Identify a marine ecosystem, taxonomici group of marine organisms, or area of lo

Identify a marine ecosystem, taxonomici group of marine organisms, or area of local marine ecological interest that you wish to learn more about.. I have provided a file with possible paper topics. You may select one of these, or generate your own idea of a paper topic. Write down a title for your paper, and submit the topic in the Paper Topic drop box. Your topic must be approved by your instructor. Your project is to write a paper on the topic approximately 1200-1500 words in length (approximately 5 pages). Value: 100 points (equivalent to test).
You must notify me of your paper topic before your write your paper, and must receive approval for this topic. If I have not been notified of a topic and you either 1) write a paper on a topic which has been closed, or 2) write a paper on a topic which was not on the list of potential topics, you will be subject to a 10 point grade penalty on your semester paper.
General Notes
You may organize your paper in any way you wish. The paper should have a central theme that ties it all together. This theme should be described in your introduction. The paper should then conclude with a summary of what you have learned relevant to that theme. If your paper were on manatees, for example, a theme could be something like ecology, behavior, interaction with humans, etc. You can use all of these, but you should tie them together under a central idea. If your paper is just a list of facts, it will not read and flow as well as a paper that has a central idea.
A good paper should have an introduction to the topic, outlining what you plan to discuss. Then should follow your discussion of the topic, and then some conclusions, or a closing.
When you include information from a source, you should reference within the text where that information comes from. For example, if you are using information from a book written by John Brown in 1970, in the text you should include (Brown, 1970) next to the information that you have used. This should be done whether you are quoting this source verbatim, or have placed the information in your own words. Inclusion of references in the text permits the reader to know where to go to find additional information.
Following the body of the paper should be a detailed documentation of your sources. As for the style of documenting your sources, I do not have much input on that. I am only familiar with how we do literature cited in scientific papers. Generally, when referencing another scientific paper, we include author, year, title of paper, journal of publication, volume, and page numbers. With books or other sources, we would add a bit more information. If you are citing any source, including online sources, you should document sufficient information to enable the reader to obtain that source for their own purposes.
A paper that only summarizes what we have learned in the course will not receive an A. To receive an A, you must investigate the topic more deeply than what has been presented in the text. A good tactic to follow if you desire a high grade is to cover a topic that did not receive much attention in the text.
The paper should be double-spaced, written with a font size of 12, and submitted as a document compatible with Microsoft WORD. If you are unable to save your file as a WORD compatible document, then please submit the paper as an unformatted text file. I will then place the document in WORD, and apply the suggested formatting. Alternatively, save the paper as a text file, then cut and paste this text file into the Drop Box window. Cutting and pasting a file that has been saved in another format will bring unwanted characters into your submission.
References
When using references, you should cite them within the body of the text. For example, you might tell me “Internal waves are very important factors in producing upwelling along the continental slope (Johnson and Johnson, 1999).” All references cited within the text should be more thoroughly documented at the end of your paper, in a section titled “Bibliography”, or “Literature Cited”.
Use only reliable reference sources. I recommend you utilize your campus or local library while gathering resources. Your CFCC library can be accessed online at http://library.cf.edu/. In your paper, aim for using a minimum of 5 references. A minimum of 2 references need to be from non-internet sources, such as a library.
The purpose of this assignment is to encourage you to learn something not covered by our text. If you utilize information covered in the text, you should cite the text in your references section. However, this citation will not be included in a count of the mininum references required.
Internet sources that might be considered reliable will usually have domains ending in “.edu”, “.gov”, and in some cases, “.org”. Ask yourself, “Is this resource credible, from a scientific viewpoint?”. Please contact me if you have a question concerning the reliablity of an online source.
For example, a resource describing results obtained from a scientific study about global warming might be considered credible. A resource describing the view that global warming is not real, or is caused by natural variation rather than human activities, is not credible. Why? Because the individual describing this review has not done any science to provide evidence for their view. If non-scientific information is described in a paper, then the information must clearly be presented as opinion.
World Book Encyclopedia (http://www.worldbook.com) and Encyclopedia Brittanica (http://www.britannica.com/) have online versions. Use of these resources is not free, and requires subscription.
While Wikipedia may be used to provide background information on a topic, it’s use as a reference is neither permitted, nor advisable. Articles in Wikipedia may include valuable articles written by authorities in a field, highly opinionated pieces written by someone trying to make a point, or a quick article written off the top of the head by a group of college students having a good laugh. The Wikipedia hosts are now making an effort to introduce rigor into their online encyclopedia. However, Wikipedia can not be considered a reliable reference source. If I find you have cut and pasted portions of a wikipedia article, I will grade your papers as if the text were invisible. This, a 5 page paper constructed solely from wikipedia resources would appear blank. If you wish to use material you find in wikipedia, seek to document this from other sources. Communicate with me if you have difficulty finding other sources.