“Tarpon (Megalops atlanticus)”
general article writing
Description
I would like to prepare a traditional term paper on Tarpon.
At a minimum, your paper should address
1. habitat
2. reproductive behavior
3. feeding behavior (place in the food chain)
4. migratory habits, if any
5. use by humans, if any
6. susceptibility to human activities (over-fishing, for example)
I will mention only a few of its format requirements here: Times New Roman or Courier New in
12-point font, consistent throughout the document, with double spacing, one-inch
margins, left alignment, and with indentation when starting a new paragraph. Insert your
title page and page numbers (upper right margin) as described in the tutorial. (If your
course allows for substitution of an optional PowerPoint presentation and you elect to do so,
follow the detailed directions for a PowerPoint presentation provided in the Appendix.
Scientific Content
1. Address your topic accurately and thoroughly. Place your thesis statement (purpose
and assignment topic) in your first paragraph, preferably in the last sentence. Write at the same
reading and technical level as your textbook. Remember, you are writing a college-level,
researched, fact-based, science term paper.
2. Length: 1700-1900 words. This includes your content and reference list. Do not insert
blank lines between paragraphs. Do not include an abstract or table of contents. Using page
headers is optional. Although I encourage pictures, graphs, images, etc., they do not count
toward your length requirement. Papers not meeting the minimum length requirement will be
marked failure. The object is to address your topic accurately, thoroughly, and concisely:
therefore, longer papers will be penalized.
3. Do not include irrelevant material.
4. Sequentially number and use explanation captions for figures, photos, images, and
tables, e.g. Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. Cite the number of every figure, photo, etc. in your text.
