Writing Assignment 1: The Human Phylogenetic Tree Due in the Assignments tab in

Writing Assignment 1: The Human Phylogenetic Tree
Due in the Assignments tab in Laulima: Sunday, Feb 4, by 11:55 pm
Technical Requirements
1) Typed, single-spaced (1.0), using Times New Roman font, size 11. The default setting for line spacing on your word-processing software may be 1.15, so be sure to correct this.
2) Left, right, and bottom margins should be 1 inch; Top margin should be 1.25 inches.
3) Text alignment should be to the left margin (not justified).
4) The minimum length requirement is two pages. To be safe, make your paper a little longer. Not
meeting this requirement will cost you one letter grade per page, including an unfinished
second page– even by a few lines!
5) Use a single blank line space between titles or section headings and text body; A single blank
space between paragraphs is acceptable as long as you are consistent throughout your work. 6) Language should be clear and concise. Any illustrations or images you wish to include should not be placed in the body of the text; you should include them on a separate page at the end of
your work, entitled “Appendix A,” or B, C, etc. In-text references to each image should refer the
reader to the appropriate appendix, e.g., “(See Appendix A)” or B, C, etc.
7) Refer to the Writing for Anthro tab in Laulima for following the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS)
format of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) citation guidelines. For proper
citation formatting, you may also use an online citation generator.
8) Attach a tidy cover or title page that includes your name, a title, the course name and semester,
and a date. As short as it is, this is still a formal paper and should reflect your care and professionalism.
Assignment Topic
Begin by visiting the Human Origins tab in Laulima. The Smithsonian asks, “What does it mean to be human?” Below the webpage title, drag your cursor over the words “Human Evolution Evidence.” A window of topics will appear, from which you will need to choose “Human Family Tree.”
What is this arboreal image trying to tell us about our evolution? It’s interactive, so if you scroll over each of the images of our hominin ancestors from the bottom up, you’ll be tracing our known genetic lineage from seven million years ago, forward to the present day. These various species represent many of our known ancestral figures, but growing evidence suggests there is far more diversity yet to be discovered.
Three primary considerations shaped their evolution—and our own: the environment, biology, and social behavior. How were these affected by a changing climate, and how did our ancestors adapt?
Using all of the information you’ve acquired from your research, write a two-page (minimum) chronology (ordered in time) of the relationship between each of the species and their respective environments, paying special attention to how their bodies, brains, and behaviors changed over time in response. In an evolutionary sense, all of these things are deeply intertwined, as much then as they are today. Paint a brief picture of each species in each of the four genera (groups of closely related species) represented on the Smithsonian’s Human Family Tree. How were they shaped b