Biology Department Citation Style Recommendation
APA is acceptable, as are other forms of scientific citation. MLA and Chicago Manual of Style should not be used. Many instructors hand out guidelines about citation methods; one such can be found at http://www.williams.edu/williams-only/Biology/Biol204/204syllabus.html#referencing
Writing guidelines:
From Chair Heather Williams
Note: These are responses from one person, Heather Williams. I've tried to make the answers general enough and/or those I've heard from other instructors so that they will be more or less universally valid.
Q. How should an argument be structured? Is a thesis necessary? If so, how would you define a good thesis? Do you prefer the student to state her intended argument outright in the introduction, or to develop it through the paper and state it definitively only in the conclusion-or is she free to choose?
A. It's best for the student to state the argument of the paper at the end of the introduction.
Q. How should a paper be presented on the page? Are there rigid guidelines for form (as in scientific lab write-ups) or are students free to experiment? Do you advise students to divide their papers into sections with headings and subheadings? How do students integrate tables and diagrams into their papers if need be?
A. Except for lab writeups, where the format is spelled out in detail in the lab materials or syllabus, we generally don't have rigid guidelines for the form of a paper. Most instructors provide an explanation of what they expect to see as part of the syllabus; if they do not, students should feel free to ask for guidance.
Q. Are there grammatical or stylistic conventions peculiar to writing in your discipline of which students should be aware? For example, is the use of first-person pronouns permissible? Is passive voice permissible? How do you feel about quoting other sources?
A. Students often go to great lengths to write "scientifically", using the passive voice at every possible occasion and peppering their papers with phrases such as "It was found that", "It was discovered that", etc. Striking these phrases from the beginning of each sentence and recasting passive clauses in the active voice often dramatically improves a paper. First person pronouns are preferable to convoluted sentence structure using the passive voice, but they should not be overused.
Other students err in the opposite direction, using excessively informal writing. Adjectives such as "really" and "very" and contractions (isn't, can't) should not be used. Students should define a term and write out the full form of an acronym the first time they use it.
In general, students should avoid quoting from their sources. There are exceptions; a telling or key phrase can be quoted, and a short indented passage, usually a description of a phenomenon, can be effective. But frequent quoting of sentences or short phrases from the sources should be avoided - a rule of thumb might be a quote for every two pages.
Q. Are there any writing guides or handbooks you would recommend to students with questions about paper writing (either in your discipline or in general)?
A. Writing Papers in the Biological Sciences, by Victoria E. McMillan, Bedford Books, Boston. [SCHOW LIBRARY #QH304 .M36 2001]
Q. What do you look for in grading a student paper?
A. A clear logical argument, developed logically and supported by information from primary sources; creative and original synthesis of material from several different primary sources and authors; clear direct prose.
Q. What are the most common stylistic, grammatical or formal mistakes you see in students’ papers? How do these mistakes affect your evaluation of the content of a student’s work?
A. Many of the common stylistic failings are mentioned in answers to previous questions. Another common stylistic problem in student science papers is the conclusion. Students often end their papers with "This is a very important field, but much work remains to be done" or some variation on that thought. Such platitudes and generalities are not a conclusion, and the concluding paragraph should be specific to the subject of the paper and meaningful.
Similarly, students often have trouble starting their papers. Striking the first paragraph may make the paper better, as the first paragraph is often overly general while the second paragraph actually introduces the problem and the thesis.
Bad writing does affect the grade and the instructor's evaluation of the student's work, as the ability to think well in science must also be accompanied by the ability to communicate those thoughts.