Extra Credit Options: Spring 2002 Bio 107, 8 a.m. lecture section
Last revised: Thursday, January 10, 2002

• Purpose

  The purpose of these short essays is for you to learn more about certain aspects of biology, and for you to communicate what you have learned succintly and clearly. Your target audience should be the intelligent layman, not a biologist. Explain any unfamiliar terms. Avoid unnecessary jargon. Don't quote the text or other source; rewrite it so that you explain clearly. Be selective in what you include.

• Format

  Essays should be about 3 pages long, double-spaced, 10-12 point font size. In many cases, one or more figures should also be included to clarify important ideas. Figures may be drawn by hand, photocopied and pasted in place, or digitized and inserted in your word processor. If figures are not your own work, cite their source. For example:

  
  
  Fig. 1. Electron micrograph of lysosomes (from http://www.jdaross.mcmail.com/lysosome.htm)

  
  In addition, there should be a cover page with the following information:
  

  • an appropriate title
  • your name
  • Course title (Biology 107) followed by your lab section (01, 04, etc.)
  • The words "Extra credit paper 1 (or 2 or 3 as appropriate)

• References

  You must cite at least two references (you may cite your text, but at least two additional references are needed.). Use APA conventions for reference citation. If you reference sources online, use formats as described in "APA Style Guide to Electronic References.

• Submission

  Papers must be produced on a word processor, printed, and handed in to the instructor no later than the due date to be eligible for extra credit. Papers will not be accepted in electronic form or by e-mail.

• Topics
  

  Follow these links for details about each assignment

  1. Topic 1. "Diseases at the Cellular Level"
     Deadline Mon. Feb. 25:
  2. Topic 2: "Molecular Biology or Muscle/Digestion topics"
     Deadline Mon. April 1
  3. Topic 3: "Physiology Topics"
     Deadline Mon. April 29

• Grading

  Each paper submitted on time may earn:

  • one point (good work, appropriate references).
  • 1/2 point (basically acceptable content but marred by a few mechanical problems such as incorrect spelling or grammar, or lack of clarity in explaining the topic, or inappropriate or inadequate references)
  • 0 point (unacceptable, because of more extensive problems with spelling or grammar, or poor organization and/or inaccurate content, or lack of references.)

  Points will be added to the final course grade after any scaling has been done and grade boundaries for letter grades have been determined. The effect of 3 full points added to such a grade will in most cases cause a rise of one grade level (e.g. from C to C+, C+ to B-, etc.).

  Any evidence of plagiarism will result in zero points for all students involved and denial of any extra credit points otherwise earned.