NATS 1870A: UNDERSTANDING COLOURSU 2015Research Project:Science Reported inMedia vs. Scholarly SourcesGoals of the Report- to demonstrate that you are able to research diverse scientific aspects of the topics covered in our course- to research material at a sufficient depth- to compare the quantity and quality of research as reported in popular media sources versus originalscholarly research findings- to communicate your research in a clear and concise manner with proper English language grammar demonstrating that you thoroughly understand the topics presentedTopics of ResearchSince this is a very interdisciplinary course a wide variety of topics are suitable for this research project.The only topic-suitability requirement is that the scientific research in question is on a topic related to anyof the scientific units of our course: physics of light physiology of human colour vision and chemistry ofsurface colorants. These are very broad topic categories designed to give you the flexibility of finding avariety of specific research experiments to use in your project.What to SubmitThe complete research project will consist of:••••academic integrity tutorial (filename: Integrity_Tutorial)media article (filename: Media_Article)scholarly article (filename: Scholarly_Article)your report comparing these two articles in WORD FORMAT (or other word-editing format thatwas used to write it up; not pdf!) (filename: Report)How to Submit:All four files are to be uploaded by the indicated due date in Moodle in the appropriate link under the’Project Submission’ section with the proper file names as listed above. Written files can be submitted ineither MS Word (.doc or .docx) or .pdf formats (with the exception of the report which should be in Word);the academic integrity tutorial results can be submitted either in .pdf or .jpg (from screen shot) format.Media and scholarly articles must be attached as full files in either .doc or .pdf format.IMPORTANT DEADLINESLast digit of Student Number0 1 2 3 45 6 7 8 9Allowed Publication Date Range for Media Article Project Due DateJune 1 – June 28 2015 (4 weeks)June 30 2015July 6 – August 2 2015 (4 weeks)August 4 2015Media articles used outside of your allowed date range will result in a grade of zero assigned to theentire project. Late project submissions will result in a 10%-per-day late penalty up to 1 week fromoriginal deadline.Page 1 of 5 NATS 1870A: UNDERSTANDING COLOURSU 2015Stage 1: Completing the Academic Integrity TutorialBefore commencing your research you are required to read and complete York’s Academic IntegrityTutorial here: http://www.yorku.ca/tutorial/academic_integrity/index.htmlWhen you are ready to take this tutorial (‘quiz’) you will need to log in with your Passport York account toensure that your own name/user account will be displayed on the results page.You are required to submit a copy of the results page showing your name and a perfect score of 10/10 onthis quiz. A deduction of 5% will be applied to your project grade if this component is missing.HELPFUL TIPS:•You can easily make electronic copies of web pages by ‘printing’ them to a .pdf file with avirtual pdf printer. There are many free programs available that can do this such as thePrintFriendly web-based service: www.printfriendly.com•Alternatively you can also simply take a screen-capture of the results page and save it as agraphics image (.jpg) as your electronic copy of the quiz results page.Stage 2: Finding the Media ArticleYou must find an article from an acceptable newspaper or news magazine or other popular media newssource that specifically describes the contents of a published scientific research experiment (of a physical not theoretical nature) on any of the appropriate research topics (see page 1). For help with ideas aboutappropriate key words to use when searching the media sources look to the general topics listed in thecourse kit readings and/or browse the daily news stories posted to find one on a suitable topic.The following are some examples of acceptable media sources:Astronomy Magazine Universe Today Portal to the Universe Science Centric Science Daily Science News Online Science/AAAS Nature CBC News: Technology & Science ScientificAmerican Popular Science National Geographic News Science and Technology for Canadians Maclean’s Magazine The Toronto Star Globe and Mail; othersNote that web blogs wikis and other individually-run websites are NOT acceptable forms of mediareporting for this project.Media articles should be at least 500 words in length (longer is better) and should focus on one primaryoriginal research experiment rather than discussing the results of many different experiments (and/ortheoretical papers).If you need help with determining the suitability of a particular media article do NOT post the specificarticle title and/or web address in the Moodle forum. Instead send an email (including your full name in it)to the following address: [email protected] (Make sure to keep a copy of your email foryourself as back up.) Our course Teaching Assistant will respond to your question on media article topicsuitability within about 2 days. (For all other questions about the project post your public questions in theResearch Project discussion forum in Moodle or private question by email to [email protected]).Page 2 of 5 NATS 1870A: UNDERSTANDING COLOURSU 2015HELPFUL TIPS:•The York library system allows you to search many newspapers and magazines online fromits home page: http://www.library.yorku.ca/•Particularly helpful database to use in this research is the General Science Abstracts (viaWilson); search for its title on the York Library homepage•The Steacie Science and Engineering Library is a whole library at York dedicated to science!(It even has real-life librarians who can help you!)•Consult the following useful website from the York Library on how to find articles in thepopular media versus scholarly journals:http://www.library.yorku.ca/ccm/Home/ResearchAndInstruction/finding-journalarticles.html.htmStage 3: Finding the Scholarly ArticleHaving found the media article you must now find the original (primary) scholarly article in which thisresearch was first reported. The media article itself should mention the names of the researchers (who mayor may not be the authors of the actual media article itself) the title of their original research article (aspublished in the scholarly journal) and where it was originally published. Again use the searching facilitiesat the library to locate and access this original publication. Note that as a York University student yourlibrary privileges include subscription to an enormous database of journals that normally require asubscription fee. (If you need help with accessing paid-subscription journals with your York U. account contact a librarian.)Stage 4: Your Report: Comparing the Science in Media and Scholarly ArticlesAfter reading both the media and the scholarly article you will now compare them in your own writtenreport. To be complete your report must address all of the following questions.1. Complete the following identifier table:Media ArticleResearch ArticleTitle of ArticleSource of ArticleDate of PublicationWas the research done bythe author of the article?Where are the Authorsfrom (if information isavailable)?Give the name andlocation of their place ofwork.Note: the contents of this table do NOT count toward the final word count limit on your report.Page 3 of 5 NATS 1870A: UNDERSTANDING COLOURSU 20152. Provide a précis (short summary) of each article in your own words. A good way to make sure you writethe précis in your own words is to read the article a few times until you feel you understand its content asmuch as possible and then put the article away and write the précis without looking at the article. Onceyou have written the précis reread it and the article together to make sure you have not missed anyimportant points. If your words seem much simpler than those of the article so much the better!3. Describe the structure or format of the article – how is the information presented to the reader? Is thearticle divided up into sections and if so what are they? (This applies to both media and scholarlyarticles).4. For the media article how are the experimental results presented? (For example is it just a generalwritten description are actual numbers reported are there tables graphs statistics?)5. Compare the general conclusions of the media article with the general conclusions of the research paper.Do they differ in any way and if so how?6. Does either of the articles criticize the data criticize the conclusions provide alternate hypotheses orconclusions to explain the data? If so provide details.7. Does one article provide criticism or alternate viewpoints that the other article fails to mention? If so what are they? (For example do the authors of the research article mention limitations of their researchand conclusions that are left out of the media article?)8. Does the title of the media article accurately reflect the content of both the media article and the researcharticle? If not provide details.9. Has this exercise given you any insights into how scientific research is done and reported or into howthe media covers such research?Format and Expectations of the Report•This is NOT AN ESSAY; therefore you do not need to have a thesis or try to ‘prove’ or ‘disprove’any argument(s). Instead you are asked to report on the differences between science research aspresented in popular media versus scholarly journals. Your report can simply answer each of thenumbered items as they are presented above in a numbered sequence.•The report should be 4-5 pages of standard font 12 double-spaced text (equivalent to 1 200 to 1 500word count). It should be minimum 4 pages and maximum 5 pages in length with penalties forcontent less than the minimum or more than the maximum.•1” margins on all sides should be used. Use of extra wide margins or headers or footers will be takeninto account when evaluating the length of the report.•There is no particular preferred style of citation that has to be used as long as your style is consistent.You will use only 2 sources in your report so citation of them should be quite straightforward.Page 4 of 5 NATS 1870A: UNDERSTANDING COLOURSU 2015•Quoting of the articles themselves should be kept to a minimum and is NOT to be used as ‘contentsubstitute’ of your report. Excessive use of quotes will be penalized.•The report should be written with proper English grammar; have your report proofread by someoneelse who is not in your class (such as your family or friends) especially if English is not your firstlanguage.Academic Integrity StandardsThis project is to be completed independently by each student. Any academic integrity infractions found inreports will be strictly penalized from zero on the entire report to any other appropriate penalties as outlinedby York policies on academic integrity. Any kind of ‘copying and pasting’ (even if it is referenced) isprohibited – you are meant to conduct your own research and then write it up in your own words. Anycopying between classmates will result in a penalty (from minor to total zero) for all parties involved.Please see the following link for more details as to York’s academic honesty policy.http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/policies/document.php?document=69Turnitin SubmissionNote that your report will be submitted through the Turnitin assignment tool in Moodle to review it for anyinstances of possible plagiarism. In order to help you learn from such situations first the originality reporton your submission will be made available to you also after your first submission. You may re-write and resubmit your assignment as many times as needed up to the project deadline ensuring that your own originalwritten work is the final version submitted for formal evaluation.Help – Academic WritingAcademic Writing Guide (at the York University Library)http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/awgWriting Centre at York University:http://www.yorku.ca/laps/writ/centre/SPARK: Student Papers & Academic Research Kithttp://www.yorku.ca/spark/Help – WorkshopsCheck the York Events page to search for any relevant workshops coming up soon:http://www.yorku.ca/yuevents/index.aspVisit the Learning Skills section of the CDC website (including workshops):http://lss.info.yorku.ca/Page 5 of 5
