Assignment #2: “Climate Change and Animal Physiology/Function” OR “Zoonotic Diseases” 20%
Due Date: Sunday August 8 2021, 11:59 PM (Toronto, ON, Canada Time)
In this assignment, you will write a mid-size paper (approximately 2500 words) that examines some aspect of climate change/global warming/habitat destruction on some aspect of animal physiology/biochemistry/overall function.
Alternatively, you may write a paper about zoonotic diseases. This option is a result of the current coronavirus pandemic and is put forth as an opportunity to increase your knowledge about these types of diseases. The general instructions provided immediately below apply to whatever topic you choose be it global warming/climate change or zoonotic diseases.
General Base your paper on at least eight (8) original research articles. In other words, you should look at 8 original research papers at a minimum to help you select a topic. More than 8 may be needed for your full paper; 10-12 have been typical with these papers over the last two semesters.
Your paper should contain at least three (3) figures that come from these articles or elsewhere.
The word limit of 2500 words is the official word limit.
Titles, figure legends and references do not count toward the word limit. The word limit is somewhat flexible. I will not count words. If your paper is 2500 “plus or minus several hundred words” that is fine. Do not waste time trying to adhere to an absolute word limit if you are only going to be slightly off.
1.5 spacing preferred.
Step 1: Select a topic. You have very broad latitude to write about some aspect of climate change/global warming/habitat destruction on some aspect of animal physiology/biochemistry/behavior/general function. You can look to many sources to help you select a topic (scientific journals; news articles; documentaries).
If you decide to write about zoonotic diseases, you also have wide latitude to structure your paper as you wish. You might want to focus on one single disease or you might want to focus more broadly on multiple diseases. You might focus on multiple effects of a single diseases or a single effect of multiple diseases. You may focus on the animal-to-human transmission from the point of view of animals that transmit diseases to humans or from the point-of-view of the disease transmitted from different animals to humans. The point is that there is no one right-way to write this paper. All organizational combinations or formats are fine. You just need to ensure that you do not just do a superficial survey or too many sub-topics. There does need to be substance. This applies to the climate change topic as well.
Step 2: When you have selected a topic, gather some research articles on that topic and formulate a plan for your paper. The paper should ideally have an introduction that discusses the type of climate change etc. that you are discussing and an introduction to the animal or animals that you will be discussing. The paper should also have some form of concluding paragraph. The organization of the paper in the middle sections will depend upon your topic and the areas that you wish to discuss. Do NOT default to the “Ontario High School Essay Format” of introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. You can have dozens or hundreds of paragraphs if the format of your paper warrants that.
For example, if you write about “global warming” and “rainbow trout physiology”, there could be sections of the paper that address how global warming alters different physiological systems. Another example could be how habitat destruction alters energy metabolism in large versus small mammals. The point is that you are investigating how some form of climate change alters some form of animal form/function.
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