paperreq

Requirements for PHY 110 Paper

Table of Contents:

1. Unbreakable Rules

2. Basic Format

3. Using Sources

4. Citing Sources

5. Plagiarism

6. Particulars for Science Papers

7. Suggested Topics

Go back to PHY 110 page

Unbreakable Rules

You should read and follow all of the requirements and suggestions below, and of course you'll be graded accordingly. But some requirements are so important that I won't even grade the paper if you don't meet them: I'll hand it back and count off points for lateness until you submit a revised version.

Here's the list:

- at least 20 pages (plus title page and references) with 10-point font, 1-inch margins, and double spacing
- no mispeled wurds that a spell-checker would catch
- all tables and figures numbered consecutively and referred to by number
- all sources -- including those for tables and figures -- cited properly within the text and listed in full (and in the correct format) at the end of the paper

(Sorry to start out on a negative note, but past experience tells me that it's necessary. Just read and follow the instructions below and you'll be fine!)

Table of Contents

PHY 110 page

Basic Format

A twenty-page paper isn't isn't particularly long, given that there are several of you and that you're trying to explain something complex in some detail. Write at a level such that an intelligent classmate could learn about your chosen topic by reading your paper. As with any expository writing, the trick is to remember that you've researched the topic and now know much more than your reader, so you must consciously put yourself in the reader's shoes and force yourself to include any missing logical/factual links. That takes effort -- and space.

As is discussed more fully later, you must turn in hardcopy versions of your sources along with your paper. . . .

Figures -- visual items such as images and diagrams -- can greatly clarify your text while also adding interest; it's unlikely that you can explain yourself properly without using any. It is not acceptable to include figures that are not directly referenced in your paper. All figures must be numbered and must have captions (usually just below them): "Figure 5. X-ray image of a woman's hand (Jones 2001). Note the wedding ring."

Tables are different from figures: they organize numbers, or brief text blurbs, in a tidy row-column format for easy comprehension. Numbers should be always be given in tables rather than listed in the text itself. Each table is given a number and title at the top: "Table 2. Fuel Cell Varieties."

If a figure or table is taken directly from, or is adapted from, one of your sources, then say so in the caption or title (and do not say so in the text itself).

Don't relegate your figures and tables to the end of your paper. Instead, place each figure or table on the same page as the text where it's first mentioned -- or, if it won't fit there, on the following page.

Just as textbooks (and novels) are broken into chapters, we break a large paper into major sections with bold (or italicized or underlined) headings, and probably also into mid-sized subsections with smaller subheadings. For example, Lauren might contribute a seven-page section on the LIGO gravitational wave detector, broken up into three subsections: basic physics of its operation, construction details, and future prospects. These headings and subheadings are helpful signposts for the reader: "Get ready for a new topic!"

Table of Contents

PHY 110 page

Using Sources

You should strive for a diverse reference list. To that end, I have established the following minimum requirements for this paper:

- Six or more books other than textbooks
- Eight or more periodical articles, whether accessed in hardcopy or else electronically
- Eight or more Web sites (not pages) or other Internet sources, not including periodical articles found in online databases. By "sites (not pages)" I mean "don't just give me eight Web pages all taken from the same government lab site at http://www.nrel.gov/transportation/ ."
- No encyclopedias or dictionaries, "electronic" or otherwise -- especially not Wikipedia
- (hey, this is college!)
- (Even the founder of Wikipedia says that college students should not be basing their papers on Wikipedia. My experience is that some of the articles on physics and astronomy are terrible. Don't use them.)

When you turn in your paper, you must also turn in hardcopy/photocopies of all of your sources, with the sections you have used clearly marked. (For books, just copy the relevant pages.) Make sure that each source is labeled so that I can identify it. Why am I requiring you to go to this trouble? Read the section on plagiarism below. . . .

Anyone can say anything they like in a Web page: there's often no editor to step in and challenge nonsense. Thus it's crucial to assess the reliability of your Web sources. This all the more so with topics involving alternative vehicles and alternative energy, where political passions (and economic profit motives!) can cloud judgment, inspire biased rants, or both. This is part of the reason why books and periodicals are also required. Note that periodicals are an excellent place to learn about recent developments -- as are reputable online sources.

I'm not expecting you to use professional-level sources, which often include technical jargon and complex mathematics that you're unlikely to follow. (Sometimes the introductory section of a professional article is written plainly enough to be useful.) Sources at the difficulty level of the Web readings I'm assigning for the course are fine: not simplistic grade-school stuff but not graduate-level science either.

You may not include a source in your reference list unless you have cited it in your paper.

Direct quotations are like spices in cooking: don't overuse them. They are appropriate when the author's exact wording is especially interesting or helpful. Never use them to give matter-of-fact information: "Convection is a form of heat transfer." The frequent use of direct quotations leaves the impression that you're trying to fill up space, or (even worse) that you haven't understood your sources well enough to put their ideas into your own words. The latter sin is a form of plagiarism. Quoted passages should support your explanations, not replace them.

Quotations that take up more than four lines of text should be formatted as left-indented, single-spaced block quotations. Feel free to use an ellipsis mark (. . . or . . . .) to skip over unnecessary portions of the full quotation.

Table of Contents

PHY 110 page

Citing Sources

For this paper, you will use APA format; see any English composition textbook or style manual (or the preceding hyperlink) for details.

Within the body of the paper, include an in-text citation each time you use a piece of information; in APA format this is a parenthetical (author, date) citation, not a footnote or endnote. (Sometimes only the date is within the parentheses, while other times a page number is included as well; see one of the APA sources mentioned above for details.) An example: "The ability to control spacetime curvature has important applications for achieving world domination (Barsinister 2005)." A second example: "This theory has been challenged by Smith and Smythe (1998, p. 452), who argue that the absence of water on Venus renders it unlikely that whales could have evolved there."

Note that in-text citations of specific Web pages do not include the Web address (URL): they are (author, date) citations just as for any other sources. (Exception: A reference to an entire Web site does indeed use the URL.)

In-text citations tell an interested reader where to look within the References, the required list of detailed bibliographic information placed at the end of the paper. (You've called this the "Works Cited" list if you've written any papers in MLA format.) There are many rules for listing the many possible kinds of sources.

The paper must have one alphabetized reference list, not one for each partner, and not one for each source format (books vs. periodicals vs. Internet).

If you type out URLs rather than copying and pasting them, make sure that they are spelled exactly right and remember that upper-case vs. lower-case matters. If you are copying a long URL from a printout you made, make sure that none of it was replaced by ". . ." -- or else you'll have to find it again online and get the full URL.

Table of Contents

PHY 110 page

Plagiarism

It's entirely possible to include a rearranged version of an author's writing -- complete with an in-text citation and full bibliographic reference -- and still be guilty of plagiarism.

Except for direct quotations, your discussion of a source should read as if you wrote it without having that source right in front of you. Read and reread your books and articles, but then talk about them using your own words. The best way to do that is to put your sources out of sight when you write.

THIS TOPIC IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT! It's covered in all English composition books, but in addition, UMF has an online plagiarism tutorial. The tutorial discusses the proper ways to quote, paraphrase, summarize, and cite sources, all the more reason to check it out.

A common example of a bad mistake is to take a significant chunk of your paper, say a two-page stretch, all from the same source. (Students writing about the history of their topic seem particularly prone to this error.) If you're using the same periodical article (for example) to write paragraph after consecutive paragraph, it's psychologically almost inevitable that your writing is going to look a lot like the writing in the article. That probably worked on your eighth-grade reports but in college we call it plagiarism. Use multiple sources in order to get multiple perspectives, in order to synthesize rather than merely parrot, and in order to avoid the plagiarism charges that result from parroting.

A second awful mistake that I see all too often is to use in-text citations only after direct quotations. Wrong. That's a very serious omission that sets you up for plagiarism charges.

When in doubt, cite, so you're not stealing someone else's information. Even when citing, write your own prose, so you're not stealing someone else's wording (except via an occasional direct quotation).

I take this issue extremely seriously, so I will check your paper against your sources -- which is why I'm requiring you to turn in hardcopy versions of those sources. Your paper grade will be substantially reduced for a minor case of plagiarism; you'll fail the course and find yourself dealing with the UMF Conduct Officer for anything more serious. A number of past students have tried "more serious" and have learned that I wasn't bluffing, so please don't mess up.

Table of Contents

PHY 110 page

Particulars for Science Papers

You should write at a level such that (a) you understand everything you've written, and (b) another student in the class could read the paper and understand what you've written. If you use terminology that we've not seen in class and that you don't define in your paper, then you're guilty of mindlessly copying from your source: plagiarism. Either find out what it means (and then define it in your paper), or else leave it out. You probably won't run into this problem if you use a few nontechnical sources.

Be careful about using old sources. How old is old? If you're writing about the basics of wave interference, worked out 200 years ago, then almost any book will do. But for advances in organic lasers, anything much more than ten years old is probably useless. Recent references are very important and always make for a far more interesting paper.

If your sources list quantities in (yecchh) English units, you must convert to metric. Pay attention to precision: for example, "88°F" becomes "31°C," even though your calculator claims that it's "31.11°C."

Scientific theories (ideas) are certainly important and interesting, but keep in mind that it's equally important and interesting to know why a theory is or isn't viable. That is, after stating that "Jones (2008) finds that the Moon is made of green Velveeta," tell me about the experiments or observations that have led Jones to this conclusion: equipment, procedure, etc. Science isn't a list of answers: it's a way of asking questions.

In choosing and fine-tuning your topic, remember that it's more interesting and informative to go into more depth on a narrower topic than it is to give a shallow survey of a broad topic. After all, your course is a fairly broad survey, and this project is your chance to do something different.

As you research and write, ask yourself how you're going to grab and hold the reader's attention. How are you going to make your paper stand out from those written in previous semesters, so that the reader/grader isn't yawning as he plods through twenty pages of basics yet again? (Recent sources are a big help here.)

Table of Contents

PHY 110 page