Deadlines

Topic Selection and Reference Material

Your paper can be on almost any appropriate topic relevant to parasitology (involving eukaryotic parasites - not bacteria or viruses) as long as there is a reasonable literature upon which you can draw.     The most likely format for your paper is evaluative literature review, i.e., a review of a reasonable segment of the current literature, with critical discussions of either points of conflict or appropriate avenues for future research; however, I am open to other formats if you wish to propose them to me.     The paper should be based on primary literature references (original research articles from refereed journals).

By "refereed journal", we mean one which publishes research articles only after they have been judged by knowledgeable scientists who serve as referees.      The journal editor sends copies of the manuscript that the author(s) have submitted to several respected scientists in the field, who are asked to comment on the question asked, the adequacy of the literature citations, the methods used, data interpretation, etc.      The referees each write an extensive review in which they might point out sections where the points the authors are making need clarification, or ask the authors to reinterpret some data, or even ask the authors to collect more data or do an additional control before the paper can be published.     It the question being asked is not scientifically sound or if the methods or interpretations are not appropriate, the referee may recommend that the editor reject the paper outright.      This is "quality control" for scientific publication.

Review articles and/or books should be used only as references for general background.      Web pages (unless they are from online versions of well respected journals) are not refereed and should not be used as primary references.      It's perfectly OK to get an idea from looking at someone's web page.      If it as a good source, it may contain references to research articles published in refereed journals, some of which you may use as references if you read those articles and draw your material from them.     Magazines such as Discover, Scientific American, Science Digest, etc., though interesting reading, are not primary references and are not appropriate references for a term paper.     If you are not sure whether a particular journal is an appropriate primary reference, ask me!

One of the biggest challenges to preparation of a research paper is gathering an appropriate set of references.    Information published on an individual's web site is not refereed material and is not suitable as a primary reference for a term paper, but may be a useful source of references to articles published by that individual, or to other published articles relevant to the topic covered on the web site.     However, the most efficient mechanism for scanning the literature for primary research articles is to use the databases available through the library!     Go to the UMSL homepage from a campus computer or from a computer connected to the campus network through the dialup system.      From the UMSL homepage, select "Resources & Services", then "Libraries", or go there directly with this link: http://www.umsl.edu/services/library/ .     Select "Databases", then "Databases Sorted Alphabetically".     The most useful databases for this paper will be Biological Abstracts, Current Contents, and Medline.     They may be searched independently, or you may search all three at once via the "Ovid Search Service" selection.   

The "Databases" link also allows you to locate journals accessible online.     (Some sare available only from a campus connection.)     The accessibility of recent issues varies from one Journal to another.     If you have problems, check with the Refere3nce Desk in Thomas Jeffereson Library or with me.   (The reference Desk will probably be more helpful!)

Another online reference source is PubMed, sponsored by the National Library of Medicine.     This is a searchable database that provides links to reputable journals (not all, by any means)  that put their publications online.     Accessing the most recent articles in full text requires a journal subscription or purchase of the articles.    However, for many publications articles more than 6-12 months old are often available for downloading free of charge.   Many can be accessed directly from the "Databases" link for the UMSL libraries.     You can also go to the PubMed homepage, from which you can get help or begin searches, at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi, or you can go directly to PubMed Central http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov to search a topic or view the contents pages of the most recent issues of covered journals.     You can also take an electronic trip to the library at Stanford University, which provided electronic access to a number of high-quality journals from http://highwire.stanford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl.

You are to submit your proposed topic or title to me by October 3.     Provide a concise statement of the topic you propose to explore, and include the titles and other source information for at least 3 initial primary references.     I will evaluate the appropriateness or feasibility of the topic you have submitted and of your references and either give you approval or suggest modifications.     I will be happy to discuss topics or references earlier than the October 3 deadline.

You are not absolutely committed to the title or topic you submit at this juncture, but you need to got started!     In order to point yourself and me in the right direction, you should make an effort to narrow your topic to a reasonable scope at an early stage.     (E. g., "Parasite Ecology" is too broad to be covered adequately in a term paper! Narrow your scope to something like "The ecology of Cryptosporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium hominis transmission in estuaries of the United States" or even narrow it to Chesapeake Bay if there are enough references on studies of this habitat.)     You may find that your original ideas for a topic need refinement as you seek references and begin fleshing out the outline for the paper, and that is fine, though major changes should have my OK before you get too far along in your writing.

Paper format

It is difficult to set absolute criteria for appropriate length of the paper or number of references.     As a target, a typical paper should be no fewer than 10 pages (double-spaced, 12 point font), nor should it be longer than about 20 pages.     In general, it should be based on no fewer than 8-12 primary references.     Some topics, of course, will require longer presentation and more references than others; some can be treated very well in a relatively short but crisply succinct discussion.    Please recognize that a minimalist effort may garner a passing grade, but it unlikely to earn an outstanding grade.

Writing the paper

The paper should begin with an Introduction that provides a statement about the importance of the topic (or the reasons you thought the topic might be interesting).     The body of the paper should present information you have gained in your research and analyze or synthesize that information.     A summary or conclusion section may be appropriate for some topics, but not for others.     References cited in the paper should be collected in a Bibliography at the end of your paper.     (See Bibliography format  below.)

In preparing your papers, bear in mind that I am most interested in what you have learned from the references you have read.     Hence, heaviest influence in grading will be placed on how well you take the information in the references you use and express that information in your own words.

Remember that any specific idea which you got from statements in one or more published papers should be identified with proper citations.     Although you should make every effort to write the paper in your own words, you may occasionally find it useful to quote short statements or phrases providing exceptional clarity.     If you use specific wording from the source paper (whether a part of a sentence or several sentences), it should be enclosed in quotation marks.     (Obviously, short statements that simply express a direct observation, such as "The treatment resulted in a lower prevalence of parasite infection", may be the most direct way of making the statement.     In such a case, it is not necessary to try to paraphrase the remark, but you should reference the source.)     Information that you get from a reference source but express in your own words does not belong in quotation marks, but the source of the idea should be cited.     Statements summarizing several pieces of information you have introduced previously in the paper do not need citations as long as the original source of the ideas was cited earlier.    When you present ideas without reference citation, you imply that they are either your own ideas or ideas so commonly held that no reference is necessary. (E.g., "The sun comes up in the east!")

Failure to give proper attribution for material or ideas gleaned from reference materials or other work by someone else without proper attribution is plagiarism.     Please see the document on Plagiarism and other forms of Acadmic Dishonesty for clearer descriptions of some forms of plagiarism commonly committed by students and of the severe penalties for plagiarism.     A paper which contains plagiarized material is not an acceptable paper, and that paper will receive a mark of zero.     Plagiarism is a serious offense, and it will be treated accordingly

Bibliography format

Most reference citations in the text should appear (in parentheses) at the end of the sentences (or the last of several sentences) to which the refer.     Cite references in the paper either by authors and date or by reference number in the bibliography.     E.g., refer to the paper cited below as (Roger et al., 1996) or by a numerical citation (nn) referring to its number in the bibliography.     (Use "et al." in a text citation when there are three or more authors, but give names of all authors in the bibliography).     If you refer to a book, indicate the page numbers within the book that contain the cited material (e.g., Roberts & Janovy, 2000, pp. 325-330).     If you refer to a website and are not using numerical citation, use the name of the author and last date the website was updated, if you know them, for the parenthetical citation; otherwise, give the URL.     If you refer to a website by its author, include URL under the author's name in the bibliography.

In the bibliography, give all authors, full title of the paper, and complete volume and pagination information for a journal source.     If the source is an online journal that does not have page numbers, cite the volume (or full date), the article number, and the total number of pages in the article, including biblioraphy.    List references in alphabetical order by first author.    Number the references in the bibliography.     For websites, give the name of the author, the last date the website was updated, if you know them, and the complete URL, in that order.