Term Report
Your term report will discuss and analyze some aspect of the habitat ecology of a species or a group of species as it relates to forest condition or some aspect of forest management, or some key question or topic in wildlife conservation and forest management. Your term paper must meet the following criteria:
The grade for the term report constitutes a major portion of the course grade (30%). They will be graded fairly, but rigorously (for information about grading, click here). Papers receiving high grades will demonstrate a high level of scholarship and strong writing skills.
IMPORTANT: You must sign up for your term report topic on the student information sheet you fill out! A course TA will E-mail you a "receipt" within a few days of your submission of the information sheet, indicating the topic that you signed up for. If you do not receive this receipt, please bring this to the attention of the course instructor or a TA. You should save this receipt to ensure acknowledgement of your topic area, to avoid future complication in case course records and yours do not coincide. A limited number of students will be allowed to work on the same topic area - as the maximum number of "slots" for an individual topic are filled, that topic is no longer available. To guarantee that you will have the opportunity to work on the topic of your choice - SIGN UP NOW! You have the option of changing your topic later to another topic that is available at the time of your switch, and if you receive permission of the course instructor or one of the TA's. TERM PAPERS SUBMITTED BY STUDENTS THAT HAVE NOT SIGNED UP FOR A TOPIC OVER THE WEB WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED, NOR WILL PAPERS THAT ARE NOT ON THE TOPIC YOU SIGNED UP FOR!
TERM PAPER TOPICS:
The influence of timber harvest on bat populations.
The influence of timber harvest on aquatic amphibians.
The influence of timber harvest on songbirds.
The influence of timber harvest on small mammals.
The influence of timber harvest on deer populations.
The influence of timber harvest on elk populations.
The influence of forest management activities on bald eagles
Interactions between black bears and forest management.
Habitat associations of northern spotted owls at multiple spatial scales.
Habitat associations of marbled murrelets at multiple spatial scales.
Habitat associations and influences of forest management on red tree voles.
Use of downed wood by small mammals and amphibians.
Use of snags by cavity-nesting birds: ecology and management implications.
Use of snags by bats: ecology and management implications.
The influences of forest edges on songbird populations in eastern forests of North America.
The relationships among mycorrhizal fungi, small mammals, and trees in the Pacific Northwest.
Approaches to maintain spatial connectivity in forest systems.
Use of the historic disturbance regime approach to maintain biodiversity in forests.
The influence of beavers on forest structure in riparian areas.
Read this section carefully!!!
Content: Your term report should present a review and synthesis of some of the most important scientific literature relevant to your topic. Although citation of books, chapter, and theses are acceptable for this assignment, your literature review should emphasize scientific articles published in peer-reviewed technical journals. Web-based information, with the exception of on-line scientific journals, are not appropriate sources of information for this assignment.
References and citations: At a minimum, your report MUST contain reference to ALL OF THE REQUIRED CITATIONS LISTED FOR YOUR TOPIC (provided in the linked page for your topic area) AND at least 5 additional refereed scientific publications. Each of your referenced papers must be cited in the text of your report. In-text citations should include the author(s) and year of the citation [e.g., (Smith 1998) for one author; (Smith and Jones 1999) for two authors; (Smith et al. 2000) for three or more authors; (Smith 1998, Jones 1999) for citing information that came from two sources]. In the literature cited section, citations for research articles should include the authors (listed in the same order that they are listed on the front of the reference you are citing), year of publication, title of publication, volume number, and page numbers. For example:
Smith, J., A. B. Jones, and J. L. Doe. 1998. How I spent my summer vacation watching wildlife in forests. Journal of Complete Nonsense 4:108-116.
Citations for book chapters should include the authors (listed in the same order that they are listed on the front of the reference you are citing), year of publication, title of publication, pages of the chapter, "in:" the editors of the book, the title of the book, publisher of the book, and city and state of publisher. For example:
Smith, J. 1999. Further thoughts on how I spent my summer vacation. Pages 234-451 in Jones, A. B., and J. L. Doe (eds.). Summer vacations of great scientists. Worthless Press, Burbank, California.
Citations for books should include the authors (listed in the same order that they are listed on the front of the reference you are citing), year of publication, title of book, publisher of the book, and city and state of publisher. For example:
Doe, J. L., F. P. McGillicudy, and I. M. Aloser. 2000. Great naturalists and their spare time. Worthless Press, Burbank, California.
For all cited work, please provide a photocopy of the first page of each scientific article, book chapter, or book that you cite in your paper as an attachment at the end of your paper (after the literature cited section).
Length and presentation format: The final report should not exceed 5 pages in length (double spaced), not including a cover page (which is optional) or your literature cited section (which is not optional). Five pages is not very long, but do not confuse quantity and quality here! A wealth of information can be included in a concisely written 5 page paper. Cut out the fluff and stick to the important information - build a well-coordinated paper through a carefully organized approach.
The final report should be printed using 12 point font with 1 inch margins throughout. Please print the final report using a good quality printer.
Due date and tardiness policy: For full credit, your final report should be submitted no later than by the end of class on May 7. Points will be deducted from late reports as follows: reports received after 10:00 AM and before 5:00 PM May 7, minus 5%; reports received after 5:00 PM May 7 and before 5:00 PM May 9, minus 10%; reports received after 5:00 PM May 9 and before 5:00 PM May 12, minus 20%; reports received after 5:00 PM May 12 and before 5:00 PM May 14, minus 30%; reports received after 5:00 PM May 14, no credit.
It is YOUR responsibility to ensure that your report is in the hands of your course instructor or a course TA. Reports sent through campus mail or left in the instructor's mailbox have gotten lost, so don't rely on the mailbox or campus mail. It is preferable to give your report directly to a course TA or the instructor, but if this is not possible reports may be given to the Department of Forest Science administrative staff in Richardson Hall. If you leave a report with them, make sure that they stamp the report with the date and departmental stamp. In addition, to protect yourself, I suggest you have them date and stamp a note that you prepare indicating that they received the report from you, and that you keep the note on file in case of later questions or confusion.
Before you turn in the final draft: I strongly recommend that you refer to the Term Paper Checklist to make sure that you have completed all of the necessary requirements prior to submitting your final paper.