Term paper guidelines for Undergraduate students:
Write a paper on a biogeographic topic that is of interest to you. The term paper should be based on a review and synthesis of three articles published in the Journal of Biogeography. Therefore, the three articles should be on a related topic, although they may be published in different years, about different places, involving different approaches or research methodologies, or represent research done by different authors or groups. The following is an example of related papers.
1. Urbieta, I. R., Zavala M. A., Marañón, T. (2008), Human and non- human determinants of forest composition in southern Spain: evidence of shifts towards cork oak dominance as a result of management over the past century. Journal of Biogeography 35: 1688-1700.
2. Kaniewski D., De Laet, V., Paulissen. E., Waelkens, M. (2007), Long-term effects of human impact on mountainous ecosystems, western Taurus Mountains, Turkey. Journal of Biogeography 34: 1975-1997
3. Bürgi, M., Russell, E. W. B., Motzkin, G. (2000), Effects of postsettlement human activities on forest composition in the north- eastern United States: a comparative approach. Journal of Biogeography 27: 1123-1138.
Even though these papers deal with different places and ecosystems (forest composition in Spain, mountainous ecosystems in Turkey, temperate forest in the US), they all relate to human impact on the vegetation. In your term paper, you should synthesize the research objectives, methods, main results, and significance of these papers. Don’t just paraphrase or copy the abstracts! The most important thing is that you try to understand the contribution of these studies, synthesize them, and discuss in your own words the linkage among them.
Your term paper should be 6-10 pages long, double spaced, including figures or tables (if necessary). You must list at the beginning of the term paper the three articles that you review. Also include an abstract of no more than 150 words. Follow the citation format of the Journal of Biogeography.
The topic of my essay will discuss the effects of climate change on mountain ecosystems at different elevations. I have included the 3 journal articles references from the Journal of Biogeography I would like to use and also pertain to this topic.