Written Assignment - Abstracts (Solved)
general article writing
Description
Written Assignment - Abstracts
Your writing assignments for this course are abstracts, which are paragraphs that summarize things - in this case, either written articles or major internet websites. Abstracts are routinely written for science journal articles - that way, someone searching for particular material can quickly tell if an article is something they need to read. Abstracts give the theme and "high points" of an article or site without the details. You are going to abstract two biology-oriented articles and two biology-oriented internet websites, being as brief as possible while still covering all of the sources’ main discussion points.
You will read an article or check out a website concerning some aspect of the biological sciences (pick something you can understand!), then reduce it to a single paragraph of information. The trick here is to be brief - try to keep your abstract under 100 words, and definitely hold it under 200 words.
For a magazine/newspaper article: The article you pick must fit the following FOUR REQUIREMENTS: 1) it must be about some aspect of biology; 2) it must be from a reputable source - hard news or science magazine or newspaper - if you’re not sure about a source, ASK!!!; 3) the article must be more than one full page of text (or half a page of text for newspaper articles); 4) it must have been published this year.
For a website: When you pick a website, it must fit requirements 1 & 2 above; for 3, it must consist of more than ten subsidiary web pages (that is, it needs to have subsites, within the main site's basic address but with their own separate internet addresses); and for 4, it must have been updated sometime this year. For requirement 2, make sure your site is reliable - does it come from a person or organization that can be trusted for biology information?
The
format of your abstract
will consist
of: 1) your name; 2) the title of the article/ website you’re
abstracting, following the rules given in the next paragraph; 3) the
actual written part of your abstract (one paragraph, typed, double spaced!),
checked for spelling and grammar; 4) for abstracts based on
articles, a photocopy of the entire
article, or the entire magazine it came from (torn-out pages are not
acceptable!), and for websites, the full address of the main page. (Printouts are not necessary for websites - instead, the address
must be absolutely perfect.) For details, see below.
THE ABSTRACT TITLE: Use ONLY sources that can be shown to be reliable!
For the article abstracts will be written in a format like those found in science journals - make sure you follow these directions! Use the following order: 1) the author(s), last name first - all authors must be listed; 2) the year that the article was published (that should be this year); 3) the title of the article, capitalized like a regular sentence would be; 4) the title of the magazine or newspaper the article was in; 5) the volume and issue numbers of the magazine (dates are all right only for newspapers); 6) the pages that the article was on; 7) the database that the article came from if you used a library database to access it.
The title
for the website abstracts
will use this order: 1) the website name (this
often will appear across the top of the screen at the "home" website,
but it may just be on the screen at that site); 2) the date that the site
was last updated; 3)the author, if there is one; 4) the support site, if
this website is part of a yet larger site (this often won't be true for these
abstracts - check with Mr. McDarby if you have a small site contained in a much
larger one!); 5) the full web address ( this is in the long white box and
starts "http..." - it's very important to get this exactly
right!!);
6) the
date that you accessed the site last.
THE BODY OF THE ABSTRACT: Double spaced!
For the article, give a brief but comprehensive summary - briefly tell the basic theme of the article, then state all of the major points or features, including charts, tables, and sidebars. You do not need to go into much detail on anything except, occasionally, major unusual theories.
NOTE: You are either doing an abstract from an ARTICLE from a paper source or a huge WEBSITE - NOT an article from a website!!!
For the website, start from the main website’s home page (NOTE: if there’s more than two slashes beyond the middle of the address, chances are that you’re not on a home page). Give the basic theme of the site and then all of the major points or features, including types of subsites and links. Even sites with many, many subsites can usually be summarized easily.
ABSTRACT CHECKLIST:
Your NAME is on it.
Your article / website concerns some aspect of BIOLOGY.
Your article / website comes from an
APPROPRIATE
SOURCE. If a website, it is the main central page, not just a
page within the site!
Your article contains MORE THAN ONE FULL PAGE OF TEXT
(If newspaper, more than half a page of text), or your website has more
than ten webpage subsites.
Your article was PUBLISHED THIS YEAR, or your website has been
updated
this year.
You’ve written the TITLE ACCORDING TO THE PROPER FORMAT (see list
on first handout sheet).
Your abstract is completely
CHECKED
FOR SPELLING AND GRAMMAR,
and it is DOUBLE-SPACED.
Your abstract is a BRIEF SUMMARY but COVERS THE THEME AND MAIN POINTS
of the article or website, and main subsites for the website.
You’ve INCLUDED A PHOTOCOPY of the article, or the whole publication it’s from, or the COMPLETELY ACCURATE WEB ADDRESS.
ABSTRACTS - MARKING DEDUCTIONS:
DEDUCTIONS
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
ARTICLE OR WEBSITE TITLE:
Format Errors, each . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-1 . . . . . . . . -2 . . . . . . . . .-3 . . . . . . . . .-3
Format Completely Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . -8 . . . . . . . . -10 . . . . . . . . -12 . . . . . . . . -15
CHOSEN ARTICLE / WEBSITE:
Not on Biology Topic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -15 . . . . . . . . -20 . . . . . . . . -25 . . . . . . . . . -30
Inappropriate Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -6 . . . . . . . . . -9 . . . . . . . . -12 . . . . . . . . . -15
Source TOO SHORT (just barely) . . . . -6 . . . . . . . . -12 . . . . . . . . -18 . . . . . . . . . -24
Source MUCH too short . . . . . . . . . . . -8 to -10 . . . -12 to -20 . . . -22 to -30 . . . -30 to -40
ABSTRACT:
Title Format Errors, each . . . . . . . . . . . -1 . . . . . . . . -2 . . . . . . . . . -2 . . . . . . . . . . -4
Main Theme is Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -6 . . . . . . . . -12 . . . . . . . . -18 . . . . . . . . -24
Points / Features not covered, each. . . -1 to -2 . . . . . -2 to -3 . . . . . -3 to -4 . . . -4 to -5
It isn’t quite an abstract. . . . . . . . . . . . -2 to -6. . . . . -6 to -10 . . . . -8 to -12. . -10 to -14
Not even close to being an abstract. . . . -10 . . . . . . . -20 . . . . . . . -30 . . . . . . . -40
Almost Random Statements . . . . . . . . . -12 . . . . . . . . -24 . . . . . . . . -36 . . . . . . -40
Spelling and grammar errors, each. . . . -1 . . . . . . . . -1 . . . . . . . . -1 . . . . . . . . -1
PHOTOCOPY / ACCURATE WEB ADDRESS:
Missing or Incomplete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -5 . . . . . . . . -10 . . . . . . . . -15 . . . . . . . -20
Pages Ripped from Source. . . . . . . . . . . . -5 . . . . . . . . -10 . . . . . . . . -15 . . . . . . . -20
OTHERS:
Plagiarism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -15 to all Points
Falsified Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -10 to all Points
Other Dishonesty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -10 to all Points
Other Form Errors, Each. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -1 to -10
Questions and Helpful Hints:
Question - What sort of article, exactly, am I looking for?
First, make sure that you are looking in the right place. Science magazines are good sources, but may be much more technical than you're ready to handle. You want something that you'll be able to understand. "Hard news" magazines or newspapers can be good, too. Once you have a source, make sure that any article you might pick is long enough - it's got to have at least one full page of text - and that it is about biology in some way - in other words, it deals with the workings of living things.
Question - How do I know if I’ve got an appropriate website?
First, check the address - anything with a long address with a bunch of slashes in it is not a main site, but a subsite - find the main site by looking for a "HOME" link or by "peeling back" the address by deleting parts after a slash - work your way back slash by slash until you’ve hit what’s obviously a main website. Then, make sure that it’s biology-related and check - usually near the end somewhere - to see that it was updated this year.
Question - So this is like, some sort of report?
No, it's not like anything you've probably written - the closest assignment to an abstract would be the first part of a book report, where you're telling what the book is about. An abstract is about article content and coverage, not a report about the subject of the article. You also don't get to editorialize - your opinions about the article are irrelevant in an abstract.
Question - How much do I need to tell?
Not much. It's as if someone looked over your shoulder as you were reading and asked, "What kind of article is that?" Your answer would be brief, but a good answer would let the person know the basic theme of the article and all of the major points it covers, so they could tell if it was something they might want to read. Keep it short - you don't need to really explain things, just mention them.
Question - Are there any "tricks" to writing a good abstract?
There are many different tricks. What you want to do is break the article down to "the bare bones," and that can be done by outlining, or by making notes on a photocopy, or by reading and then waiting before you write (that last one is tricky). One definite trick is to use the checklist on the first handout page - if you can check everything off, you'll get a good mark.
ABSTRACTS - EXAMPLES.
Couzin-Frankel, Jennifer. 2011. A pitched battle over life span. Science, Vol 333, Iss 6042, p 549-550.
This article is about how life expectancies may change in the future – will they rise, or level off? The background of the two sides and major scientists involved are discussed, as well as what sorts of near-future results would support the sides.
Sachs, Jessica Snyder. 2011. There’s a shot for that. Discover, Vol 32, Iss 8, p 51-56.
This article discusses research on developing vaccines for several conditions. There are sections on vaccines for cancer, allergies, heart disease, obesity, and addiction. A sidebar supplies a glossary of vaccine-related terms.
Exploratorium. The Museum of Science, Art, and Human Perception. 2011. Palace of Fine Arts. www.exploratorium.edu January 24, 2012.
This is the online site for a science museum in San Francisco. There is some information about the actual museum, but the site is primarily online content: “Hands-on activities, online exhibits, articles, videos, and more,” divided among several different types of science. There is also special content for a number of demographic groups: “Educators,” “Teens,” “Artists,” “Scientists,” and “Geeks.”
Human Genome Sequencing Center. 2011. Baylor College of Medicine. www.hgsc.bcm.tmc.edu January 24, 2012.
This website covers a wide range of human genetics research done in this medical college. There are specific sites dealing with cancer genetics and the genetics of the bacteria that live on and inside humans, as well as many pages of general information covering basics and background for genetics research.
Small, Meredith F. 1997. Our babies, ourselves. Natural History, 106(9), pp 42-51.
This article is about how caregiving for infants varies among cultures. Many contrasts between hunter-gatherer cultures and western cultures are given. A brief retrospective of how anthropological studies in this area have changed in focus appears. All of this is integrated into the biology of newborns, in such areas as nutrition and bond development. The suggestion is made that western rearing techniques may be ignoring the cues that come from the babies themselves. Several sidebar articles by other authors accompany the main article - subjects in the sidebars: practices among the Gusii people of Kenya; the rest-centered approach of the Dutch; teaching pediatricians to deal nonjudgmentally with varied approaches in different ethnic groups; effects of different approaches on crying; how long to breast-feed; and effects of parents sleeping with babies.
Rome, Lawrence C. 1997. Testing a muscle's design. American Scientist, 85(4), pp 356-363.
This article reviews the research done by the author connecting the design of a muscle system with the system's particular function. After a brief introduction to muscle mechanics, examples from frog jumping, fish swimming, and toadfish vocalizing are examined in some detail.
MedHist. 2004.
http://medhist.ac.uk. No Author Given. Wellcome Trust. August 29, 2004.
This British site, allied with several other major sites with links on the homepage, calls itself the "guide to history of medicine resources on the Internet." It has mainly a search function in this field, but it also offers a "Browse by Category" option with the categories "Diseases," "Electronic publications" (sic), regional breakdowns, miscellany, "Education & research," by periods of history, "Medical speciality & technique," "People," and "Science & technology." Each category offers major reference sources and many subcategories as well. There are many sources that are modern, rather than historical.
