TERM-PAPER TOPICS

Introduction to Paleontology (Geol 415)

UND Fall Semester

TERM PAPER (20%)

Each student be sure to review the comments made on the class handout and on the Web (www.und.edu/instruct/jhartman) about useful components to term paper. Of course, not all of these are appropriate to all papers. Other guidelines can be found on the Web. Feel free to ask me for assistance on any aspect of the process (paper or talk). The clock is ticking.

Requirements

The text will be doubled spaced, with one inch margins on all sides.

The paper will have an abstract (200 words).

The paper should have the following categories, but you may retitle them, and have additional topic headers as necessary.

I. Introduction
II. Basic knowledge
III. Discussion
IV. Conclusion
V. References Cited

The suggested length of the paper is 5 pages, excluding references and illustrations.

All references must be author cited (no anonymous Web citations).

Style Information

Follow GSA guidelines for the appearance of titles, authorship, headers, subheaders, figure cations, table headers, and reference citations. Your papers must have one inch margins. The page number should be at 0.4 inch (or at least below 1 inch). Your font type should be 11 point Times Roman or Arial. Place your illustrations (figures and tables) at the end of your document (do not embed them in the text).

Topical Thoughts

Depending on the subject and/or interest of the student, the paper should consider including topics such as:

1) Morphology (distinguishing characteristics),

2) Paleoecology (utility in paleoenvironmental reconstruction),

3) Evolutionary trends (change in morphology of selected taxa through time, pattern of evolution),

4) Biostratigraphy (utility for interpreting geologic time), and/or

5) Paleobiogeography (geographic distribution through slices of geologic time and its historical significance; e.g., migration, local extinction, etc.).

Selected Topics (as of . . .)

Selected Topics by Students in 2007

Buckingham, Lucas - Topic: Conodonts

Crowell, Anna - Topic: Family Sphaeriidae

Munson, Nate - Topic: Mystery animals

Tuoriniemi, Derek - Topic: Mammoths

Turner, Chad - Topic: Smilodon

Selected Topics by Students in 2005

Bremer, Jodan - Topic: A generalization and comparison of Class Placodermi: Armor analysis and movement

Elioff, Derek - Topic: Pterosaurs: Analysis and mechanics of flight

Fenestra, Tanya - Topic: Influence of volcanoes on modern and prehistoric human culture

Laeveau, Christopher - Topic: Overview of Subphylum Trilobitomorpha

Milford, Milly - Topic: Reconstructing history of the Gunn and Penitentiary Members within the Stony Mountain Formation in southern Manitoba, Canada