Presentation & Paper Description

Email me

Back to:

Presentation:

The presentation allows the student to pursue an ecological topic not presented to the class or to explore a topic in greater depth than presented in lecture or the text. The process of finding the information allows the student to explore and familiarize his/ herself with the resources available on campus and beyond. Organizing the material into a logical argument for the paper encourages the student to understand the material thoroughly and presenting the material to others encourages a level of familiarity with the material and confidence in oneself that will help the student start to see his/herself as a professional biologist. These presentations will allow the entire class to get a glimpse of many relevant issues that are beyond the scope of the course.

The TSU library has begun to provide us with improved access to primary literature in biology. Primary literature refers to the journals and books in which original data are presented. They are usually peer reviewed. This means that, prior to publication, the material is given extensive review by others who also work on and are experts in the field. This eliminates much poor, inaccurate, and speculative writing (although not all). For our purposes, this is the stuff one must read if one is to become a biologist. Familiarity with the primary biological literature is a necessary part of your education. With the use of the internet and the TSU library, we can encourage you to become an user of primary literature. For this reason, we will concentrate our efforts on presenting material from the primary literature and not on simply going to websites and presenting whatever comes up.

We will also not be doing presentations that are geared for a general audience. We are not a general audience, we are biologists (or those interested in becoming biologists). For this reason, I have listed below some common errors made in the presentations. READ THROUGH THEM CAREFULLY. FAILURE TO DO SO MEANS THAT YOUR GRADE MAY BE MUCH LOWER THAN YOU EXPECTED.

Recognizing that ecology is new to you and that coming up with a presentation topic is not so easy when the area is unknown, topic selection will be structured. Here is how we will do it. I have downloaded many articles that come from TREE (Trends in Ecology and Evolution) and the Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. These are peer-reviewed journals (there are Trends and Annual Review journals for many biology disciplines) BUT THEY ARE REVIEW JOURNALS AND DO NOT PRINT THE ORIGINAL RESEARCH. The articles are written for any biologist, so some attempt has been made to write for a more general audience than specialists in each sub-field. However, they do assume that the reader has a good biological background. As they are reviews, they will act as the portal you need to the literature about some topic in ecology. This is where you will start your search.

1. Your lab instructor will send you a file containing a very short description of the articles (just a phrase, it has to be 30 characters or less).
2. You will send a return email that lists which articles you want to read (three or four would be reasonable), listed in decreasing order of interest.
3. I will send the article closest to the top that has not already been chosen. It will arrive in your email box as as a .pdf file (see below for an explanation of how to open a .pdf file).
4. You will read the article and then send a reply that accepts this article as the beginning of your presentation research or rejecting it. If you reject it, you must ask for another article and we are back at step 2. I will send the next article and we will repeat steps 2, 3 and 4 until you accept an article
5. When you find the article that will be the basis for you presentation, you will then need to get some more material, organize the presentation, etc, These steps are outlined below.

You might wonder why I have given so much space to a description of and rationale for primary literature. The reason is simple. I will not accept a presentation that draws only from public websites. The information on public-access websites is invariably geared for a general audience. ONCE AGAIN, we are not a general audience. You are aspiring biologists. The information you need will not be on these sites.

So, is there any role for public websites in your search for information for your presentation. Perhaps. I can see two. First, the information presented my help you read the more difficult primary literature. Second, there may be graphics that you want to use in your presentation. You might ask "Can I do this? Isn't it breaking the law to use copyrighted material" The answer in this case is no, so long as you stick to the provisions of the "fair use" doctrine. Under this doctrine, you can use the material for a classroom presentation, but you must acknowledge the source of the material (a reference) and you must not publish the material (you can't upload your presentation to a public website, for instance).

You will need access to websites available only through the library website. This will get you to web pages that allow searching of journals websites for articles which are where the data was first published. Why go there? Because you need to know not just what conclusions were reached, but how the data that support the conclusions were gathered and analyzed. At this point, you understand the conclusion. Before seeing the primary literature, one cannot really understand the topic.

Accessing the Library Resources

The Catalog:

First you should find out if there are any books that pertain to your subject in the library's collection. To do this online, go to the TSU site, link to the Library site and go to the online catalog. Then go to the search page. Now you have to do some thinking. You will probably search a keyword or keywords (make sure you type it with the correct spelling). You must choose a keyword that will find the resources you need. If you are having problems with what keyword to use, this probably means that you have not really settled on a topic and perhaps you should give more thought to this before beginning your search. If you are unsure, come see me and we can talk it over.

The Online Search for Articles and books:

This can be very tedious if you are not sure what you are searching for. Read the above if you are not and follow the advice there. There are two approaches: search for articles you can download immediately and search for articles and books you must get through interlibrary loan. Both may be necessary

Immediate Downloads:

First, check to see if the computer you are using has Acrobat Reader as an available program, as most article files come as .pdf (portable document format) files and need this program to be displayed or printed. If you don't have it of if the version you have is not the latest, use the internet to download it from the Adobe site (www.adobe.com will get you there (many library and publisher web sites have links to Acrobat Reader download sites so look there also) and follow the instructions to install it.

Once you have the latest version of Acrobat reader, go to the "Online Journals" site. There you will be able to enter the sites from which we can download articles. There are several and you can use the search pages on each to do find pertinent material.

If you can't open the article by simply clicking on it, try this: open the Acrobat Reader program and then open the article from within the program. If that doesn't work, you probably have an old version of the program, and you must go to the site and download it. A hint: if if you use a different computer each time you log on (if you use a computer in one of TSU's computer labs, for instance), then you might want to get a zip disk and install Acrobat Reader on the zip disk (many computers on campus have zip drives). Then, you can bring the program with you whenever you go to another computer.

Interlibrary Loan:

The library has several databases that list articles. You can get to them from the Library page by clicking on "Databases by subject". The databases are not listed under biology but are under Life Sciences (I hate that term. It just means biology). Currently, there are three available: First Search, BIOSIS, and Academies of Science. Click on one and go. I like First Search and BIOSIS. You will usually search by subject. Often, a search will get you the particulars about an article and an abstract, but not the article. Check to see if we have access to the journal (Library Page, Online Journals link). If not, then, check to see if we have a paper copy of the journal (Library page under Periodical Holdings). You might be able to go an make a copy in the library. If you can't copy and can't download, you must turn in an interlibrary loan request. You can do this online, too. On the library page, click on "Online Forms" and then to ILL (Main Campus) page (or book page). It can take a couple of weeks, so give yourself time to get, read and use the material.

Specifics:

The Presentation:

You will speak for 15 minutes on your chosen topic. During this time, you must demonstrate mastery of your material. The presentation must be accurate and must present the topic in a clear manner. It should reflect the current state of knowledge about that topic, including something about what is not yet understood. The simplest presentation would involve you just reading a paper you have written. This is acceptable, but means you have to hand me the paper when you do the presentation.

THINGS TO AVOID AT ALL COST:

Never use the review article I send you as the only source.

Never take text from articles and use it on a slide or in your paper without using quotes about all of the quoted material and following the last quote with a citation. FAILURE TO CITE PROPERLY WILL RESULT IN NO CREDIT FOR THE PRESENTATION OR PAPER.

Never keep a presentation so general that you do not go into a particular case in detail. By detail, I mean that you have gone to the original paper, read it, and present to us what the conclusions were, what data was gathered, and how were the data analyzed in order to support the conclusions.

THINGS TO DO IF POSSIBLE;

If you get a long review paper, there is almost always too much in there for a 20 minute presentation. The only reasonable strategy is to pick some aspect of the topic that you want to cover in detail.

DETAIL IS GOOD, NOT BAD (AND I DON'T CARE WHAT WAS PRESENTED IN YOUR SPEECH CLASS). This is not a talk to a general audience. Biologists will only believe something about biology if they know how the conclusion was reached. Thus, you are VERY STRONGLY encouraged to present the data in the paper or papers you are examining in detail. Show us the tables, charts or graphs that present the data.

 

If you want to use visual aids, we have a perfectly good system for doing so. It is called MS Powerpoint (another Microsoft program) and is available on campus hardware where ever Excel and Word are available. It is a very easy way to organize your presentation. The basic idea is that the computer screen becomes what you see in a slide presentation. I can project PowerPoint files onto a screen in our lecture room, so all you have to do is send me, as an attachment to an email, the Powerpoint file you create. I will download it and bring it to class for your presentation. No need to make overhead transparencies or handouts for the audience. There are templates you can use. One of the best parts of this is that you can sometimes copy graphics from other sources (here is where websites may be of value) and paste them into you presentation (just select the graphic while in your browser, copy it, and paste it into powerpoint). This means that a graph or picture can be displayed as you talk about it.

No matter whether you use PowerPoint, make your own slides, make transparencies, make posters, or read a paper; you must have a Literature Cited page, transparency, poster, or slide. On it, you must list, in the format described below, the citations for all sources used.

The Paperwork to go with the presentation:

You must give me an outline of the presentation. This must be a paper copy of the outline. I need it to keep track of my reactions to your presentation so that I can assign a grade fairly. Failure to do so will reduce your grade. Remember that both the Powerpoint presentation and outline must contain the literature cited page.

Outline Length:

Outlines are not to exceed 2 typed, double-spaced pages using 1 inch margins. The outline MUST BE TYPED AND DOUBLE SPACED.

Include no cover page nor report covers. Simply staple the pages together and put your name at the top. The content counts, not the appearance.

Due Dates: There are dates for the topic choice and the identification of source material as well as the final presentation date listed on the schedule on the syllabus page.

DO NOT PROCEED UNTIL YOU GET APPROVAL FOR PAPER TOPIC & SOURCES!

You must choose a topic (send me the email stating your intention to use an article) by the due date for choosing a topic in the syllabus.

Sources must be emailed to me on the dates indicated in the syllabus. I will email you approval of the sources. If I say more or better sources are needed, we will come to a final source due date at that time.

The paper will be due when the presentation is given. The actual presentation date will be one of the three set aside for presentations. We will set the day of your presentation during lab.

Optional Written Assignment:

The optional written assignment is a paper that shall be no longer than two typed, single-spaced pages, not including your literature cited section. As with the presentation, it will require that you go to the primary literature.   The paper will explain the science behind a current environmental or ecological issue.  You will start with the issue as presented in the popular press (local, regional or national) and this must take no more than one paragraph. From there, you must identify the science involved and get the primary literature on that subject. The paper will explain the issue and the science.  As it is only two pages, you need not be comprehensive (i. e., you need not cover all of the issue or all of the science) but you must be up-to-date and accurate with your explanations.

To begin the process, you must, by the date indicated on the schedule in the syllabus web page, bring a copy of an article from the popular press to your lecture instructor. The instructor will discuss the project with you at that time and either accept or reject the topic. Once the topic is accepted, the student can begin the literature search. The instructor should be kept abreast of the search results as the quality of the results will greatly affect the quality of the paper. Once the student has identified the primary literature, it must be approved by the instructor.

Notice that there are two places in the process of writing this paper where you must get the approval of the instructor to continue. Failure to do so will result in a paper not being accepted!

The paper must include copies of the primary literature as appendices. It must also cite the literature (see in-text citations below) in the text of the paper and include a separate literature cited page (page 3 of the paper). See below for the proper format for citations. Below are a set of instruction which, if not followed, will result in either a lower grade or no credit for the paper.

1. No paper papers will be accepted.  Submit your paper in electronic format (MSWord or RTF formats are the only acceptable formats) by sending it to my email address at pganter@tnstate.edu.
2. No quotations can be as long as a sentence in length.  I want to know what you know in your own words, not what your sources know.
3. Do not go over the limit of a paragraph describing the environmental problem.  Stick to the science behind the public aspects of the problem.

Citation Format

CITATIONS IN THE TEXT OF THE OPTIONAL WRITING ASSIGNMENT AND LITERATURE CITED PAGES FOR BOTH THE PRESENTATION AND OPTIONAL WRITING ASSIGNMENT ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. ANY PAPER WITHOUT THEM WILL RECEIVE A ZERO FOR A GRADE.

In-Text Citations:

Citations are put into the body of the paper to note where an idea, fact, or quoted material has come from. Your papers and presentations, since you are re-packaging what information you have gathered from others, should be chock full of citations. Failure to do so is considered plagiarism and will result in a 0 for the paper, so put them in and follow your paper or outline with a literature cited page.

Be sure to place quotes around all sentences or phrases taken from the literature. After the quoted material, list its citation. Also, you have to cite any ideas or facts taken from the materials (Finknotle, 1992), even if you are not taking it word-for-word. Literature citations are to be done by placing the last name of the author and the year of the materials publication in parentheses at the end of the sentence or paragraph in which the material is mentioned (Finknotle and Glossip, 1989). When you are introducing several things from a single source in a series of sentences as part of a paragraph, then wait until you have presented them all before including a citation (this saves space and makes for less repetition). Examples for 1, 2, and 3-or-more authors (in order):

(Finknotle, 1992) for a single author, or (Finknotle and Glossip, 1989) for a pair, or (Finknotle et al., 1990) for more than two.

The literature cited section should come at the end of the text, must alphabetically list all materials consulted and should use the following formats:

Book

Author's Last Name, Initials. Year. Title. Publisher. City and country of publication, pages of interest (if not the entire book).

Article from a Book:

Author's Last Name, Initials. Year. Title of article. Ed. Editor of book. Title of book. Publisher. City and country of publication, page numbers of article.

Journal Article

Author's Last Name, Initials. Year. Title of article. Journal name, Volume number: pages (of entire article).

Internet material

Author's Last Name, Initials. Year. Title of article/Name of site. Internet site URL, date accessed.

Presenting citations during your talk:

You should mention the name of the authors cited as you speak. This is bad form in some presentations, but is good form for a presentation such as you must give in this class.

On the slides, use citations just like you were writing a paper. REMEMBER, FAILURE TO CITE IN A PAPER OR ON A SLIDE WILL RESULT IN A 0. Since the paper/presentation is up to 15 out of 100 total points possible in the course, a 0 will reduce your final grade by at least one, and probably two, letter grades!!

At the end, you should read or (if using visual aids) present your literature cited page as the last slide.

Grading:

A single letter grade for the presentation will be given by the laboratory instructor and by the lecture instructor for the optional written assignment. The grade will be translated into a numerical score according to the schedule presented in class.

Last Updated August 23, 2006