Biology 104: General Biology II

 

Human Uses of Plants

 

 

            Humans are greatly dependent on plants for food, beverages, fiber, medicine, and wood. In this assignment you will be examining one of those uses and writing about it. You will gather information from sources on the Internet, following one of two routes. Either you can pick a plant or plant use that interests you and search for information on it, or examine the course web site indicated below and browse for a topic.

           

Getting the Information (Choose either Route A or Route B)

 

            Route A: Search Engines. Use this route if you already know what plant or plant product you want to write about. Try Google first, because it searches millions of pages, and allows you to search within results so you can keep narrowing your focus. Once you get some pages that look worthwhile, start taking notes and keeping track of their URLs (Internet addresses). Or use other search engines, such as Yahoo , AltaVista , etc.

 

            Route B: Course Web Site. Plant Biology for Non-Majors, a course at the University of Maryland, has a web site maintained by Dr. David Straney. Its URL is http://www.life.umd.edu/classroom/BSCI124/main.html. Scroll down to Unit III, Human Uses of Flowering Plants. Browse through the headings and choose one plant or group of plants for your focus. Read about it, and follow all of the highlighted links. (Not all are current, but examine those that are.) Take notes and keep track of the URLs (Internet addresses) of the sites that seem worthwhile. I also have some links on the web site for the Plants and Civilization course that I teach.

 

Writing the Paper

 

            Once you have gathered the information, organize it in a coherent form. Put similar material together before you start writing. Do not simply copy what you have found! I expect most of the words to be yours, not those of your sources. If you must use your source’s words, put them in quotation marks (“ ”) and indicate the source of the information. At the end of the paper, include a Sources section and list the sites that you visited and actually used. How to Cite Internet Sources is indicated below.

            You should be able to get enough information for a four-to-five-page paper, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. The assignment will be worth 30 points (see Grading Rubric below).

 

 

How to Cite Internet Sources

 

Within the body of your text:

(Author, Year if known)

Example: (Straney, 2005)

If you do not know the author or the year, use the title.

Under Sources (at the end of your paper):

                                    Author, Year of publication on the web. “Title of the Page.” Full web address. (Date visited)

Search the page for some indication of author; if there is not a person, perhaps there is an organization listed. Look also for "last updated" or other indication of date of publication. If there is nothing, use the year of your visit. The title should be at the top of the page. 

Example: Straney, D. 2005. "BSCI 124: Plant Biology." http://www.life.umd.edu/classroom/BSCI124/main.html (18 January 2006)

 

 

Plagiarism (from the SAU Student Handbook)

 

            Simple plagiarism is occasionally using words or ideas from outside sources without documenting the sources. As a penalty, the instructor may require the work to be resubmitted with documentation and/or require the student to work on documentation at the Student Success Center.

            Aggravated plagiarism is purchasing a paper, having another person write a paper, or extensive copying of words or ideas from outside sources without documentation. Penalties range from resubmitting the assignment to receiving a grade of F for the course.

 

 

Grading Rubric

 

Form and Mechanics (10 pts)

 

 

Content (20 pts)