Term Paper

Due Dates

First Draft: June 28
Final Paper: July 14

Background

The assignment involves selecting what you believe is the most significant achievement in astronomy and why and writing an eight page paper (double-spaced) on that topic. You are free to choose any achievement related to the course, not merely from the topics discussed in lectures and labs. I will be happy to help you narrow your choices or select a topic if you cannot come up with one. The best advice I can give is to pick a topic that interests you instead of trying to pick a topic you think will please me, and that you approach the assignment as if you were submitting an article for publication in a popular magazine. Assume your audience is intelligent, but unfamiliar with the subject you've chosen. Your task is to engage and inform them.

You must use at least eight references. These may come from a variety of media such as magazines, newspapers, the Internet, and of course, books, but it will be important to use credible sources. For example, a high school student’s web page containing an account of the universe when it was less than one second old may not be a good choice although an article written by Alan Guth (professor of theoretical astrophysics at MIT) on the same topic may be very appropriate. Remember, many people can make web pages, but few are experts on the topics about which they write. For that reason, no more than two sources can be exclusively from the Internet (e-magazine and journal articles that are electronic versions of print media are not considered Internet sources) and No Wikipedia citations. Wikipedia is fine for a quick fact check (usually), but is not suitable for a proper citation in a scholarly article. If you go to Wikipedia, check the bottom of the web page for a list of original sources then go find the original sources.

Feel free to make use of all the college’s resources that are at your disposal. You may use the computer lab’s word processing programs to write, print, and make a copy (on diskette, CD or flash drive) of your paper if you do not have access to a computer or typewriter. The staff of the library is also available to help you find suitable references, whether in print media, or in searchable periodical databases. Of course you can always ask me to point you in the right direction, too.

Additionally, as language is the bedrock of clear communication between people, the paper should be grammatically correct with appropriate syntax and spelling. All students are encouraged to visit the Writing Center in room 114. You may sign up for an appointment at the front desk or simply drop by room 114.

Requirements

A separate page of references should be included at the end of the paper using the standard journal format. Here are examples of citations from three types of sources: 1) an article starting on page 41 in the magazine Sky & Telescope, 2) the book General Relativity, and 3) a page on the special theory of relativity in this web site.

Wang, L., and Wheeler, J. G., Supernovae Are Not Round, Sky & Telescope, January 2002, p.41.

Wald, R. M., General Relativity (Chicago University Press, Chicago, 1984).

Studer, B., April 22, 2002, The Special Theory of Relativity, Astronomy@Kirkwood:ic, www.brentstuder.com/kcc/spec_rel_1.html, August 28, 2002.

For this paper, footnotes are not necessary because scientific articles often cite the reference in the body of the paper. The example below demonstrates how this is done. The citation should include the author's last name and year of publication.

By using the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatories catalog it was possible to identify and eliminate bright stars that appeared in the scan lines (Fix, 1989). This eliminated contamination of the data by stars earlier than spectral type A0, but due to...

Scientific articles also include an abstract at the beginning of the paper. This is a brief summary of the paper’s topic that also states the conclusion(s). Since it is a summary, it is often useful to write the abstract after the paper has been completed. However, in the final copy of your paper, the abstract must be labelled and at the beginning of your paper (either on a separate page after the cover page or before the text comprising the body of your paper).

Here is an example of an abstract I wrote years ago:

ABSTRACT. The ultraviolet imaging photometer aboard the Dynamics Explorer I spacecraft was utilized to obtain measurements of the diffuse ultraviolet background radiation along two strips of the sky between Galactic latitudes -61° < b < 61°. The magnitude of the ultraviolet background was found to be 519 ± 28 photons per (cm² sec Å sr) at a wavelength of 1500 Å, thus placing a more precise determination on the value of the diffuse radiation field than previous estimates.

Grading

Your paper will be graded on a 70-point scale as follows:

40 pts — Clarity of presentation and depth of information presented in the paper
15 pts — Writing mechanics (use of appropriate style, spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc.)
15 pts — Appropriateness and quality of references.

Additional Resources

Although there are a number of excellent style manuals (such as The Chicago Manual of Style) which are available in any library and many of the local new and used bookstores, I prefer The Gregg Reference Manual by William A. Sabin. In my experience, it is the easiest to use and I can always find authoritative answers to my questions with a minimum of effort. It is lucid and contains many excellent examples in addition to useful insights on the differences between business, technical, and literary writing. The important thing is to use a reference instead of relying on hunches. There is NO excuse for sloppy writing with all of the resources available to you.

Some reputable online references you may find helpful include

Avoiding Plagiarism
Purdue University Online Writing Lab: Overview of Resources Available
Purdue University Online Writing Lab: APA Formatting and Style Guide
Grammar Girl's Quick & Dirty Tips for Better Writing
Grammar and Style Notes From Jack Lynch at Rutgers University
William Strunk Jr.'s Elements of Style