Human Biology: Submitting Newsnotes

Submitting Biology Newsnotes

NEWSNOTES are to be handed in on the days indicated. They are a sort of biological current events, the concept of which was developed by Dr. David Fankhauser. You are asked to summarize the one item from your reading, outside of the assigned class material, which you feel is the most significant and interesting. Articles could cover such topics as environmental issues, nutrition, medicine, disease prevention, or other areas of biological interest and can come from such sources as “reliable” newspapers (i. e., not those such as National Enquirer, etc.), magazines, scientific journals, books, etc. The format for submission of your newsnote is as illustrated here. Newsnotes are worth five (5) points each (× 3 = 15 pt. for the quarter). These points will be added to your cumulative score. No late newsnotes will be accepted.

After each due-date for newsnote submission, pick one or more upon which you wish to comment. Comments may also be made in response to other people’s comments. Think through, write, and submit your comment electronically, preferably within one week of when that newsnote due-date. By the end of the quarter, you should have made a total of ten (10) comments in reaction to either newsnotes or other people’s comments. These comments will also be worth five (5) points each (= 50 points for the quarter). As you make your comments, it is OK to politely(!) disagree with each other (no flame wars, please). Regardless of individual viewpoints, comments must be polite and scholarly.

To receive credit for your participation, I need to know who posted which comments. The JavaScript code has been set up to not allow anonymous postings. You are welcome to make a number of comments and may earn up to, but not exceeding 50 pt. towards your quarter total. However, to receive these points, the following conditions must be met:

The comment must be submitted electronically via the Web. To get to the Web page to submit comments, first go to the Newsnote Submission Web Page and from there, scroll down and click on the button for “read all newsnotes from this quarter.” Once you are there, pick the newsnote or comment upon which you wish to comment, and click on “reply to this. . .” The object here is to engage in a discussion with your classmates, not just tell me what you think.
The comment must make some point. Just saying “I agree with John Doe,” or other such “one-liners,” isn’t enough to get you the points.
It’s OK to politely disagree with someone, but the comments must not be judgmental, rude, insulting, derogatory, or defamatory, neither to your classmates nor to any group of people. The files in our Web site can be viewed by anyone, anywhere in the world (which, by the way, also means you should try to use your best grammar, spelling, etc.).
If you want to check on how many comments you have submitted, go to the Newsnote Submission Web Page, scroll down, select this course, and click on the button for “list comments made by students in. . .”

Please don’t send me newsnotes or comments via e-mail. I’d suggest, especially for the first newsnote, if you’re concerned about whether it will submit OK, try submitting it a bit early, so that if there is a problem (I hope not. . .), you can contact me via e-mail to see if we can figure it out.
Also, I could use your help as “newsnote police.” Because faculty and students from a number of our biology classes use the newsnote submission Web page, there is no password, etc. required. Thus, occasionally some, shall I say, “immature” person out there in cyberspace thinks it’s “funny” to submit a non-comment full of inappropriate language. If, as you’re reading through the newsnotes, you happen to spot something that obviously should not be there, please send me an e-mail message to let me know. Thanks!