difficult to understand)

Major flaws

Good

(minor flaws)

Excellent

0.5

1

1.5

2

* Please see page 19 of the course manual and Appendix 3 of the Self-guided Annotated Bibliography Assignment Instructions for a short discussion on paraphrasing and how to avoid plagiarism.