Extra credit - BI 204

Article for extra credit.

I will post an article by about the 6th week of class.
You can also find an article to read on your own, but you MUST check with me to have it approved first.
Summaries are due on the last Friday of classes.

Your extra credit paper should be double-spaced, 10 or 12 point font, and no more than 2 pages long. Here is how I will grade extra credit assignments that are summarizing an article:

1. Article summary - What were the main points of the article(s)? What biological system was being investigated? What were the big questions or problems addressed? What data was presented to support the authors’ arguments? What were the main conclusions? (6 pts.)

2. Explain three (3) ways that the article relates to ecological and evolutionary principles we discussed in class. This description should include enough detail that I can tell you understand the relevant concepts.  Just listing topics is not sufficient. It’s best to clearly state what these points are, either in a separate section/paragraph or by specifically noting them in the text. (3 pts.)

3. What did you personally learn from this? (1 pt.)

The quality and thoughtfulness of your writing counts throughout; you will need to do a very good job to get all 10 points.

Seminars for extra credit.

Your extra credit paper should be double-spaced, 10 or 12 point font, and no more than 2 pages long. Here is how I will grade extra credit assignments that are summarizing talks:

1. Background and hypotheses (2 pts.) - Make sure you include the name of the person speaking and the title of their talk! What biological system was being investigated? What were the big questions or problems addressed?  What were the specific hypotheses they were trying to test?

2. Results: how did the data support the hypotheses? (2 pts.)

3. Conclusions (2 pts.) - What were the main points the speaker made? Did you agree? Your critical thinking.

4. Explain at least three (3) ways that the seminar relates to ecological and evolutionary principles we discussed in class. This description should include enough detail that I can tell you understand the relevant concepts.  Just listing topics is not sufficient. It’s best to clearly state what these points are, either in a separate section/paragraph or by specifically noting them in the text. (3 pts.)

5. What did you personally learn from this? (1 pts.)

Total: 10 points.

  The quality and thoughtfulness of your writing counts throughout; you will need to do a very good job to get all 10 points.