Research Reports

"I have only made this letter rather long because I have not had time to make it shorter"  -B. Pascal

 

Click here to read my general comments on problems in past reports (recommended)

 

Imagine that you are a free-lance science writer, commissioned by Dr. Jan Pechenik to write a Research Focus Box for his textbook (click here to see why this scenario has a basis in reality).  Your job is to provide an engaging description and critical commentary of a research article that deals with an organism or group of organisms covered in his book.  Acceptance of your work for publication requires a clear explanation of why and how the research was carried out, a commentary about its strengths and limitations, and an evaluation of whether and how it answered questions or raised new questions--not just a summary of the facts. 

 

Writing this type of critical commentary on one or two research articles may appear deceptively simple.  Unlike with a comprehensive "term paper," I am not requiring that you summarize many things that are known about an area of biology.  Instead, your job is to clearly explain the scientific process as revealed by a piece of research that is interesting to you.  Explaining science well requires that you master a number of skills, for example:

  • identifying and explaining for your audience the general background that led to the need to answer the research question;

  • identifying and clearly stating the specific question addressed by the research;

  • identifying and explaining only the thought process and parts of methods that are essential for your reader to understand how the question was answered;

  • identifying and clearly explaining how results from each set of experiments were used to draw particular conclusions; and

  • insightfully addressing how the conclusions help to identify new or unresolved questions. 

 

To accomplish these goals, you must demonstrate your understanding of the research by writing clearly and concisely in your own words and sentences based on your own understanding (see Plagiarism, below).

 

Format: Publication space in Pechenik's book limits you to submit only three pages, 12-point font, double-spaced, with 1" margins.  (As a stern editor, I will not read text beyond the three pages, but I will be surprised if you do not use the full three pages.  You can include literature cited and any figures or tables on additional pages.)  This is a very limited space for accomplishing all of these goals, and as Pascal attests in the quote above, it is often harder to write well in a shorter space. You must be succinct, including everything that is relevant but only what is necessary to understand the research and the broader scientific context that it addresses.  Above all, aim to teach your audience (see below) something novel, interesting, and worthy of publication space.

Target audience: Your intended audience is a group of well-educated, science-oriented students like your peers in this class.  Assume they have only limited knowledge of the topic, and do not expect them to have read the research article that you are explaining to them.

 

 

STEP 1: Choose your topic

Important guidelines.  (1) The article you choose must be a research article, not a review article.  A research article will include methods and results (data), showing how questions were answered, rather than simply reviewing what is known from other research articles.  (2) The article should focus on the biology of the invertebrate, not on related issues like the biology of its symbionts or the community it lives in, for example.  (3) Choose an article that focuses on an interesting question.  You will have a harder time writing about an article that is highly descriptive but lacks an interesting question. 

Do not pick the first article you find--read several abstracts, and pick something that you find most interesting.

Finding the article(s).  These methods for choosing an article are listed in order of my preference:

  1. Starting with a topic in lecture or lab that you found interesting, type keywords into a library database (Web of Science is a good one) to find research articles.  Do not use just a taxonomic term--combine it with words that identify a particular topic.  Ask librarians for help with databases, and feel free to bounce ideas off of me.

  2. Browse through recent issues of biological journals that deal with invertebrate biology. Find an article most interesting to you, and use it for your paper or to start your search for a paper.  Here are some relevant journals: Biological Bulletin, Invertebrate Biology, Invertebrate Reproduction and Development, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, Marine Biology, Marine Ecology Progress Series.  Most of the recent issues will be available only as paper copies in the library.

  3. Choose a topic from among those described in the "Topics for Further Discussion and Investigation" sections at the end of each chapter in your textbook (see end of this page for suggestions).

 

Scope.  The two reports, due in the first and second halves of the semester, will differ only slightly.

 

·   Report #1: With the goals in mind as described at the top of this page, this report should evaluate research described in one research article (not a review article) from a primary scientific journal for any group covered before Exam I (poriferans, cnidarians, ctenophores, flatworms, nemerteans, coelomate worms or pseudocoelomate worms).  The article must have been published within the last three calendar years.  

 

·   Report #2: The goals of this report are similar to #1 except for the following: (1) you should evaluate research described in two research articles, (2) the articles should be about any single group covered after Exam I and before Exam II (molluscs, arthropods, echinoderms, urochordates, hemichordates, or the lophophorate phyla), (3) one of the articles must have been published within the last three calendar years, and (4) the two articles should be by different sets of authors. 

            You should choose two articles that ask related, though not necessarily identical, interesting questions--one new goal of your report is to show an interesting relationship between the two pieces of research.  Some examples: (a) use the explanation of research in article #1 to show how it raised questions answered by article #2, (b) show how the two articles took different research approaches to answer a similar question, (c) show how the research in the two articles together answer a larger question than either does alone, or (d) show how and why two articles might have arrived at answers that seem conflicting.

 

STEP 2: Screen your topic with me

Two weeks before each report is due (see deadlines), you must email to me (1) the full citation for the article (authors, year, title, journal, volume, pages), (2) a brief (1-2 sentence) description of what question or questions the article addresses, (3) a link to the article, if available.  Before sending this note you must read enough of the article to know what you are getting yourself into.  The point of this screening is to make sure you're not stuck with something at the last minute that you don't like or don't have the background to understand.  Also, include (4) a brief description of how you found the article(s).  To help me keep my email sorted, use the appropriate subject lines.

Note: to encourage diversity, I will approve a given article for only one student.  It therefore pays for you to screen your choice early.

 

STEP 3: Research your topic further

As you read the article more carefully, you will probably come across information that you don't understand or want to know more about.  Because you have limited space, it would pay to be well informed about the topic in order to distinguish what is important to write about from what should be left out. Although you are required to focus on the research in the primary research article(s), it is useful to read other research and review articles on the topic, which you can cite in your report as well.  To find related articles type keywords into an online database, such as Web of Science, available at the library webpage <http://www.cofc.edu/~library/databases.html>.  Ask any of the course instructors or any librarian for help.

 

STEP 4: Write your report

Format.  The "Research Focus Boxes" in the Pechenik text are a good model.  Note how they efficiently accomplish your goals, by including only information relevant to addressing the research questions, in about the same space as your assignments.  Also, see these examples of successful student reports for assignment 1 (a, b, c, d) and assignment 2 (a, b, c, d).  [Note that, although these reports received good grades, they are in original form and so may contain errors in grammar or format].

Get help.  Use the campus Writing Center (this could be your last chance in life to get free help with your writing).  You can ask for help with everything from organizing ideas to gaining feedback on your writing before you hand in your work.  Find the web page at <http://www.cofc.edu/~csl>, call 953-5635 for an appointment, or just stop by the center in Addlestone Library.  Contact me, of course, if you need help or have any questions.

Honor pledge.  Please sign the cover or first page for your report in acknowledgment of your compliance with the honor code.  Note that, in accordance with the honor code, (1) you may not receive help from others in writing the report, (2) the report must be work done originally for this class--it should not contain writing or research you or anyone else has done in other contexts, and (3) it should be free of plagiarism.

A word of advice.  When grading papers, I get very grumpy if I detect language or sentence structure that has the ring of professional writing, which forces me to return to the original source or other sources for comparison with your report, sentence for sentence.  The general rule to avoid plagiarism: you must write in your own words and construct your own sentences based on your own understanding.  To avoid problems of either unintentional or intentional plagiarism, read the information on plagiarism and expected citation format, below.  Many students incorrectly think they already understand these issues, but not understanding them can get you into big trouble.

 

STEP 5: Submit your report

Your reports are due on the date indicated, as follows:

  • Hand in one printed copy of your report, with only the front page of the article(s) stapled to the back of your report. 

  • Also, email an electronic copy of your report to podolskyr@cofc.edu with the appropriate subject line.

Grading.  As with a professionally-submitted article, reports will be graded for both content and presentation. I expect you to use well-structured paragraphs that lay out a coherent argument, using proper grammar and impeccable spelling (spell-check and proofread!).  Keep in mind that, as with many tasks of a professional scientist, your evaluator will be reading many such reports at one time.  The work that gets the high grade (or the funding, or the publication acceptance) will be efficient, succinct, and engaging.  In particular, I will base your grade on these criteria:

How well did the research report:

·     introduce the research by providing sufficient background to understand the general problem addressed?

·     identify specific questions before describing the methods and results used to answer the questions?

·     explain the methods without unnecessary detail, and the logic for using these methods to answer the questions?

·     explain logical steps involved to draw specific conclusions from each set of experiments/observations?

·     critically evaluate the research, identify unresolved questions, and suggest approaches to resolve them?

Writing quality

·     grammar and spelling

·     sentence and paragraph structure

·     overall quality, clarity and precision of writing

·     proper use and format of citations and references

How effectively does the report teach the reader something interesting about invertebrate biology?

and, for report #2:

How effectively does the report show an interesting relationship between the two pieces of research?

 

CITATION and REFERENCE FORMAT

Citations.  Every article mentioned in your report should be in your literature cited section at the back, and every article in your literature cited section should be found in your report.  Each time an article is cited, the citation should list the authors' last names and the year.  Articles with more than two authors should have "et al." in place of other author names following the first author.  Here is an example involving one single-authored paper, one co-authored paper, and one with more than two authors:

      Some biologists (Podolsky 2002), have said one thing, while others (Sotka and Sancho 2003, Strand et al. 2004) have said another.

 

Of course, if the authors--like Podolsky (2002), or Sotka and Sancho (2003), or Strand et al. (2004)--are actually mentioned as part of the sentence, then only the year goes in the parentheses.

 

Literature cited section.  References in the literature cited section should follow a simple format such as the one shown below, with author(s), year, title, journal, volume, pages: 

Strand A, Plante C, Harold A (2004).  Acceptable citation styles for research reports.  Journal of Literature Citation 6:121-126.

 

 

PLAGIARISM

Your writing should synthesize, in your own words, what you've read.  Do not rearrange parts of sentences written by the authors or simply change, remove, or add words--these all constitute plagiarism.  Avoid quoting authors verbatim, even if you put the text in quote marks, unless you intend to comment specifically on their exact words and the meaning would be lost unless you quoted them exactly.  The following examples may help to understand what constitutes plagiarism.  If you're still unsure, see guidelines here or here.  Do not risk having your grade lowered for unintentional plagiarism, or having your paper handed over to the honor court, which I am obligated to do if I suspect intentional plagiarism.

Example

Imagine that a source (Smith, 2002) includes the following sentence:

Orchids manufacture their intricate devices from the common components of ordinary flowers.

The following two sentences, if included in your report, would be examples of plagiarism.  It doesn't matter that the author is cited.  The second sentence involves only rearrangement and changing of a few words:

Orchids manufacture their intricate devices from the common components of ordinary flowers (Smith, 2002).

Orchids manufacture, from the common components of flowers, their complex devices (Smith, 2002).

Do not quote verbatim.  Putting quotation marks around the sentence--although not technically plagiarism--is poor scholarship.  Words in quotes fail to demonstrate that you understand the idea being quoted.

"Orchids manufacture their intricate devices from the common components of ordinary flowers" (Smith, 2002).

Efforts to substitute synonyms for many words can constitute plagiarism and can also obscure the meaning of a sentence:

Orchids assemble their convoluted mechanisms from the general apparatus of average flowers (Smith, 2002).

Improvement

Instead of simply reworking the sentence from a source, express an important idea in your own words, adding other useful details you've read about:

The complicated structures that orchids use to achieve pollination have evolved from typical flower parts, like petals, that in most plants serve more simple and basic functions (Smith, 2002).

 

POSSIBLE TOPICS

Can't find a topic on your own? The following "topics for further investigation", from the back of chapters in Pechenik, are recommended as places to get started. They are listed by chapter.topic number. Note that some of these topics must first be formulated into research questions, and some of the papers listed are review papers, and are therefore inappropriate as the main focus for your report.

If using 5th edition (green cover):

  • Report #1: 3.2, 3.4, 3.6, 3.9, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 4.9, 4.10, 6.1, 6.3, 6.5, 6.8, 6.9, 6.13, 6.14, 6.15, 7.1, 7.3, 8.2, 8.3, 10.1, 10.3, 11.4, 12.2, 12.3, 12.3, 12.5, 12.6, 12.7, 12.10, 12.11, 12.12, 12.13, 12.14, 12.15, 12.17, 12.22, 13.2, 13.6, 13.7, 13.8, 13.11, 13.13, 13.14, 13.18, 13.21, 16.2.

  • Report #2: 12.2, 12.3, 12.3, 12.5, 12.6, 12.7, 12.10, 12.11, 12.12, 12.13, 12.14, 12.15, 12.17, 12.22, 14.2, 14.3, 14.5, 14.6, 14.7, 14.8, 14.9, 14.10, 14.13, 14.14, 14.16, 14.17, 18.2, 18.3, 19.1, 19.6, 19.7, 20.1, 20.2, 20.4, 20.5, 20.9, 22.1, 22.2, 22.3, 22.7, 23.1, 23.3, 23.4, 23.7, 23.8, 23.9, 23.10, 23.11, 23.12, 23.13

 

Will you be a published author?  Jan Pechenik and I chatted at a recent conference.  He liked the idea I presented of having students submit new Research Focus Boxes to him for publication in his book.  I will likely select a couple of student writing samples to send to him at the end of the semester.  If your writing assignment is selected, your work could wind up in the next edition!

 

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