Content of Each Essay :
This written project has three separate components, each with specific limitations on length and
format. For full points, you must follow these guidelines exactly. Points will be deducted for not
following directions. The project must be typewritten, double-spaced, 12 point computer font, with
margins of 1” to 1.25” on all sides. Each section should begin on a separate page and not be longer
than the maximum length specified below.
1. Summary and Critique of Mini-Review
In no more than two (2) pages, please write a summary of the scientific content of the chosen “Trends
in Genetics” article and the most important things you learned about the topic by reading it. Although
I may note grammatical, spelling or other style suggestions, the points awarded for this summary will
be solely determined by the quality, depth, originality, and clarity of your presentation of the scientific
content of the paper (15 points) and the extent to which you followed directions for in-text and
bibliographic citations (5 points). Since you are drawing information from this “Trends” article, you
must give credit by citing the source of key ideas using the “author, year” format described in the
separate guideline to citation. Include the full citation in a bibliography at the end of this section (it is
fine if this ends up on the third page of this section of the project; if so, it should be the only thing on
that third page). Also, since it is likely that this is the only in-text citation, the author/date should be
located near the beginning of the essay and only be given once since your citation resource does not
change.
2. Supporting Research
Using the library search databases Medline and/or Biological Science Collection, please find five (5)
relevant scientific research articles on the topic of your selected mini-review. These research articles
can focus on one selected topic within the larger subject of the review or can deal with several different
aspects. By using Medline and/or Biological Science Collection, you will find articles from journals
that report original research that has been peer-reviewed. Newspaper, popular magazine, or
unrefereed web sites are not acceptable.
Please read these five research articles and prepare an annotated bibliography of them in not more than
a total of two (2) pages. This portion can be single-spaced. An annotated bibliography includes the
full citation followed by a several-sentence-long summary of the important scientific content of each
article. The full citation must include all of the following in this order, in the format shown below:
names and initials of all author(s) in the order in which they appear in the original paper, date, title of
article, journal, volume, and first and last page numbers. This list of five articles must be presented in
alphabetical order using the last name of the senior (first) author, as shown on the original paper. The
grading will be based on alphabetizing the reference list of 5 articles (5 points), proper bibliographic
formats for the 5 articles (5 points), and quality of annotations (10 points). Sample bibliographic
citation formats are available on our Canvas site. Students often lose a full letter grade because they
fail to alphabetize the bibliography correctly. This is a costly error due to carelessness.
Example of acceptable format
Thompson, J., and C. Chaplin. 2019. The genetic basis of the fruit fly sense of humor. Journal
of Hopefully Reproducible Results 133: 46-53. In this article, Thompson and Chaplin describe
experiments on mutations that cause a loss of fly humor. The flies were treated with the
mutagen EMS and then screened for the lack of response to jokes. The screening procedure
was hampered by the fact that it was hard to tell for certain when a fly smiles. Presumptive
mutations were then analyzed at the neurobiological level to test the hypothesis that there is a
correlation between lack of humor and the behavioral signs of restlessness and boredom in
affected mutant strains. The correlation was highly significant.
3. Summary of Your Own Ideas
In not more than one (1) page, present your own thoughts about this topic. Your thoughts can include
a statement about why the topic was of interest to you, the significance of the topic for understanding
genetic mechanisms, possible applications of the knowledge, and possible future directions for work
on the topic. If there are aspects of the subject that you found difficult to understand, it would be
appropriate to mention those in this section (you will not, of course, be penalized for admitting you had
trouble understanding some of the technical information). I prefer that the style be first person, which
is typical for scientific publications. Although I may note grammatical and spelling recommendations,
the points for this section will be completely based on my assessment of the quality and depth of your
thinking and on the clarity of your presentation.
Topic Paper:
Technological advances in mosquito olfaction neurogenetics
All details will be in files tab
