Thread: Zoology, Ethology, Biology????

I need help writing a 80 pg. essay for my Animal Behavior and Zoology course. The class covers the following :

Evidence of Evolution
Sexual Selection
Animal Adaptations
Slight bits and pieces of Taxonomy
Ecology
Habitats and Niches
Slight Ethology
Innate Behavior
Learned Behavior
Imprinting
Fixed Action Patterns
Nature vs. Nurture
Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Habituation
Insight Learning
Social Behaviors of Animals
Symbiotic Relationships
Social Structures
Agonistic Behaviors (such as : predator-prey interactions, competition, territoriality, attack and defense, etc.)

I was wondering if anybody had any input on how I should approach writing this essay and how to briefly summarize each subject.[/list]

Hi Mrs.Jordan, and welcome to the forum. We're glad to have you, but we're not here to do your homework for you - organizing an essay covering all those topics is not a small task, so you're asking a stranger to do a lot of work for you. Also, you'll get more education out of this assignment if you try it yourself first. Tell us some of your organizational ideas, and we'll be happy to give you some feedback. For a quick tip, I notice that several of the terms in your list cover VERY broad areas, while others are more specific topics that fit under the umbrella of some of the broader terms. Organizing them in this way might be a place to start.

As far as summarizing each term, that's also a lot of work you're asking of strangers, and it's something you should be able to do using your notes and texts from your class. At the very least, Wikipedia will have a lot of information on each of those topics.

OMG!!! Where do u go to college that u need to write an 80 pg paper! Divide it into paragraphs for each topic and cluster them in similar grouping of topic. Other than that, buy tons of bengay for carpel tunnel, start work as soon as possible, and work 2-3 hours a day. take time to chill and take breaks often!

I am far from asking anybody to do my homework for me, but this is my first BIG essay and a huge task for me. I was just looking for some input on how I should approach this enormous task and maybe a few websites that I could use as resources. I really appreciate your reply, though. I will definetely look into different websites and ofcourse Wikipedia (one of my favorites).
I do not have textbooks and I do the majority of the research on my own, because my professor gives us the work, does not explain at all and gives us a due date. I am 16 and a half and in college, so it is a little bit overwhelming. I appreciate any help given, though.

first I would really like to know where u go. second r u a prodigy or something cuz thats pretty impressive to be in college at age 16. third my advice is go to the library, take out tons of books on the subjects, plan and outline ur essay, and start working.

Originally Posted by Mrs.Jordan

I am far from asking anybody to do my homework for me, but this is my first BIG essay and a huge task for me. I was just looking for some input on how I should approach this enormous task and maybe a few websites that I could use as resources. I really appreciate your reply, though. I will definetely look into different websites and ofcourse Wikipedia (one of my favorites).
I do not have textbooks and I do the majority of the research on my own, because my professor gives us the work, does not explain at all and gives us a due date. I am 16 and a half and in college, so it is a little bit overwhelming. I appreciate any help given, though.

Then it sounds like your professor is kind of unreasonable - but unfortunately, that isn't as uncommon as it should be. It's definitely a daunting task and many of us would be happy to help you, I just want to make sure you understand what we will and will not do. One could easily write a 20 page paper on any one of the topics you listed; whole books have been written about less.

In the sticky thread in this forum titled Welcome to the Biology Forum: Guides & Useful Info (it will be at the very top), I have created a post about doing research for papers, and it includes a list of useful websites. Check it out and see if that will help you get started.

Are you sure the essay is supposed to cover all of those topics? Some of them are very much unrelated and I see no reason for them to be in a paper together. I really don't see why a professor would want them together...seems kind of un-academic to me, honestly. A paper covering all of those topics wouldn't be very focused at all and it would be pretty difficult to come up with any sort of thesis, in my opinion.

I agree although its feasable I am sure.

All the topics are related to the evolution of animal behavior; it's a typical course of topics to be covered in a class on behavioral ecology.

But definitely double and triple check the requirements with your professor. Bug him. Send him emails and visit him at his office if you have to. Better safe than sorry.

tbh it looks like your subtitles can contribute quite a significant bit towards the 80 pages. You've written 20 topics so Im sure you could drag them out for 4 pages each. Maybe start by almost approaching it as 20 different essays and chapter them.

But some of them could go on for longer. Evidence from evolution you could write 80 pages on itself almost!


But wait; this is zoology and you do classical and operant conditioning?! I've never done zoology but I've done psychology and that sounds mad! good luck!

Thanks so much for your input. I took an academic qualification test and skipped my freshmen and sophmore years in high school. I went on to my junior and senior years taking AP dual enrollment classes in English, American History, Evolution and Nature of Science, Nuclear Physics, Oceanography, Trigonometry, (These were all dual enrolled with George Mason University in Virginia) Environmental Chemistry and Macromolecular Studies (including chemistry of the bonds in biological macromolecules, helicity in macromolecules, macromolecular folding, macromolecular interactions, bio-macromolecules and denaturation) which both were dual enrolled with the University of Utah. Then went on to Johns Hopkins University.

Originally Posted by Mrs.Jordan

Thanks so much for your input. I took an academic qualification test and skipped my freshmen and sophmore years in high school. I went on to my junior and senior years taking AP dual enrollment classes in English, American History, Evolution and Nature of Science, Nuclear Physics, Oceanography, Trigonometry, (These were all dual enrolled with George Mason University in Virginia) Environmental Chemistry and Macromolecular Studies (including chemistry of the bonds in biological macromolecules, helicity in macromolecules, macromolecular folding, macromolecular interactions, bio-macromolecules and denaturation) which both were dual enrolled with the University of Utah. Then went on to Johns Hopkins University.

and after all that she came here asking for help from internet randoms like me

Thats quite impressive!

I would keep going if I made it to 80 pages and expand it to get it published as a high school level textbook or a science book aimed toward laymen. Seriously...why not? Go the whole nine yards and make some $$$!!! Just make sure you make it your own.

Originally Posted by gottspieler

I would keep going if I made it to 80 pages and expand it to get it published as a high school level textbook or a science book aimed toward laymen. Seriously...why not? Go the whole nine yards and make some $$$!!! Just make sure you make it your own.

I hope you're sarcastic but if you aren't I will tell you that making a textbook takes YEARS, sometimes decades.

as an aside, i thought that Matt Ridley's "Nature via nurture" should have put the whole fake "nature versus nurture" debate to bed once and for all

Originally Posted by marnixR

.. Matt Ridley's "Nature via nurture" should have put the whole fake "nature versus nurture" debate to bed once and for all

An excellent book that is both easy to read and yet thoroughly scholarly in its approach, with a first rate bibliography.

I graduated from highschool at 16 too! Pay attention to me!

Although highschool ends at grade 11 in Quebec so it's not impressive at all T_T

Originally Posted by mormoopid

Originally Posted by gottspieler

I would keep going if I made it to 80 pages and expand it to get it published as a high school level textbook or a science book aimed toward laymen. Seriously...why not? Go the whole nine yards and make some $$$!!! Just make sure you make it your own.

I hope you're sarcastic but if you aren't I will tell you that making a textbook takes YEARS, sometimes decades.

Hey, I said HIGH SCHOOL textbook..I learned next to nothing from mine..lol..it couldn't have taken them that long to delineate basic anatomy/physiology, briefly describe the Krebs cycle and glycolysis, and basic comparative anatomy...

Originally Posted by gottspieler

Originally Posted by mormoopid

Originally Posted by gottspieler

I would keep going if I made it to 80 pages and expand it to get it published as a high school level textbook or a science book aimed toward laymen. Seriously...why not? Go the whole nine yards and make some $$$!!! Just make sure you make it your own.

I hope you're sarcastic but if you aren't I will tell you that making a textbook takes YEARS, sometimes decades.

Hey, I said HIGH SCHOOL textbook..I learned next to nothing from mine..lol..it couldn't have taken them that long to delineate basic anatomy/physiology, briefly describe the Krebs cycle and glycolysis, and basic comparative anatomy...

Then yours can't have been very good. At the very least for a new textbook to have a significant chance of making money, it would have to be better than Campbell's biology, the existing prominent text for introductory biology.

In any case, Ms.Jordan's topics are centered around animal behavior, so if she were to make a book out of it, it would not be a general biology textbook. And, many books have already been written about all and each of those subjects. She would have to have a new twist of some kind to add.

She would have to have a new twist of some kind to add.

Of course. I told her to "make it her own".

Originally Posted by gottspieler

She would have to have a new twist of some kind to add.

Of course. I told her to "make it her own".

And with an 80-page essay to write in the course of semester during which, I would assume, work for several other classes also has to take place, the extra work that would be required to do so in a way that is most likely to actually net a profit is probably not worth it at this point.

Originally Posted by paralith

Originally Posted by gottspieler

She would have to have a new twist of some kind to add.

Of course. I told her to "make it her own".

And with an 80-page essay to write in the course of semester during which, I would assume, work for several other classes also has to take place, the extra work that would be required to do so in a way that is most likely to actually net a profit is probably not worth it at this point.

Ok. You win. Peace!