Short Guide To Writing About Biology Plus Mywritinglab Access Card Package

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For courses in Writing Across the Curriculum or Writing About Biology.

This package includes MyWritingLab™.

 

Developing the tools to effectively write about biology

Teaching biology and strong writing skills simultaneously is a challenge, especially when students exhibit a range of abilities. The Ninth Edition of A Short Guide to Writing about Biology provides tools to strengthen student writing and reinforce critical thinking.

 

Written by a prominent biologist, this best-selling guide teaches students to express ideas clearly and concisely. It emphasizes writing as a way of examining, evaluating, and refining ideas: students learn to read critically, study, evaluate and report data, and communicate with clarity.

 

Using a narrative style, the text is its own example of good analytical writing. In this new edition, students learn how to avoid plagiarism (Ch 1 and 3), read and interpret data (Ch 3, 4 and 9), prepare effective Materials and Methods sections in research reports and more (Ch 9), and prepare manuscripts for submission (Ch 9). The text also provides advice on locating useful sources (Ch 2), maintaining laboratory and field notebooks (Ch 9), communicating with different audiences (Ch 6 and 10), and crafting research proposals (Ch 10), poster presentations (Ch 11), and letters of application (Ch 12).

 

Personalize Learning with MyWritingLab™

MyWritingLab is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment program that provides engaging experiences for teaching and learning. Flexible and easily customizable, MyWritingLab helps improve students’ writing through context-based learning. Whether through self-study or instructor-led learning, MyWritingLab supports and complements course work.

0321984250 / 9780133969894 A Short Guide to Writing about Biology Plus MyWritingLab — Access Card Package, 9e

 

Package consists of:

• 0321984250 / 9780321984258 A Short Guide to Writing about Biology, 9e
• 0133933296 / 9780133933291 MyWritingLab Generic -- Glue in Access Card

 

Part I General Advice about Writing and Reading Biology

1. Introduction and General Rules

What Lies Ahead?

What Do Biologists Write About, and Why?

The Keys to Success

Avoiding Plagiarism

On Using Computers in Writing

On Using Computers for Data Storage, Analysis, and Presentation

Summary

Technology Tip 1. Using Shortcuts and AutoCorrect

2. Locating Useful Sources

What Lies Ahead?

Easy Ways to Access The Primary Literature

Using Indexes

Using Science Citation Index

Using Current Contents Connect

Using Medline and Other Databases

Prowling the Internet

Conducting Web Searches: Developing Productive Search Strategies

Final Thoughts About Efficient Searching: Technology Isn’t Everything

Closing Thoughts

Summary

Technology Tip 2. Using Search Engines E ffectively

3. General Advice on Reading, Note Taking, and Avoiding Plagiarism

What Lies Ahead?

Why Read and What to Read

Effective Reading

Reading Data: Plumbing the Depths of Figures and Tables

Take Notes in Your Own Words

Final Thoughts on Note Taking: Document Your Sources

Summary

4. Reading and Writing About Statistical Analyses

What Lies Ahead?

Statistical Essentials

Summary: Using Statistics to Test Hypotheses

Moving Beyond p-Values

Reading About Statistics

Writing About Statistics

Summary

5. Citing Sources and Listing References

What Lies Ahead?

Citing Sources

Summary of Citation Format Rules

Preparing the Literature Cited Section

A Sample Literature Cited Section

Technology Tip 3. Bibliographic Management S oftware

Technology Tip 4. Producing Hanging Indents

6. Revising

What Lies Ahead?

Preparing the Draft for Surgery: Plotting Idea Maps

Revising for Content

Revising for Clarity

Revising for Completeness

Revising for Conciseness

Revising for Flow

Revising for Teleology and Anthropomorphism

Revising For Spelling Errors

Revising for Grammar and Proper Word Usage

Becoming a Good Reviewer

Checklist

Technology Tip 5. Tracking Changes Made

to Documents 115

Part II Guidelines for Specific Tasks

Prelude: Why Are You Writing Papers and Proposals and Giving Talks?

7. Writing Summaries, Critiques, Essays,and Review Papers

What Lies Ahead?

Writing Summaries and Critiques

Sample Student Summary

Writing Essays and Review Papers

Checklist for Essays and Review Papers

8. Answering Essay Questions

Basic Principles

Applying the Principles

Summary

9. Writing Laboratory and Other Research Reports

What Lies Ahead?

Why Are You Doing This?

The Purpose of Laboratory and Field Notebooks

Components of the Research Report

Where to Start

When to Start

Writing the Materials and Methods Section

Writing The Results Section

Citing Sources

What to Do Next?

Writing the Discussion Section

Writing the Introduction Section

Talking About Your Study Organism or Field Site

Deciding on a Title

Writing an Abstract

Preparing an Acknowledgments Section

Preparing the Literature Cited Section

Preparing a Paper for Formal Publication

A Note About Co-Authorship

Checklist for the Final Draft

Technology Tip 6. Using Computer Spreadsheets for Data Collection

Technology Tip 7. Graphing with Excel

10. Writing Research Proposals

What Lies Ahead?

What Are Reviewers Looking For?

Researching Your Topic

What Makes a Good Research Question?

Writing the Proposal

Tightening the Logic

The Life of a Real Research Proposal

Checklist

11. Presenting Research Findings: Preparing Talks and Poster Presentations

What Lies Ahead?

Oral Presentations

Writing the Talk

Giving the Talk

Dos and Don’ts for Oral Presentations

Common PowerPoint® Errors

Checklist for Being Judged

Poster Presentations

Checklist for Making Posters

12. Writing Letters of Application

What Lies Ahead?

Before You Start

Preparing the CV

Preparing the Cover Letter

Getting Effective Letters of Recommendation

Appendix A Commonly Used Abbreviations

Appendix B Recommended Resources

Index