What is meant by population transition? Briefly describe the recent changes in human populations and the driving factors involved. Historically what other transitions have occurred? Is this a constant process or have there been periods with larger changes? What has the role of technology played in different population transitions?

Writing Tips for Assignment:

Assignment and rewrites of test questions will be graded primarily based on the scientific and analytical content of the work. This includes an adequate use of citations to appropriate literature, use of appropriate analytical tools including proper introduction and explanation of equations and calculations used to consider the problems, a concise discussion of the conclusions of the work. Below the basic formats expected and some guidelines for layout of assignments are outlined.

References: Appropriate references are typically considered to stem from juried (reviewed) literature. This means that the work should have been reviewed and published in scientific or engineering journals. Citing textbooks is allowed when documenting well known techniques and or solutions to specific mathematical problems. In general, it is not appropriate to quote a text book when the object is to refer to a specific piece of work in the juried literature. Instead it the original work should be cited. A text may be cited when it provides an overview of an entire field. The discussion should still quote the individual works that are pertinent to the discussion in the homework. A final note on textbooks is that they are usually out of date, therefore the newest juried literature is the place to start on homework.

When providing a reader with a reference list a good "rule of thumb" is to quote the most up to date references on the topic, a few of the major contributions on the issues, and the original work on the problem. Be explicit in discussing the role of each of the works cited in framing the conclusions in your paper. This is very important in documenting what you have added to our understanding of the problem with your own analysis. In other words carefully documenting what you have added.

Citations should appear in the text. While modern word processing has made it easy to use footnotes, you should use the authors' names and the date for their work in the text. Single authors should appear as Smith (2001) if you are discussing the work outright in the sentence. If the citation is just to provide a source for further research by the reader, the citation usually appears at the end of the discussion as (Smith, 2001). In general, in scientific papers page numbers are not given in the text. For two authors, both are provided, i.e. Smith and Jones (2008). For three or more authors make use of the Latin et al., i.e. Jones et al. (2010). Again these should be worked into the narrative when you are actually discussing a work or placed in parenthesis if you are just supplying references for the reader to go to for further information.

The reference section of your work should provide the reader all the information needed to find the work. In science the common widely used style is that of the American Chemical Society. There are a number of other formats also. Typically one must conform to a specific style of reference to comply with specific journals for publication. The important issue is to be consistent with a specific style. In the literature there are various templates for references. Any will be accepted for homework as long as they are consistently followed. Here are a set of examples:

Haywood, A.M., P. J. Valdes, and B. W. Sellwood. 2000. Global scale paleoclimate reconstruction of the middle Pliocene climate using the UKMO GCM: Initial results. Global and Planet. Change, 25, 239-256.

Fiedler, P. C. and L. P. Talley 2006. Hydrography of the eastern tropical Pacific: A review. Prog. Oceanogr., 69, 143-180.

Mullen KM, Peters EC, Harvell CD 2004. Coral resistance to disease. In: Rosenberg E, Loya Y (eds) Coral Health and Disease. Springer, New York, pp 377-399

Greenspan, H. P. 1969. The Theory of Rotating Fluids. Cambridge Uni. Press., London, 328 pp.

Darwin, C. 1890. Coral Reefs, Volcanic Islands, South American Geology. Bettany ed., Ward, Lock and Co. G. T. London, pgs 312-318.

Note here the first two are juried articles. The journal titles area abbreviated and the citations includes the volume number and page numbers for the articles. Author lists include all of the authors and their initials. The Mullen article is in a book and therefore includes the editors in the citations (eds). The last two are also books, but involve single authors who are responsible for the publication and therefore there is not mention of an editor. The Greenspan book just lists the total number of pages. The Darwin citation involves a long book without an index. Therefore the page numbers for the specific quotation are given. The books also list the publisher and the city where they were published. This is particularly important for the Darwin quote since his writings are voluminous and this is not an easy book to find.

Using the Internet and the Library: The Internet is a very powerful tool, that along with word processing, makes it far easier to complete academic work than in the past. That said, it is very easy to be lead astray by bogus information found on it. The ephemeral nature of material on line and the tendency for old information to hang on for years, make the Internet a problematic in terms of proper referencing. This is an issue that has seen considerable debate within the scientific publishing community. In general, sources from the juried literature should be used as much as possible. There are some data sets, however, that can only be accessed through the Internet. These should be fully documented including the agency source and the date of the product, plus the date when it was retrieved. This should allow a reader sometime in the future to find the data. The two important dates also allow checks on data recalls and modifications over time to data bases.

In terms of other uses of the Internet, a good way to start on a project is to "surf the web." While this may not provide the reference material that is required in the final product, it does do a good job of opening up information on problems. Sources such as Wickipedia are fine for getting basic definitions. Most of their offerings also contain useful references to get start with the literature. Google and other search engines are also useful. In general it is better to use Google Scholar. Services such as the Web of Science and Web of Knowledge are also good places to start. Most University libraries are equipped to facilitate the development of references for a project. In particular, there is access to most of the juried literature through E-Journals. The library also has excellent citation services and topic search capabilities. The citation indices are particularly useful in chasing down references on a topic by just checking on authors that have cited a work you have already found.