Citation Style for MBB 110b Term Paper:

Spring Term 2007

Faculty: William C. Summers, M.D., Ph.D.

1. Deadline: 4 May 2007 (Friday) 4:30 pm
2. Turn in: Box outside room WLH 315.
3. Length: About 15 pages (2500-4000 words).
4. Approach: The paper should be a "review of current knowledge." That is, you should review what is known, what is unknown, and what is controversial. Also, where is current research headed? What are considered the important problems and "bottlenecks" in the scientific program related to your topic? You do NOT need to formulate an original hypothesis, nor do you need to argue for one or against one point of view.
5. Format: Introduction: be sure to introduce your topic, indicating why it is important, and what are the scientific issues involved. "Social relevance" can be brought in at this point. USE SUBHEADINGS if you think it will help you to organize disparate bodies of information. Science writing often has abrupt transitions when bringing together material from a wide range of disciplines, so the literary devices used to make "smooth" transitions are often artificial or strained.
6. Content: BE SURE to include the SCIENCE that relates to your topic. Go into enough detail so that a reader can understand the issues based on a description of the scientific facts and arguments and reasoning.
7. Sources: You should be working from a variety of sources from which you SYNTHESIZE your paper. This should not be a long book report. As a general rule, at least 5 major sources are a minimum. There is no maximum.
8. Citations: Use the form of citation shown below. Cite references in the text, NOT simply a list of references consulted at the end. If you want to list sources consulted but not cited in the text, that is fine, in addition to the bibliography of cited sources. Consult the little publication "Sources" which you received from the Dean's Office, too.
9. Rough Drafts: Please take advantage of your College Writing Tutor for advice about rough drafts. Because too many students consciously or subconsciously believe that advice on rough drafts by the instructor is a de facto pre-grading of the paper, I no longer will review rough drafts. Plan ahead and give your College Writing Tutor the proper advance notice prior to the final due date.
10. GOOD LUCK.

The papers for MBB 110b will be evaluated by five separate criteria:

Clarity and Style: The essay should be written in good English with correct word-usage and syntax. Sentence structure should be clear and meanings should be unambiguous. Paragraphs should focus on related ideas or topics. The uses of simile and metaphor should be clear and appropriate.
Science: The scientific content of the paper should be factually correct and go beyond popular surveys such as news magazine accounts. The scientific material should be given in sufficient detail so that the reader can understand and, to some extent, evaluate the arguments presented. The material should represent a synthesis of multiple sources rather than be simply a summary or abstract of one or two sources. Broad generalities should be supported by detailed explanations. Reasons should be provided for scientific assertions.
Organization: The paper should be organized in such a way that the reader can follow the argument of the paper. The main points of the paper should be clear to the reader, and the paper should have an introduction and conclusion. The topics of the paper should be presented in some sort of logical arrangement which is clear to the reader, and arguments should be presented in a coherent way.
Use of citations: Facts, findings, and opinions should be clearly cited in the text at the relevant places. SEE BELOW
References: The works on which the paper is based should be adequate in number (minimum of five), scope, and quality. Sources representing different points of view, different disciplinary approaches, and different levels of detail (e.g., texts versus research articles) are desirable. Not all sources should be from the internet.

PRINCIPLES OF CITATION

The citation, that is, the information about the written or other source (such as a broadcast, interview, etc.) of the fact, opinion, quote or other text that is not your own work, should be complete and clear so that any reader could use the citation to easily find the original material you are citing.
The citation should be placed in the text in such a way as to indicate the material to which it refers.
For the paper in this course, the citation in the text should be indicated with an arabic number in brackets [42] inserted in the text at the relevant position.
The reference list at the end of the paper should give the full citation listed in numerical order as cited in the text.
A full citation includes: 1) the author's last name and (at least) initials; 2) the title of the article or chapter where the cited material appears; 3) the title of the book, or periodical, or larger work if the article is part of such a larger work; 4) the page number(s) on which the material appears; 5) the date of publication; 6) the publisher, if a book.

EXAMPLE OF CITATION

The virus that is believed to be the causative agent of HIV/AIDS was first isolated in June 1983 in the laboratories of the Institut Pasteur in Paris [1]. The lab chief, Dr. Luc Montagnier, was studying the blood of some hemophiliac patients with AIDS and compared this virus with that isolated previously in the US by Dr. Robert Gallo. Gallo's virus was called HTLV-I [2] and was distinctly different from the Parisian isolate called LAV[3]. We can only imagine the excitement that Montagnier's discovery must have caused around the Pasteur Institute. New viruses, especially important disease-causing ones, are not discovered every day and it was clear that the HIV/AIDS virus would be a momentous event. ....

References:

[1]. Shilts, Randy. Chapter 31"AIDSpeak Spoken Here" in And the Band Played On. p. 319. Penguin Books, 1988.

[2]. Clark, J. et al., "Seroepidemiologic studies of human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type I in Jamaica." Int. J. Cancer Vol. 36, pp. 37-41, 1985.

[3]. Sharp, P. M., et al. (2004) "The Origin of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Viruses: Where and When?" Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences Vol. 356, pp. 867-876 (29 June 2001).

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This page was last up-dated 11 April 2007.