pear tree

Adopt-a-Plant Project guidelines

Overview:

The purpose of this project is for you to choose a plant, conduct online research into the biology of the plant, and communicate what you have learned. You will be preparing an annotated bibliography on the plant you choose. The entire project is worth 50 points

Annotated Bibliography (50 points)

You will prepare an annotated bibliography with a list of the top 10 most interesting facts about your plant.

· Each fact should be paraphrased (i.e. written in your own words, no quotations allowed).

· Then tell me why this is interesting to you – make connections to your life or to currents issues in our world.

· Finally, give a full citation and tell me why you think this is a reliable, trustworthy source. Use this libguide to help you come up with reasons why your source is trustworthy.

· At least one of your sources should be from a peer-reviewed, science journal article.

Here is an example:

Fact 1: Taxol is a chemotherapy agent derived from the bark of the Pacific Yew Tree. The chemical itself is derived from a fungal endophtye within the bark. I thought this was very interesting, because the Pacific Yew tree is native to the state of Washington, and my aunt Jane received Taxol while undergoing chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. I also thought it was interesting because of the mutualistic relationship between the plant and the fungus.

Citation: Plant natural products from cultured multipotent cells

Roberts, Susan; Kolewe, Martin. Nature Biotechnology 28.11 (Nov 2010): 1175-6.

This is a reliable source because it is published in a peer-reviewed science journal article, written by two PhDs that are providing a review of the current literature on the topic

To complete the assignment, you should first choose a plant, gather articles discussing your plant, read the articles sufficiently enough to discuss the plant, and finally write the annotated bibliography. You are expected to produce original work, and any plagiarism will receive a zero. The paper should be double-spaced, and typed in 12 point font size, with normal margins. The instructions for how to properly cite your sources are at the end of this handout.

*** Reminder: The scientific name of a plant should always be typed in italics, with the first letter of the Genus capitalized. For ex.: Digitalis lanata. When you search for information on your plant online, make sure to use the scientific name, which will bring back a wider variety of results

The bibliography is worth 50 points and will be graded on:

1. Effort

• Quality of references

•Depth/breadth/quality of material covered

2. Following directions/ requirements

I will use the following rubric to grade your bibliography:

Research, Critical Reading and Documentation

Balanced, authoritative sources; correctly cited sources; effectively integrated outside sources. Most sources from science journals 10 pts

Effective sources, correctly cited, Could have a few more from science journals 8 pts

Sufficient sources appropriately used for assignment; cited sources 6 pts

Insufficient sources; missing sources; improper citations, inappropriate or biased sources, or no science journal article used in the paper 4 pts

plagiarism 0 pts

10 pts

Mechanics

No noticeable errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, or sentence construction 10 pts

Minimal mechanical errors that do not interfere with reader’s understanding 8 pts

Some minor mechanical errors; errors may interfere with readers’ understanding 6 pts

Obvious mechanical errors interfere with meaning 4 pts

10 pts

Content

provides accurate and complete explanations of key concepts, drawing upon relevant literature. Applications are included to illuminate issues. All 10 facts are present, all content complete 20 pts

For the most part, explanations of concepts are accurate and complete. Some interesting applications are included. All ten facts are included, all content complete 15 pts

Explanations of concepts are inaccurate or incomplete or confusing, or one fact is missing 10 pts

Exaplanations are inaccurate or incomplete or show a lack of interest or depth, or more than one fact is missing 5 pts

20 pts

Following directions

Paper is double-spaced, 12-pt font, normal margins, citations are complete and in the correct format, science journal article was attached or handed in 10 pts

Missing 1-2 items from this list 8 pts

Missing 3-5 items from this list 6 pts

Missing more than 5 items from this list 4 pts

10 pts

Total Points: 50

Collecting your articles/references

**Articles from peer-reviewed scientific journals are best. Primary source articles are even better! A primary source article is one in which the article describes the author’s own experimental results. Where do I get these articles?

1. In order to find your article, you should go to our library website and click on "advanced search" and then type in the scientific name of your plant (ex. Taxus brevifolia),  Then there are a bunch of box options to check.  Follow the picture below to know which boxes to check

2. If you choose an article that is not available in full text, click on “find a copy” to see if it is in the TCC library. If it is, take the full citation to the librarian and ask her to help you find the article.

3. If the article is not available at TCC, you may obtain it through interlibrary loan. Ask a librarian for an interlibrary loan form. WARNING: Interlibrary loan usually only takes a few days, but may take up to two weeks!

**If you cannot find any articles on your topic in these databases, try using https://scholar.google.com/. Once you find articles there, check to see if they are available online or at TCC. If they are not, request the article through interlibrary loan.

**When using the internet, assess the quality of the website. Did someone make this website in their free time? Who made the website – do they have an advanced degree in their field? Is the website sponsored by federal or private research institute?

Read each article you have collected and take notes only on your particular topic. Focus on things that are interesting and understandable. When taking notes, write down the exact words of the author, and make sure to write down the source and page number the quote came from. This way, when you go to write your bibliography, it will be easier to paraphrase properly.

Citations

Underline journal and book titles, but not the titles of individual articles in journals or edited (multi-authored) books. Use the following as examples for citing various kinds of sources (with thanks to M. Weis):

Citing Journal and Magazine Articles

· Format

Author(s). Publication year. Article title. Journal title volume: pages.

· Examples

Smith, D.C. and J. Van Buskirk. 1995. Phenotypic design, plasticity and

ecological performance in two tadpole species. American Naturalist 145: 211-233.

Ahlberg, P.E. 1990. Glimpsing the hidden majority. Nature 344: 23.

Epel, D. and R. Steinhardt. 1974. Activation of sea-urchin eggs by a calcium

ionophore. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 71: 1915-1919.

Citing Sites on the Internet

Often electronic sources are a challenge to cite because they often lack critical information. You should do your best to provide as much of the following as possible. The complete web address should be presented so that anyone else could easily visit the same website.

Attempt to include the following elements (not all elements appear on all Web pages):

1. author(s) (last name, first initial)

2. date created or updated

3. title of the page

4. title of the complete web site (if different from the page)

5. URL (full web address)

6. the date accessed.

· Format

Author's last name, First initial. (date created or updated). Title of the page. Title

of the complete site. [Online]. Available: http://full.web.address. [Date accessed].

· Example

Hammett, P. (1997). Evaluating web resources. Ruben Salazar Library, Sonoma

State University. [Online]. Available:

http://libweb.sonoma.edu/Resources/eval.html. [March 29, 1997].

Citing Books

· Format

Author(s). Publication year. Book Title, edition if known. Publisher, Place

of publication, number of pages.

· Example

Purves, W.K., G.H. Orians and H.C. Heller. 1995. Life: The Science of

Biology, 4th edition. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, MA, 1195 pp.

Citing Book Chapters

· Format

Author(s). Publication year. Chapter title. In: Book title (Author(s)/editors, first

name first) Place of publication, pages.

· Example

Jones, C.G. and J.S. Coleman. 1991. Plant stress and insect herbivory:

Toward an integrated perspective. In: Responses of Plants to Multiple Stresses

(H.A. Mooney,W.E. Winner & E.J. Pell, editors), Academic Press, San Diego, pp.

249-280.

Citing Newspaper Articles

· Format

Author(s). Date (Year/Month/Day). Article title. Newspaper title Section: Page:

Column.

· Example

Bishop, J. E. 1982 November 4. Do flies spread ills or is that claim merely a

bugaboo? The Wall Street Journal 1: 1: 4.

Williams, M. 1997 January 5. Teaching the net. Seattle Times C: 1: 2.

Citing Newspaper Articles with no Identifiable Author

· Format

Anonymous. Date (Year/Month/Day). Article title. Newspaper title Section: page:

column.

· Example

Anonymous. 1977 September 6. Puffin, a rare seabird, returns to where many were

killed. The New York Times 3:28:1.

Citing a Video

· Format

Title of video (videocassette). editor or director. Producer’s name, producer.

[Location of Production]: Organization responsible for production, Year.

· Example

New horizons in esthetic dentistry (videocassette). Wood, R. M., editor.

Visualeyes Productions, producer. [Chicago] : Chicago Dental Society, 1989.

Citing a Government report

· Format

Author/Agency (if no author). Publication year. Title. Publisher, Place of

publication, number of pages.

· Example

Mitchell, R.G., N.E. Johnson and K.H. Wright. 1974. Susceptibility of 10 spruce

species and hybrids to the white pine weevil (= Sitka spruce weevil) in the Pacific

Northwest. PNW-225. U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service,

Washington, D.C., 8 pp.

University of Alberta Libraries

Evaluating Internet Resources

The Internet has made it possible to obtain information from around the world with just a few clicks of the mouse. But how do we evaluate the quality, authority, and accuracy of that information? The following criteria are a good starting point:

Remember that quality control does not exist

The beauty of the Internet is that anyone can be a publisher. The bane of the Internet is that

anyone can be a publisher. When searching on the Web, keep in mind that there is no quality control, not everything found on the Internet is true, and that not all information is published on the Web.

Research Needs

Before searching the Web, knowing the kind of information you are interested in will help you to evaluate the hits you receive. For example, if you type the search term “death penalty” into a search engine, you will receive thousands of hits. But do you need personal opinion, historical research, government information or data, or research articles? Knowing what information you need assists in the research process.

Authorship

Who wrote this? Is it a university professor? A researcher? A hate group? Are they affiliated with any institution or organization? If so, which one? Is the author an authority or expert on the topic? Look for an e-mail link, address or telephone number, and check links to other sites.

Point of View or Bias

Statistics and cited literature are used to support a point of view. It is good practice to discern the author’s point-of-view or bias. Check URLs and remember that corporations and sociopolitical organizations will present themselves in the best light possible.

Currency

Check to see if the document has a date posted stating when the web site was created and when it was last updated. Updates indicate that the researcher continually revises their work as new information becomes available or that they have re-evaluated the information they are presenting.

Content

Figure out if the content on the site is satirical, scholarly, infotainment, or the presentation of research. Does the web site quote reliable, well-known sources like The New York Times or other more scholarly journals, books, and newspapers? Look for the same things you would in a research paper like a bibliography and proper use of citations.

Comparability

Check other web sites to see if the views portrayed on a certain web site are supported by other reputable authors and organizations.

University of Alberta Libraries

Common Knowledge and Quotations

Common Knowledge can be defined as facts known by a large number of people. The following statement is an example of common knowledge:

Sir John A. Macdonald was the first Prime Minister of Canada.

A large number of people know this fact and consequently the above example does not need to be cited. However, if you state anything not considered common knowledge, or make any statement that is an interpretation of the facts, you will have to cite your source. (The following examples are based on MLA format.) For example, the following statement would have to be cited:

Sir John A. Macdonald did more to consolidate and define the Dominion of Canada than any other leading politician of his day (Bliss 4).

There are two reasons why the above example should be cited:

1) The thought and idea was found in Bliss’ book Right Honourable Men.

2) Bliss interprets the role that Sir John A. Macdonald and others played in the political life of Canada.

A quotation is any phrase or statement that is someone else’s exact words. To cite a quotation, simply put quotation marks around the statement in question and document the source using an appropriate style guide.

Michael Bliss writes, “As Macdonald grew old in power, becoming something of a national institution, opinion was equally divided on whether his scheming and manipulation had been noble or cynical” (5).

OR

“As Macdonald grew old in power, becoming something of a national institution, opinion was equally divided on whether his scheming and manipulation had been noble or cynical” (Bliss 5).

* You must always cite the author and the page number when using a quotation.

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