GGR305 Biogeography
Research Question Assignment
Worth 5% of your final grade, this assignment is due Friday, Jan 31 by 11:59pm; Late submissions (after Jan 31) will occur 10% penalty per day (including weekends) for maximum five days. Assignments submitted five calendar days beyond the due date will be assigned a grade of zero.
Purpose:
1. Work through the formulation of a term paper question.
2. Familiarize yourself with a search strategy to effectively research your topic.
3. Identify and review relevant scholarly articles.
The scope of the term paper was discussed more thoroughly in class.
Option Topics:
1. Focus on one taxon (species, genus, family, etc.) investigating how it has changed overtime: what physical and biological limiting factors impact its distribution throughout its biological history; how has the distribution changed over time; and what are the hypotheses explaining these changes? For example: How has the distribution of the horse changed overtime?
2. Focus on a specific location investigating what plants, mammals, birds, invertebrates, or other taxonomic group are currently present: how has this changed over a given time period (e.g. since the last glaciation); what are the physical conditions of this location; how have these conditions changed over time; and what is the impact of these changes on the taxa of interest? For example: how has the vegetation of Southern Ontario changed since the last glaciation and have these changes impacted on taxonomic diversity?
3. Focus on humans’ impact on a given taxa or the diversity in a particular location. For example: how have humans impacted the biota of New Zealand since the first Polynesians arrived?
4. Another approach of your choosing (prior approval suggested).
Basic requirements:
1. Your assignment should be typed, and use 12pt Times New Roman, double-spaced.
2. Make sure your name and student number are on your assignment.
3. You do not need a cover page.
4. The assignment must be submitted as a PDF file.
Tasks:
1. Provide the research question you plan on addressing in your term paper. This research question is the foundation for your paper and must be sufficiently clear to ensure appropriate focus for your research. It should be stated in one sentence. (10 pts)
• See section above for suggestions about appropriate topics.
• You can simply write: “My research question is: … .”
2. After using your key words/phrases to search scholarly article databases, provide the full reference for at least five (5) articles relevant to your research question. Please follow APA style. (10 pts)
• See here for appropriate style here. (you only need to follow APA style. for references, not the rest of your assignment format)
3. Choose one of the five articles you identified, answer the following questions. (80 pts)
1) What is the research question(s) that this paper is trying to answer? (10 pts)
2) How is the research question addressed? In three to five sentences, please identify the type of data used (field observations, samples of material, computer simulated data, or something else) and how the data were analyzed. In other words, what methods were used in the paper. (15 pts)
3) In three to five sentences, please explain why you think this paper was published (addressing a basic gap in knowledge, testing a new hypothesis, applying an existing hypothesis or theory in a new situation, or something else). This information may be stated in the introduction of the paper and/or be your interpretation of the paper’s contribution. (15 pts)
4) In one paragraph, describe the major findings or conclusions of the paper. (20 pts)
5) In one paragraph, explain how this paper is relevant to the question you are researching for your term paper. You must justify your choice/explanation by providing a logical rationale. (20 pts)