Goals
The long paper summarizes and discusses 8-10 related papers from the primary literature that
focus on an ecological topic. Your audience is the same as that for the short paper: someone who
understands basic biological/ecological concepts, but may know little about the particular topic
that you have chosen. Your paper should bring such a person up to date on the research topic.
In organizing your paper, you might find it helpful to consider the following issues. What are the
main questions around which the research is organized? What approaches have been taken by
scientists investigating this topic, and what have these studies revealed? If there are competing
hypotheses, which ones have been well supported? Have any of the others been refuted? What
questions remain unanswered? You should comment on the strengths and limitations of the
studies you summarize.
In an earlier assignment you started to develop the main question or thesis of your long paper.
Now you need to locate the remaining articles from the literature. Of a total of eight primary
articles at least one of must have been published in 2020-21, at least four from 2015-2017, and
the remainder of any age. All eight must come from the peer-reviewed sections of scientific
journals. If you have more than eight, they can be background articles. Many appropriate papers
will be available on-line, but you may not use changeable web pages (e.g., Wikipedia) as
sources. Again, if you are uncertain about what a peer-reviewed scientific paper is, please ask for
help. I can guide you in your search for papers, but I will expect you to have made a serious
attempt on your own first.
The first page of your paper includes your name, the assignment #, title, and synopsis. The
title should be brief and informative. This is the bait that lures the potential reader to continue
further, so choose your words carefully. Most scientific publishers limit the number of words or
characters that you can use in a title, so it is good to learn to be concise. The synopsis (of about
150-200 words) gives a concise, specific, balanced summary of all the main points made in the
paper. Write it after you have finished a full draft of your paper. Often, journals call this section
the “abstract” or the “summary.” The remainder of the pages are devoted to your writing.
Introduction – This section can range from one to three pages. The purposes of the introduction
are to introduce your topic or question, to put it into a general framework, and to provide
necessary background information for the reader. Clearly state the specific question you are
asking, or the topic you are addressing. Put the question or topic in a more general context so that
the reader understands why it is interesting and important. If you are not sure why it is interesting
and important, then you should find another topic. Also use this section to explain (briefly) how
you are going to address the topic. For example, you might state that you are going to (i)
summarize several hypotheses related to the issue you have selected, (ii) present and discuss the
results of several studies testing these hypotheses, and (iii) draw your own conclusions about the
best-supported view(s). It is not necessary to organize your paper around one particular thesis (a
single idea that you plan to support). It is more likely that you will present several lines of
evidence that bear on a problem, or several related hypotheses along with evidence for or against
each of them.
Main body of the text – This section should present an objective, unbiased account of the
relevant information from the primary literature and your critical evaluation of that literature. It
will be most effective if you present information organized around key points, rather than around
individual papers (do not simply summarize the source papers sequentially). Give the reader
sufficient information about the sources for your arguments to be followed and your opinions
understood and evaluated, but no more. Being critical does not necessarily mean finding flaws in
the papers. Rather, it involves expressing a reasoned opinion on a matter, involving judgment on
its correctness, value, or significance.
Use of subsections – If you think that subdividing your paper into sections will help the reader to
follow your discussion, then do so. If you use subsections, think carefully about what they
should be, and be careful not to subdivide the paper up so much that it lacks flow. Also, make
sure that your subsections are clearly distinguished from each other and follow a logically nested
structure. If you find you have multiple subsections with only a paragraph or two in each, then
you have too many subsections.
Use of in-text citations – The main point of each paragraph should be clear and supported by
evidence from the literature. Use proper citation format when describing data or conclusions
from the papers you have read. If the author’s name is used as part of the sentence, the citation
should be in the form: “Lewis (2013) investigated the …” If the author’s name is not used in the
sentence, then the citation should be in the form “… (Lewis 2017, McManus & Lewis 2018,
Richards et al. 2021).” Note that they should be listed chronologically. The citation should be
placed at the end of the sentence (before the punctuation) if it applies to the entire sentence, or
immediately following the information to which it applies within the sentence.
Tables and Figures – In general you will not need to include tables / figures in your paper, and
we do not expect you to include them. If, though, you think they will help you to communicate
something to the reader, then it is fine to use them. In particular, graphics can be useful for
simply describing the framework for a set of ideas or for summarizing the results of a set of
papers reviewed. You should not, however, simply copy graphics from the articles you read –
any that you use must be original and based on your synthesis of the material. Note that, like the
references, figures and tables do not count towards the page total.
Conclusions – In this section, present your own conclusions or analysis of the information you
have described. The quality of your paper rests on how well you support your case, not on what
position you choose to support. If there is no controversy, use this section to synthesize the
major conclusions of the papers you have read. If there is controversy, then suggest what
studies/experiments should be done to resolve it. Be sure to return to the main issues you said
you would address in the Introduction.
References cited – This section is a list of all the source papers (references) that you cited. List
the papers alphabetically according to the first author’s last name. When there are multiple
papers by the same author(s), list them chronologically within author.
EEB 2244W – Fall 2021
Do not list references that are not cited in your paper. It is inappropriate to list papers that are
related to your topic, but to which you do not specifically refer – such a comprehensive list is a
bibliography. On the other hand, any ideas or information that are derived from papers that you
have read should be credited to the authors who wrote the original paper through correct citation.
Failing to give appropriate credit is plagiarism and could result in you failing the class.
Length: The long paper should be ~ 6000-7000 words (excluding cited reference at back).
Exceptionally long or short papers will be returned without grading.
Formatting: Use 1” document margins, 12 pt Times Roman font for all text, number the pages.
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