Article+Analysis+TA+notes

Research Article Analysis is due the next week: go through the assignment with them and the requirements make sure to emphasize what sources NOT to use and go through the point break-down. Explain how to find literature sources at MSU, both online and at the library and discusses the difference between primary and secondary sources of literature. Students have a difficult time understanding this, so make sure to go over it a few times. Go over the list in their manual of some ecological journals and use the article analysis section as a guideline on how to read a scientific journal article. The purpose of this assignment is for the students to review a journal article that is directly related to their group research project topic. Each group member will thus become an expert of their one paper and this paper can then be used as one of the 4 sources required for the proposal, rough draft and final drafts of the research paper. The assignment is a critical review, so emphasize it is not just a summary. The students need to critically analyze the paper, so section d is the most important section and should be the main bulk of their paper (therefore it is worth the most points). After you discuss the review portion of the assignment, go over how to correctly cite articles and the format for the Literature Cited section. See Appendix for guidelines. Discuss plagiarism with your class; pass out the plagiarism handout found at the end of your TA lab manual. I will provide copies for all students and put them at the front of the classroom. Plagiarism has been and could be a problem and we need to teach our students what it is, and how to avoid it. The MSU writing center does not have a current handout, so I found one from Indiana University. I got permission from IU to hand them out in our class. Please describe in detail what plagiarism is and go through the few examples on the handout. We do not want to have problems with this in any of our assignments. General problems with papers: (OLD VERSION) · no critique of the article, only a summary (– 10 points) · if included a critique, very superficial (i.e. the article was thorough and well written) (-8 points) · didn’t differentiate between the results of the study and the conclusions of the study (-4 points) · used the wrong source for a scientific study (-20 points) (NEW VERSION) __Grading and Potential Problems with the Proposal__
 * RESEARCH ARTICLE ANALYSIS PREPARATION** [[image:file:///Users/stephenthomas/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_image001.png width="534" height="21"]] **/ PLAGIARISM**
 * Grading for lit review: 30 points/see point breakdown below**
 * Too long: 3 pts off for every 1 page past 6 pgs
 * Too short: 3 pts off for every 1 page under 3 pgs
 * Turned it in late: a. within the first 20 min of class = no deduction, b. after first 20 minutes of class but before end of the class period without a proper excuse = - 20% = -10, c. turned it in after class without a proper excuse = -50.
 * Did not include 4 primary literature sources = -6 (note: this is more than the points for that section, but a very major portion of the paper, thus I feel we should take off additional points if they have less than 4 sources)
 * See attached checklist with additional point breakdowns on next page
 * Reminder: make sure you do NOT tell the students the exact point distribution within each specific section (as listed below) to avoid them arguing for every partial point possible.

Additional help for lit review grading (updated after lab meeting fall 05) -- Grading the literature review: penalties See grading sheet for literature review and last weeks TA info. General problems with papers: (from last lab on pg 10, also updated after lab meeting on 9/23/04) · no critique of the article, only a summary (– 10 points) · if included a critique, very superficial (i.e. the article was thorough and well written) (-8 points) · didn’t differentiate between the results of the study and the conclusions of the study (-4 points) · used the wrong source for a scientific study (-20 points)
 * Article not from primary literature (web site, textbooks, magazines): - 20
 * Article is a review paper: - 6
 * Article is not 5 pages long: - 6
 * Article from Science or Nature: - 6
 * Article is not related __at all__ to topic: - 6
 * Too long: 3 pts off for every ½ page past 2.5 pgs
 * Too short: 3 pts off for every ½ page under 1.5 pgs
 * Critique of the same paper in same group: - 6
 * Meta analysis: -6
 * Plagiarism: part of the sentence = severely warned, full sentence or more = lose all of the points for that section
 * Dissertation: -15
 * Turn in late without excuse 20 min or less = -0, 20 min to end of lab = -20% (-6pts), after end of the lab = -30
 * LITERATURE REVIEW GRADING SHEET** ** (JUST AN EXAMPLE, NOT USED FALL 2004) **

NAME: __________________________ SECTION: __________________________ ARTICLE: 5 pages Different from others in group Standard format (not a review) Primary lit paper /2 WHAT ARE THE QUESTIONS ADDRESSED IN THE PAPER? HYPOTHESES/PREDICTIONS OF RESEARCHERS? /4 WHAT ARE THE RESULTS? /3 WHAT ARE THE CONCLUSIONS? /3 HOW DOES PAPER CONTRIBUTE TO KNOWLEDGE ON TOPIC? /3 ADEQUATE SUPPORT OF CONCLUSIONS? /3 WERE METHODS APPROPRIATE? /4 LITERATURE CITED SECTION Format: Authors. Year. Title of article. Journal name. Volume : page # /2 WRITING QUALITY Organization Grammar Spelling Flow of arguments /6 FINAL MARK: /30