Search Our Essay Database

Essay Instructions: This paper needs to be in Times New Roman 12 point font double spaced with 1 inch margins (8 full pages). A Works Cited page needs to follow with 10 references singlespaced. 5 references need to come from scientific journals. The other 5 need to come from advanced textbooks and review journals such as Discover, Nova, and Scientific American. These three are considered review journals NOT scientific journals. I understand that your professional writers will know what scientific journals are. NO Wikipedia or other online sources. These are not allowed on this paper.


The following is a copy of our outline for citing. I'm sure this is basic but there is a section discussing how to cite within the paper which is a little different from regular papers.
PART 1. What to cite
Some examples of what to cite?(this is certainly not exhaustive)
when you are describing an experiment or results.
when an author came up with an idea
when an author has a particularly good explanation that you use
when you quote an author (rarely necessary)
when you paraphrase an author?this is much better than quoting
when you are piecing together what others have done

When not to cite?(this is not exhaustive either)
when you are describing your own conclusions, but perhaps you are making conclusions based on cited results (see above)?this is your own thinking. If you cite someone else in these cases, you are improperly taking credit away from yourself!
when what you are discussing is common knowledge in biology (organisms are made of cells, there are 4 types of biological molecules, etc)?information found in most introductory textbooks.
note that if you read something with a citation in it, you are reading one author?s interpretation of the original. Therefore, you do not cite the original, but you cite what you read. If you want to cite the original, read it and make your own interpretations. If they are the same as the second author?s, you might need to cite both sources.

Quotations, Paraphrases, and Others? Ideas or Works
These are essentially the three things that you must cite in Biology. Other?s Ideas or Works means what it seems to mean. If you get an idea about something from a textbook, paper, website or elsewhere besides your own head, you need to cite that source. This includes figures and tables that you might reproduce in a paper or presentation.

Most people are familiar with Quotations and Paraphrases. A quotation is the exact words of another author, whereas a paraphrase could be described as a quotation that has been rewritten. Quotations must be noted with quotation marks and they must be cited immediately after the quoted material.
How much is a quotation? Exactly how much material constitutes a quotation varies. Usually 3-4 words is not a quotation unless it is a unique turn of phrase that the original author created. A clause is likely to be a quotation, and a sentence or more is definitely a quotation. There are gray areas, of course, but it is best to avoid them.
What are paraphrases? Rather than quoting material from another author, it is best to think about what the author has said and reproduce it in your own words. This is called a paraphrase. For example, the original author might write:
The shifting-balance model of evolution has been misused by many scientists. Rather than using it as a testable hypothesis within evolutionary biology, they use it as a proven axiom against which all other theories of evolution are tested. (made-up statement by DPJ)

You might like the ideas expressed above. You could write it entirely as is, in which case it is a quotation. However, it is better to paraphrase it, meaning that you should write what it means in your own words. For example, one might say as a paraphrase:
Many biologists mistakenly regard the shifting-balance model of evolution as though it has been proven, rather than as an hypothesis that should be tested.

How do I decide to quote or paraphrase?
The short answer is to paraphrase whenever possible, and avoid quotations unless they are absolutely necessary.
In general, writers are tempted two quote for two different reasons. One is good, and the other is not. The good reason to quote is when the original words and phrases, in addition to the thoughts, are extremely important to the writers? argument. This is perfectly acceptable, but it is a relatively rare occurrence.
The second reason that people quote is because they don?t have the ability to say what the original author said in their own words. This is a pretty poor reason to quote, but unfortunately, it is also why many people do quote. This is a lazy reason to quote, and it is unacceptable. When confronted by professors, a students will commonly claim that ?the author said exactly what I thought,? or ?she summed up everything I was thinking,? or that ?this was the only way to say it.? What the professors hear is ?I really don?t know exactly what the author was saying, so I couldn?t put it into my own words.? Some students will be tempted to write a paper that has several quotes strung together to make a point. If you do this, you are not really writing a paper, but instead you are making a list of what other people think on a subject. Although you are putting thought into creating this list, it is not necessarily the type of thought that your professor had in mind when making the assignment.
So, again? avoid quotations whenever possible!

Part 2: How to cite
Although there are precise formats for citing sources (MLA, for example), it is most important that you give credit to the cited material and tell the reader how to find that material than that you follow exact conventions. In fact, some of your professors may not require a specific format as long as you have done the above and it is reasonably easy to find your sources. In other courses, it is necessary to follow a format.

*********************************************************
The citation formats below are commonly used in Biological writing, and you should use them in your biology papers unless told otherwise by your professor. They vary based on the type of source (most are journals, books, or compiled books). You should find these formats used in many of the journal articles you read in biology, but they are not universal, since each journal has its own peculiarities.

In the text of your paper. Cite at the end of an idea from someone else by telling the last names of the authors and the date of the publication. The following examples are quotations taken from Hahn and Sytsma (1999), with notes below in italics.

Climatic factors have also been implicated as a causal basis for some of the biogeographic lines as several of the lines straddle transitions from one climatic zone to another (Morley 1988).
Notes: 1. no comma between the author?s name and the date.
2. no page number, even if the source is a book. .

Among these lines, perhaps the most famous is Wallace?s Line (Wallace 1863, 1876; Simpson 1977; Witmore 1981, 1987).
Notes: You can have multiple citations for one idea. Separate the authors by semicolons. A comma separates multiple citations by the same author. If an author has more than one publication in a year, make one a, one b, etc. (Steele 1998b), and continue to use this format throughout the paper and in the bibliography .

Palms are well represented in the flora of Southeast Asia and several genera of palms span Wallace?s Line (Dransfield 1981, 1987; Baker et al. 1998)
note: If there are two authors, write (Jensen and Gensel 1997); if there are three or more authors, use et al. (Latin for ?and others?). ?Et? is a word?no period after; ?al.? is an abbreviation?period after. All the authors are listed in the bibliography

Huxley (1868) presented yet another line that was similar to Wallace?s 1863 line, but ran to the west of the Phillipines.
note: You can cite the author (Huxley) directly as a person who did something, rather than just his or her idea.

Citing quotations. A quotation is when you take the actual words of the original author and place them into your paper. If you quote a phrase in the context of a sentence, you need to put quotation marks (? ?) around the quoted words to show that they are not yours ?This is the form for short quotations in your paper. They should be part of your text? (authors? names, date, pages). If the quotation is long (generally more than two typed lines long), it should be indented, single-spaced, and not placed in quotation marks.
Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote Long quote. (author?s name, date, pages)

If you quote, be sure you write all the words exactly as the original author, including errors. If you want to drop out part of the quote, use an ellipsis to note the break: ?Charles Darwin argued that natural selection?and that it was one of the most important ideas in biology? (made-up quote by DPJ). If there is an error in the quotation, you are not allowed to correct it, but you may note that it was not yours. You do so by using the Latin ?[sic]? to note it, as follows in this made-up quote: ?The people dispersed, and went to they?re [sic] own rooms.? ?Sic? means ?crazy?, and is used disparagingly. If you like the original author, don?t point out her flaws.
************************************************************

Citing communications with individuals. Often you will find material from a lecture or discussion with a professor that is related to your paper, and you want to cite it. If the material is general knowledge, there is no need to cite. If it is specialized, it may be found in your textbook, and you can cite the textbook. If on the other hand, it is something that the professor thinks and is not in the books, you can cite the communication with her. It would be as (Chen, pers. comm.), which means it was part of a personal communication with Dr. Chen.

Citing Tables and Figures. These are part of experimental lab reports, but they could be in other papers, as well. When you have these, they are not part of the text, but rather they stand alone, so you need to have a citation within your text to them. Charts are called Tables, and they are generally cited as ?Table I,? ?Table II,? etc. Graphs, histograms, diagrams, and pictures are all called Figures. They are cited as ?Fig. 1,? ?Fig. 2,? etc. Of course, these are not in your Literature Cited section.
If you take or modify a figure or a table from a journal source, then your text cites it as Fig. 1, Table I, whichever is appropriate, and you should have a citation to the original source after the title of the figure or table. The original source is then listed in your Literature Cited section.

Part 3. Literature Cited Section/Bibliography
Literature Cited vs. Bibliography vs. Annotated Bibliography. These are all different things, but similar. A Bibliography is a list of sources on a particular topic, whereas a Literature Cited section is only those sources that are cited in a paper. For example, you may read 35 sources as you write a paper. Your Bibliography would be all 35 sources. However, if you only cite 12 of them in the paper, your Literature Cited section contains those 12 sources, and no more. Sometimes people will make a bibliography and then they will add 1-4 sentences about each source telling its use, its main points, etc. This is called an Annotated Bibliography.
Most Biology papers should include only a Literature Cited section.

The methods of writing a reference vary depending on the source. Here are some of the formats you are to use, depending on the sources. When you find something different, first try to create something that is consistent with what is listed below. Then ask your professor if you have done it correctly. Keep in mind that the main purpose is to be sure the readers can find the original source of your material.

Journals: These are the most important sources in science writing.
Hahn, W.J. and K.J. Sytsma. 1999. Molecular systematics and biogeography of the Southeast Asian genus Caryota (Palmae). Systematic Botany 24:558-580.
notes: There is a ?-inch hanging indent. The reference is single-spaced (with a double-space between this and the next reference.
Author?s first and middle names are just initials. Keep the authors in the order as in the article?this is important. Only the lead author (first author) has his name and initials reversed
ALL of the authors are listed here, even though you cited it as ?et al.? in the text.
There are periods separating the important parts: authors, date, title, journal (and another at the end of the citation).
Only the first word and proper words are capitalized in the article title.
Scientific (species) and generic names are in italics (but the family is not). Do not underline, computers make italics easy!
The journal is not italicized, abbreviated, or underlined.
This is volume 24, pages 558-580. Do not use ?vol? and ?pp? in your bibliography.
Because this journal, as most, does not begin with page 1 in each issue, but with each volume (one volume=several issues), the volume number is sufficient. In the rare case that issue number is important, it would be written as follows: Systematic Botany 24(4):558-580.
The page numbers go to the end of the article that you have listed, not just the part in which you found the information.

Authored Books: There are two types of books. Authored books are written entirely by the author(s) on the cover. Compiled books have authors of individual chapters, but those chapters are put together by several editors, who are scientists themselves.
Graham, L.E. 1993. Origin of Land Plants. John Wiley & Sons: New York. 287pp.

notes: The title is not in italics. The publisher and publisher?s locality is listed. Often the publisher will list several localities, you may choose whichever is closest to you geographically. If it?s not a big, well-known city, be sure to put state or country, also.
List the number of pages in the entire book.

Graham, L.E. 1993. Chapter 5. Gaps between charophycean algae and land plants. In Origin of Land Plants. John Wiley & Sons: New York. 115-145.
note: This is a chapter citation in an authored book. Page numbers are important here.

Compiled Books: Do not cite the book, cite the individual chapters.
Benton, M.J. 1996. On the non-prevalence of competitive replacement in the evolution of tetrapods. In D. Jablonski, D.H. Erwin, and J.H. Lipps, eds. Evolutionary Paleobiology. University of Chicago Press:Chicago. 185-210.
note: Page numbers are just the page number of the chapter.


Web-pages. You are advised to not use web-pages as citations. They do not have the same control for quality that printed materials do, so you must take them with a grain of salt and be critical of their information.

Personal Communications.
Chen, N. Personal communication1. Molecular Biology Lecture. Date.
Chen, N. Personal communication2. Private Discussion. Date.


Arrange your references in the bibliography alphabetically. If the author published alone, in conjunction with someone else, or with a variety of people, put single-authored publications first, then follow alphabetically by subsequent authors. When one author or group of authors has several papers, put the oldest ones first. Be sure to write out all the names of ?et al.? authors in the reference. These references are in proper order:

Gensel 1998
Gensel 1999
Gensel and Andrews 1982a
Gensel and Andrews 1982b
Gensel, Andrews, and Jensen 1999
Gensel, Jensen, and Hueber 1926.
Jensen, Gensel, and Hueber 1920.

Entries in the Literature Cited section are single-spaced, not double-spaced, and there should be a blank line between each pair of entries.

.
Reference
Hahn, W.J. and K.J. Sytsma. 1999. Molecular systematics and biogeography of the Southeast Asian genus Caryota (Palmae). Systematic Botany 24:558-580.