GUIDELINES GIVEN TO STUDENTS FOR PREPARATION OF SPECIAL TOPICS PAGES(Info. collated for external reviewers)
RELEVANT GUIDELINES FROM HANDOUT #1 (January 5)SPECIAL TOPICS: INTRODUCTIONThese topics are the equivalent of essays or research papers that you have had in other classes. However, in this case, the report is a Web Page(s) rather than an essay. You can think of the Report as the equivalent of a Fact Sheet put out by a government department, except that this one will have hypertext links in it.You will research the Special Topics more or less as you would for an essay, but the presentation will be quite different. As it could potentially be read by millions, you want it to be of the highest quality; getting creative and editorial feedback from colleagues in your working group will be especially helpful in that regard. The topics given in the Special Topics List are ones that that would be appropriate for the Agroecosystems Web page. We will have further discussion of the list in class. You can propose other topics or a modification of one of those topics. Once a topic has been chosen by one student, it cannot be chosen by another, and a proposed topic must not have a lot of overlap with a topic that has been chosen by another student.
The Initial List:
TOPICS PROPOSED BY STUDENTS
Special Topics will be assessed by students, an external reviewer (with a background in agriculture/education) , and by dp according to an absolute marking scheme. Students will receive the average of those marks for their Special Topics assignment. The marks so calculated will also be averaged for all Special Topics within a Working Group, to give a Working Group Special Topics mark. FORMATInitial guidelines: The Web Page (fact sheet) should
The Agroecosystem Web SiteAfter the final Text Day ( March 11), we will shift gears and apply all of the skills and materials we have accumulated to a task, which is to build an Agroecosystems Web site.This exercise is one that will benefit from both discipline and creativity - the discipline to ensure that what we finally put on the Web is credible, as free of errors as possible etc., and creativity to make it an interesting and useful site. The peer review process that you will have developed in Working groups in relation to the Monday reports and Special Topics will be applied to the building of the Web page. We will formulate as a class the precise objectives of this exercise, and how we will go about doing it. Here are some of my initial reasons for including this exercise :
Biology 3068.03B Agroecosystems Special TopicsHO#19 Feb 5. Itºs important to read these two pagesIn general, these topics should be researched extensively, rather intensively in a limited area. Keep in mind the general objectives, and format of the Web site that we have discussed. We want it to be a site that is a convenient source of concepts, key facts and figures, definitions and references and links about agriculture, viewed from an ecosystems perspective (Handout 16)/ We want it to be interesting, we want the information to be reliable, objective and well thought out. The Special topics will link with the umbrella pages (1-7 on handout #15), and with each other. (The linking will be done after the first drafts of the individual Sp. Topics are completed (March 9) . In general, your perspective should be global, or be put into a global context. Agriculture is a global process - think about the places of origin of our crops and livestock historically, and about gene flow... and today of course, very intense global trade. The impacts of agroecosystems are both local and global, and agroecosystems are affected by both local and global environmental and socioeconomic factors. You can have a regional focus, but consider it from a general ecosystems perspective, and Ñsituate itæ globally. For example. e.g. one class member wanted to look at ÑGrapesæ and how they came to be grown commercially in N.S. Viewed from an Agroecosystems perspective, it is interesting as a case of recent range extension of a crop, and questions that could be considered are what was involved in extending its range, how did selection take place, are the varieties now locally adapted, what are the major inputs required to grow the crop, how sensitive would it to climatic change etc. In the global context, it would be appropriate to include some information on the origin and history of grapes, and where the major production occurs today. What should be included in the final submission:1. An overview of your topic This will (eventually) be linked to other topics, to your definitions, and to your references; and in most cases, a photograph related to your topic. The final version should be the equivalent of 1-2 pages single spaced at most (and as little as a half page would be OK), but you may find that it takes quite a bit of research and reading and thinking to get you to the point that you are happy that you have a good overview of the topic. 2. Some Ñkey facts and figuresæ, including as appropriate 1-2 Tables, 1-2 charts. What you include here is important - ask what would have been useful to me? Try to assess the reliability of the source, and also the nature of the data.. where numbers are Ñfuzzy estimatesæ, indicate that in some way, (e.g. by giving several numbers to indicate a range of estimates).. Cite sources of the data; if you didnºt see the original reference, refer to it as Ñdata cited in XXXX, 19XXæ 3. Definitions of important terms related to your topic Be critical of the definitions; use definitions from the lit. as possible, and reference them. 4. Some literature references For the initial list, cite only materials you have seen, and give Dal. call nos. for books; use the standard format I have given you (HO # 15, on Bulletin Bd update, available on our WebCT site). This list should not be lengthy - think in terms of 5-10 well chosen citations; as a general guideline, at least 1/3 of them should be from within the period 1994-1998. 5. Some useful links. Indicate whatºs there, if its nit readily inferred from the title bar. -The links: consider the reliability of the information in the links, and their likely persistence; 5-10 well chosen ones only. 6. As you wish, you could add more material according to your inclinations and interests, but make sure points 1-5 are covered adequately first. The added material would likely be accessed though a link in items 1,2,3; e.g. for Home Gardens and Nutrition, if you wanted to give some detail from a particular study, or an interview or something of this nature, it could be written up to stand on its own, and be accessed as a link form the overview.
For your Preliminary Report:
You will be marked for (i) and (ii): criteria:
The due date is Friday, February 20 at 5 p.m. Submit by e-mail to dp@is.dal.ca The preliminary reports will be collated and posted on WebCT, this is why I need them by e-mail. You will get full marks if you fulfill these simple criteria. That mark will set the limits for my final assessment of your Special Topic, for example if your Prelim. Report is all fine except one day late, your mark would be 16/21; then the minimum mark you could get from me on the final assessment would be 16, and the maximum would be 95. (Note that your Special Topic will also be assessed by other students in the class, and one external person). GUIDELINES FOR PEER REVIEW OF DRAFTS (March 23)Within groups, review pages and work together to edit them for ...
You may want to do this initially in pairs, prob. good idea to pair individuals who have some technical difficulties with those that have fewer.WE SHOULD DISCUSS THAT IN GROUPS TODAY. B260 Lab will be available Fridays 1-4, I wil try to get 1-5 The concept is to make the pages useful to someone like yourself who is looking into a topic for the first time.. what you are providing is an overview with key points, terms, some useful facts, and some good paths to follow up.... credibility, reliability of sources are important. Please read also TEMPLATE FOR REPORTS AND FURTHER GUIDELINES (March 2)
|