Overview of Assignment: Your assignment is to write a 2-4 page (typed, double-spaced, font no smaller than 12 point) critique -- that is, an essay evaluating the quality of methods and basis for conclusions -- of a scientific paper. You will later use the paper you critique as one of at least five papers you critically review for the course term paper. Your critique should be based on the material discussed in class on sampling methods, appropriate sample sizes for statistical analyses, and the kinds of biotic and/or abiotic factors that can affect a species presence, persistence or growth. Use standard English, and the clear concise style preferred for scientific writing.
Choosing a Paper to Critique: Your critique must be over one of the five papers that you will use as the basis for your term paper, so make sure it is on a topic that interests you since you're going to be writing a larger paper on this topic. It must meet the criteria of the papers for the term paper: published within the last five years, a primary research paper from a peer reviewed journal, a full-length paper (not a "short communication" or "short note"), and NOT be primarily a theoretical or review paper.
Introductory paragraph: To introduce the paper, give your own (NOT the author's!) abstract of the paper -- summarize the goals, briefly state the main methods and main results, and state the author's conclusions. Also state, as a thesis statement, your own main conclusion about the paper; this should be the main point that you will then justify in the body of the paper. (NOTE: you will do best if you write the introduction after you have written, or at least outlined in detail, the rest of your paper).
Body of paper: evaluate the paper, justify your evaluation with information from the paper. In your evaluation, consider the following questions (NOTE: include your evaluation of these questions in paragraphs -- do NOT write this in question-answer format!). Justify your evaluation of each question with information from the paper.
1. Are the methods of sampling the species studied appropriate?
In your answer, consider whether they are likely to be unbiased and whether
they are conducted over an adequate timeframe to reach the conclusions
drawn in the study. For all these points, explain why you reach the
conclusions you do, justifying your explanation with information from the
paper.
2. Are sample sizes used in statsitical tests adequate to draw the
conclusions that are drawn from those tests? What makes these samples adequate/inadequate?
Be sure to justify your answer by stating what the samples are and explaining
how they are or are not adequate for the goals of the paper
3. Are the number of areas, habitats, or other conditions studied replicated
adequately to draw the conclusions that are drawn? What makes this
sample size (number of replicates) adequate/inadequate? Be sure to justify
your answer by stating what the samples are and explaining how they are
or are not adequate for the goals of the paper
4. Think of, and describe, one factor (biotic or abiotic) that is not
studied or discussed in the paper, that could contribute to the pattern
observed in the paper, and that should be considered to make conclusions
about the cause of the patterns seen in the paper more accurate.
Conclusion: clearly state, based on your evaluation in the body of the paper, how any problems you found might affect the conclusions drawn by the authors in the paper, and whether there are conclusions that are particularly strong or weak because the methods used are likely to be reliable. To do this, you must make it clear how the conclusions are based on the data obtained, and how each of the main points you discussed (from questions 1-4) affects what can be concluded in the paper. Finally, make it clear what can really be concluded from the study, given the positive and negative aspects of the paper you have discussed.
Style: write in clear, concise, straightforward prose. Use the literature citation format used in the paper you are critiquing in that you cite any information you take from a paper with the last name of the author and year of publication (e.g. for a singled authored paper, Stern 1998. For a paper with two authors: Emlen and Oring 1983. For a paper with more than two authors: McClanahan et al. 1996.) At the end of the paper give the entire bibliographic citation, using the format in which you were initially presented with the assigned paper (authors, year, title, journal, volume: pages.)
Cover/Grade Sheet: Click here to get the grade sheet I will use to grade your paper. You must print out a copy of this sheet to use as a cover sheet on your paper; please select a font size that will allow you to print the entire sheet on one page. Note that the grade sheet indicates the points I will be looking for while grading your paper so that you can use it as a check sheet to make sure you are covering required points. Please DO NOT use any other report cover -- staple this grade sheet to your paper and hand that paper in without any additional cover on it. If you DO put any other cover on, I will throw it away (they get in my way when carrying papers around to grade.)