Research Paper- PCB 4723 (Spring 2001)
Advances in science are based on the cumulative impact of research
papers published in scientific journals. You may have heard the old phrase“publish or perish”. Well, believe me this saying is actually very close to reality.
Scientists who do not publish their work do not get Federal research funds for
their work. If research funds are nil, science is generally nil. At the
undergraduate level you are exposed primarily to textbook level information,
often filled with generalities and half-truths. Often information presented as
“facts” actually is the subject of lively and often bitter controversy in print in
journals and in the oral format at scientific meetings. I would like you to
experience this aspect of science. For this purpose, I am requiring that each of
you write a review paper on some topic in comparative physiology. This
endeavor will involve perusal of journals, identification of a topic, in depth
reading and review of the literature and the writing of the paper. I will expect
you to show some insight and synthesis of ideas in the final report.
STEP BY STEP PROCEDURE:
STEP 1- Browse the recent issues of the major journals in comparative
physiology: American Journal of Physiology (Regulatory, Integrative and
Comparative Physiology section only [R]), Comparative Biochemistry &
Physiology (look at A and B sections only), Fish Physiology & Biochemistry,
Journal of Comparative Physiology B (green volume), Journal of Experimental
Biology, Journal of Experimental Zoology (only the comparative physiology and
biochemistry section),
Journal of Thermal Biology and Physiological and
Biochemical Zoology. These can be found on the first floor of Dirac. Look for a
few papers that strike your fancy. Read them and see if you can construct a
topic. Alternatively, you can use the journal weblinks below.
Journal Weblinks
American Journal of Physiology (Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology
section only [R])
http://ajpregu.physiology.org/
Comparative Biochemistry & Physiology (look at A and B sections only):
http://www.elsevier.com/inca/publications/store/5/2/5/4/6/5/
Fish Physiology & Biochemistry
http://www.wkap.nl/journalhome.htm/0920-1742
Journal of Comparative Physiology B (green volume)
http://link.springer.de/link/service/journals/00360/index.htm
Journal of Experimental Biology
http://www.biologists.com/JEB/
Journal of Experimental Zoology (only the comparative physiology and biochemistry
section)
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jtoc?ID=31612
Journal of Thermal Biology
http://sciserv.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/elsevier/03064565/
Physiological and Biochemical Zoology
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/PBZ/home.html
STEP 2: Decide on a topic. If you need help in focusing your thinking, do not
hesitate to contact me. Print out the form at the end of this section. Fill it out
and return to me by Tuesday, 13 February.
STEP 3: Review the relevant literature. The easiest way to start is by a process
known as “back referencing”. Use the literature cited section of the papers
identified in Step 1 as a source of references to read over. These papers in turn
may lead to additional references. You also might FirstSearch through the
BasicBIOSIS database accessed through WEBLUIS. Here you can serach for key
words or phrases. The webaddress for FirstSearch is as follows:
http://newfirstsearch.altip.oclc.org/WebZ/FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screens
ize=medium:sessionid=sp04sw11-57275-cfazgu2h-hr31s6:entitypagenum=1:0
STEP 4: Write your paper. The paper must be typed and should be sufficiently
long to develop the topic (ten [10] double-spaced pages [excluding the
title page and references sections] should be viewed as being the bare
minimum). The paper must cite at least ten (10) papers from the primary
literature. Avoid citing reviews; you should be reading the primary research
papers. Spelling, grammar and other aspects of construction will be evaluated.
Hand in two copies of the paper plus a computer disk with the file containing the
paper on it; indicate word processing program (WinWord, MacWord etc). The
paper is due in class on Tuesday 10 April.
The paper should have the following parts. Do not use a new sheet of paper to
begin each section; simply have two double spaces and a heading (Abstract etc).
a) Title page- title, your name and social security number
b) Abstract- one to two paragraph synopsis of the paper
c) Historical Perspective and General Introduction- this is a general
overview of the research area or problem and the early work that has been
conducted on it. In this section and the ones following it, you will need to cite
references to justify your assertions. These are cited as follows:
Single author- Smith (2000) where you mention the author directly or
…..(Smith, 2000) where to attribute the work to an author.
Two authors- Smith & Smith (2000) or (Smith & Smith, 2000)
Three or more authors- Smith et al. (2000) or (Smith et al., 2000)
d) Current State of Research- describe the current state of research in this
area; what is understand now? What are the controversies? What are the
unresolved issues .
e) Future Directions- describe where, in your opinion, this particular research
area should be moving. What are the most interesting questions that should
be asked. This is an opportunity for you to use critical thinking and be
creative. Do not hesitate to speculate.
f) References- list all references cited in alphabetical order of the first author.
Use the style format of Comparative Biochemistry & Physiology.
Examples of short review papers in the literature- See Annual Review of
Physiology.
Name____________________________
In a few sentences describe the general topic:
List at least two references from the primary literature (give authors, year, title,
journal, volume and pages.