Find the original paper that prompted the news story you found for the Evolution in the News assignment, OR choose an evolutionary biology paper in a high-profile journal (e.g., Nature, Science, PNAS) published within the past 3 years, and write a 1,000 word perspective on why it is cool. This is an official article category of the journal Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature/authors/gta/others.html#newsandviews
As a general guideline, News and Views articles are always short (up to 1,000 words in length) and have as much in common with journalistic news reports as the formal scientific literature. So the central message of the News and Views must be stated clearly in the first paragraph and the piece should be written in a manner readily accessible to non-specialists. In this respect, it is essential to ask a colleague from an unrelated discipline to comment on the article before submitting it to Nature Materials. Personal opinions, viewpoints, criticisms and predictions are encouraged. The submission of figures and artwork is strongly encouraged, to illustrate both specific points made in the piece and the more general context.
–http://www.nature.com/nmat/authors/article_types/index.html#news
Step 1A) Assuming that the paper referred to in your Evolution in the News assignment is interesting to you and was given the OK by Dr. Jack as being sufficiently related to evolution, download the paper and read it in depth.
Step 1B) If you need to find a paper different from the one in your Evolution in the News assignment: Find a cool paper published within the past 3 years that has something to do with evolution. Submit the citation to your cool paper and the draft title of your News & Views–this must be different from the title of the focal paper–to your TA. You can change your cool paper up to the submission of the first draft of this assignment.
Tips:
Science, Nature, PNAS, and PLoS Biology are good places to find cool papers
Google Scholar can sometimes turn up cool papers with the right search terms–you can limit the date range of papers returned by using the advanced search options on the left
Make sure that the paper is of interest to you, since you will be spending a LOT of time thinking about in over the first half of the semester!
If you are in doubt, show some potential papers to the TAs for feedback.
Step 2) Find ~5-10 relevant background papers on the topic covered by your focal paper. NOTE: you do not need to read these papers in as great a depth as your focal paper, but you will need to be able to cite them appropriately (e.g., read at least the abstract). Start with i) papers that your focal paper cites and ii) newer papers that cite your focal paper (unless your paper was just published). You need to include both review articles and primary literature (e.g., papers that report an original finding).
Tips:
For full points, you must cite at least 5 peer-reviewed papers. Websites are okay but there should only be a few of these relative to the peer-reviewed literature.
Please indicate review articles that you cite with ** in your bibliography
You must include at least 1 article that is in each category (primary literature and review article). Primary literature reports an original finding.
Pubmed and Google Scholar are great places to look up peer-reviewed literature.
Only citations to the primary scientific literature are acceptable–no websites or popular media
Writing and finding relevant literature is an iterative process, so move between reading literature and writing your article. Often you will have ideas for directions that you want to read more about while you are writing!
Step 3) Submit your first draft by 5pm Monday Sept 27th.
Step 4) You will be assigned 2-3 of your peers draft News & Views manuscripts to review.
Template Review:
Major:
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Minor:
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Step 5) After receiving your reviews from peers and the instructors, you will revise your manuscript and it will be evaluated by the instructors. The deadline is 11am Friday October 15th
Submit online in moodle as a single document (main text, image with caption, and bibliography)
Tips:
Submit a single file with the following elements:
A title
Your pen-name
The body text, which much be BETWEEN 900 AND 1,000 words (title, bibliography, and figure caption do not count towards the word limit)
Please embed your figure in your manuscript file above THE FIGURE TITLE AND caption at the end of the document after the bibliography
A complete bibliography for all citations
Please cite using author-date citations in text and give full bibliographic data in the references in APA format
E.g., (Elena & Lenski 2003); Elena, S. F., & Lenski, R. E. (2003). Evolution experiments with microorganisms: the dynamics and genetic bases of adaptation. Nature Reviews Genetics, 4(6), 457-469.
Ensure that your figure has A TITLE, proper attribution, a caption, and is referred to in the text
Please use a compelling image, it should capture the readers attention so that they stop and read your cool article!
Rubric
Points
received Points
possible
Draft 1: 50
Paper format is correct and word count of body of text is within the word limit 5
The central message is clearly stated in the first paragraph 5
A compelling argument in support or against selected article is presented 5
The key advance in the focal paper is succinctly described 5
Technical details are explained to a broad audience 5
An informative and compelling image is included with a suitable caption 5
Appropriate use of primary literature citations 5
Appropriate use of review article citations 5
Correct grammar and spelling 5
Engaging sentence and paragraph construction 5
Reviews (of three of your peers pieces):
10
Major (conceptual) criticisms: 3+ per piece
E.g., a specific part you found confusing, with a suggestion on how to improve it
E.g., something that you disagree with, along with evidence supporting your perspective
4
Minor suggestions (wording, spelling/grammar): 5+ per piece 4
A positive and constructive tone 2
Final Draft 100
Incorporation of reviewers comments 20
The central message is clearly stated in the first paragraph 10
A compelling viewpoint, criticism, or prediction is presented 20
The key advance in the focal paper is succinctly described 20
Technical details are explained to a broad audience 5
An informative and compelling image is included with a suitable caption (title and description) 5
Appropriate use of citations
Cite at least 1 review article and 1 primary article [2], (indicate review articles with ** for points)
Cite at least 5 peer-reviewed papers total [5]
Appropriate citations in text (author date) [2]
Bibliography formatting is correct [1]
10
Correct grammar and spelling 5
Engaging sentence and paragraph construction 5
Total 180
