Behavioral Biology of Women study guide

AN/WS 263: Behavioral Biology of Women Term Paper 2022

A Life History Analysis

Submit via “Turn it In” on Blackboard, by Monday, April 25 at Midnight

This term paper will be an opportunity to incorporate the knowledge you've learned in this course. For the subject you will interview a post-reproductive woman and do an evolutionary/life history analysis of her reproductive and life history decisions incorporating material you learn in the course. The paper should be 10 double-spaced pages using 12 pt font and 1 inch margins. You should use at least 10 references, which should be readings from the course. Other additional references can be used as well. Your paper should include a reference section at the end, which is not part of the 10 pages. Your paper should have page numbers, except for the first page. We will not accept papers that are longer than 10 pages of narrative. You should structure your interview around a woman's life history stages. Your paper should be organized under the following subheadings: (1) Introduction (2) Menarche and puberty (3) Mating strategies & marriage (4) Pregnancy (5) Birth (6) Lactation and parenting (7) Menopause and older adulthood (8) Conclusion (9) References First, you need to select someone to interview. Most people interview a female family member, or someone else they are close to. Students often find this to be a very meaningful experience as they learn more about the life history of someone they are close to. Interviews can be done in person or on the phone. You will want to choose someone who is open to answering personal questions, but be sensitive to the types of questions they will be willing to answer. It will be easiest to choose someone who has passed through these different life history stages (i.e., has married and had children). But, if you interview a woman who did not marry or did not have children you will need to elaborate about those reasons and expand upon the other sections that are relevant. Objective: The objective of this assignment is to use a woman's life history as a vehicle to show what you have learned in the course and as a way to bring up the different course topics. You can thus weave in the person's stories with what you have learned in the course and through your readings -- contrasting similarities and differences between other cultures, physiology, etc. This course is on behavioral biology so you will want to think about how biology and behavior have interacted in this woman's life. How did her culture or personal history influence how she experienced these biological events? We've learned a lot about factors influencing women's

decision-making about when to conceive and when to invest in children. How was this reflected in your interviewee? How did her life history decisions change with age? Were there any trade- offs that were made such as delayed marriage or childrearing, work vs. family investment, etc. You need to relate this to evolutionary theory and biological anthropology by considering a) are these decisions adaptive? b) how does this woman's experience contrast to other women and other populations or time periods that you've learned about in class? c) how does this woman's experience highlight some of the unique human features as compared to other apes? References: You should include references at the end of the paper (not part of the 10 page limit) that follow the reference style contained in the syllabus for the course. Do not use footnotes. References should be embedded in the paper. These should be 10 different references from lectures, section readings and the assigned books. Different chapters of the Trevathan or Small book and each of my lectures can count as separate references. Do not rely heavily on just one source. You can cite reference material that was not part of the course, but these will not count as the minimum 10 references. In general, the more references you have the better as it will show your knowledge of the material. You can use my paper, Knott, CD (2001). Female reproductive ecology of the apes: implications for human evolution, as a guide for how to cite references within the body of the paper. Examples of reference format: Thompson, JK (1991) Body shape preferences: effects of instructional protocol and level of eating disturbance. International Journal of Eating Disorders. 10:193-198 Knott, C. (2014) Lecture 6: The Menstrual Cycle. The Behavioral Biology of Women. Sample: There are many ways to do this assignment, but this is an extract of what someone wrote during a previous class: Examples of text: "Every woman's life is defined by the choices she has made which can be analyzed by studying her life history…[followed by elaboration of what that means, etc.] By the time X was 12 years old she had her first period. X's menstrual cycles did not become regular until about the time she became 40 and had all of her children. This is not typical for most women who usually have regular cycles a few years after menarche begins (reference). X and her family did not practice any puberty rituals and instead her menarche was not talked about or acknowledged by anyone in her house. This is in contrast to the Pokot who … Interestingly, during menstruation, X practices a few menstrual taboos. She had to hide her menstruation because she lived in a house full of boys … "

Contact Info: At the bottom of your assignment please provide a contact phone number or email for the person you interviewed. I don't plan on contacting people unless there is some question about the veracity of your assignment. Grading: Grading of the assignment will be based on your understanding of the course material as shown through your writing and will be broken down as follows: Integration of course material with life stages 40%

For each of the topic areas (2-7 above) report on what your interviewee said and then relate this to what you’ve learned and read in the course. For each of the topic areas you should try to make as many connections as possible between the interview and what the course material. The more connections/points you make the higher your grade for this section. If your interviewee didn’t experience one of these stages, you should compensate by saying more about a different area or discuss her views of topic. For example, if she hasn’t been through menopause, what are her thoughts anticipations of what she will experience?

Comparisons with other cultures and non-human primates 15% Comparison with other cultures/women (10 pts). Draw connections between your

interviewee and what you’ve learned about women in other cultures. Again, the more points you make the better your grade.

Comparison with apes/human evolution (5 pts). What can you say about apes or human

evolution based on what you’ve learned? You can contrast your interviewee’s experience with that of other apes for example.

Expository quality/narrative 25% Narrative (10 pts). Your narrative should include a discussion of how the person’s cultural

or personal history interacts with their biological experience of these life history events. Also discuss trade-offs and decision-making. You should include discussion of whether you can interpret these decisions as adaptive. Sections 1 and 8 above will be evaluated under this section.

Expository quality (15 pts). Writing style, grammar, spelling etc. Mechanics, following instructions 10% Was the paper structured using the correct format? Were all instructions followed? References 10% Did you include the right number of references from the correct sources? Was the reference

style correct as explained in the instructions?

Evaluation A 90-100 Paper showed true mastery and understanding of the course material. Thoroughly

integrated course material with information from the interview. Excellent expository quality. Fully followed directions for paper construction and references.

B 80-89 Paper showed a good understanding of the course material but not as thoroughly

explained as an “A” paper. Mistakes in writing, directions and references could bring an “A” paper down to a “B” paper.

C 70-79 Paper showed more limited understanding of the course material, but lacked in

depth understanding of some of the areas. Mistakes may have been made in writing, directions and references

D Below 70 Paper showed very limited understanding of the course material, and likely

substantial mistakes in writing, directions and references

A Life History Analysis - Checklist

You should include references at the end of the paper (not part of the 10 page limit) that follow the reference style contained in the syllabus for the course. Do not use footnotes. References should be embedded in the paper. These should be 10 different references from lectures, section readings and the assigned books. Different chapters of the Trevathan or Small book and each of my lectures can count as separate references. Do not rely heavily on just one source. You can cite reference material that was not part of the course, but these will not count towards the minimum 10 references. In general, the more references you have the better as it will show your knowledge of the material.

1. I have read through the posted assignment carefully 2. I have read the example posted on the website (under term paper) 3. I have written at least 10-pages (not including the bibliography) 4. I have cited at least 10 sources from the class in my paper

a. Of these 10 sources, I’ve cited at least… i. 2 lectures

1. I have used specific examples from lectures to compare with my interviewee’s Life History

ii. 2 chapters from Small iii. 2 chapters of Trevathan

b. If I cited sources from outside the class, I realize that… i. These sources must be reputable, scientific sources

ii. Do not count towards the overall 10 source requirement 5. I have used in-line citations in my paper 6. I have formatted my bibliography using a common style convention 7. My paper uses 12-point font, double spaced, with 1” margins

Citation Examples:

● Bibliography Example ○ Lecture

■ Knott, C. (2014) Lecture 6: The Menstrual Cycle. The Behavioral Biology of Women.

○ Journal Article ■ Thompson, JK (1991) Body shape preferences: effects of instructional

protocol and level of eating disturbance. International Journal of Eating Disorders. 10:193-198

● In-Line Citation Examples

○ Type 1: ■ According to Trevathan (2010), women in food-rich societies may have a

higher risk of cancer due to frequent menstrual cycles across their lifetime. ○ Type 2:

■ Women in food-rich societies may have a higher risk of cancer due to frequent menstrual cycles across their lifetime (Trevathan 2010).

○ If you are using a direct quote, you need to include the page number at the end of the sentence:

■ Norris (2021) writes, “I like pickles” (2). ■ It has been argued that pineapples should not go on pizza “because you

should not mix sweet foods with salty foods” (Norris 2021: 26). ○ You should not write the title of the individual lectures or chapters. Instead do:

■ (Knott, Lecture 7) or Knott (Lecture 7) Note: In scientific writing we generally avoid directly quoting an author or scholarly source since we aren’t commenting on the way something was phrased, but on the content, data, or argument(s) being presented. Also, quoting authors at length, instead of putting their thoughts into your own words, suggests that you may not fully understand what they are saying. Thus, in general, please don’t use direct quotes from your sources unless absolutely necessary. You may, though, quote your interviewee where appropriate in order to offer context, nuance, and framing. That being said, please avoid long block quotes as this often comes across as “space- fillers,” which may cost you points.

● Citing a Study Discussed in Lecture ○ Despite her slightly late onset of pubertal development, my interviewee

experienced menarche at age 13, which was consistent with the average age at menarche, 12.5-13, in modern Western societies (Knott, Lecture 7).