Approximate length should be at least 5 pages, double-spaced.
Use standard margins (1” on left/right, 1” on top/bottom). Use 12-point font (or
smaller) – Times New Roman is suggested. Any fonts used that take up
significantly more space than Times New Roman will be noticed – so be careful.
References that are from primary journal articles (also known as peer-reviewed
articles) are desirable, but not required.
In addition, it is wise to find at least 1 review article on your subject, although this
is not required. Review articles are usually written by a prominent scientist in a
particular area of study, and provide a good overview of the subject.
Helpful sites in searching for primary journal articles and review articles (in
addition to Science Direct):
www.pubmed.org – provides abstracts for most biological and medical
journals; some full text articles are available
www.journals.asm.org – provides abstracts for articles in the 12 journals
published by the American Society of Microbiology; articles older
than 6 months are available with full text
Reference list should include, for each article from a journal:
authors’ last names and first initials
year of publication
title of article
journal/publication title(usually abbreviated)/volume/page numbers
Each reference should be cited within the text; you can either cite the reference in
the text using the first author’s name followed by year of publication OR
you can use numbers in parentheses throughout your text, with the number
corresponding to the appropriate article in your reference list.
References not cited in the text should not be included in your reference list.
Web site references are acceptable to include, but it is suggested that your
reference list should not be solely made-up of just these types of references,
especially if they appear to be non-scientific sources.
Figures/Tables can also be included in the paper, but these do not contribute to the
appropriate minimum length.
Use good grammar – too many typos can hurt your grade.
You should let me know what your topic is – I may be able to provide useful
information and hints on how to search.
Browse through the textbook – especially at topics we are not scheduled to cover
in the course, or topics we do not have time to cover in as much detail as the
textbook provides (specific diseases, ecological relationships etc.); this may
provide a convenient way to choose a topic.
