Project instructions:
You have a choice of doing a paper on a primates or a hominin topic. Some possible topics would include a detailed study of
an aspect of a primate or hominin research (for instance, ?language studies in non-human primates? or ?the status of
Australopithecus afarensis as a direct human ancestor?), or a cross species look at a single trait (?Tool use in various
Chimpanzee communities?, or ?Bipedalism in early Hominins?). The purpose of this assignment is for you to explore a topic
in more detail than we can cover in class. If your paper simply reiterates points made in lecture or in your text, you have
NOT fulfilled the assignment and your paper will be graded accordingly. If you have questions as to the suitability of your
topic, please ask.
*note: this is a research paper, not an essay. I?m not asking for how you feel about your topic, I?m asking you to tell me what
the evidence says about it. If uncertain of the differences between these two forms, or if you have any other questions, please
ask.
Format:
? Between 2,000 and 2,200 words of text (not counting the ?works cited? page, illustrations, charts, the cover page,
etc.,). A little more or less isn?t an issue, but papers with fewer than 1,800 words or more than 2,400 words will lose

points.
? Double spaced, indent the first line of each paragraph.
? 1 inch margins (note: MS Word uses 1.25 inch margins as the default. You?ll need to change this setting.)
? Size 10 or 12 ?serif? font; preferably Courier, Times or Palatino.
? 1 inch margins, pages are to be numbered (please use the ?header/footer? for this- otherwise it messes up the
formatting for the rest of the document).
? The paper is to be submitted to the Dropbox on D2l by the deadline, and it MUST be submitted in a Word (.doc
or .docx) file format or as a PDF. Other file formats will not be graded. Make sure that you leave enough time to
verify that the originality report was generated, and that any problem area flagged are checked and fixed if
necessary. If an originality report is not generated, the assignment will not be graded.
? If you want detailed feedback (the “red pen” treatment), request the red pen feedback in the comments area when
you submit the paper to D2L. If you don’t request the red pen, you’ll get more general feedback.
Citations and sources: MLA, APA, or AAA documentation style. If you do not use a source in the body of the text, do NOT
include it in the ?Works Cited?. Information which falls into the category of general knowledge is not cited, nor does it

belong on the works cited page. You should have at least 5-7 sources of information, at least 3 of those should have been
published within the last 2 years. Articles used for annotated bibliographies may be used as sources for the term paper. Your
textbook may not be used as a source; it is ?common knowledge? for the purposes of this class. You may not quote from your
textbook. No more than 2 of the sources may be websites (please choose web resources carefully). Note that online access to
print media does not count as a ?website?. In other words, if you gain access to an article published in the journal ?Nature?
through online search engines, that article counts as a print source. Print or online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia are
not academically acceptable sources for this paper.
I highly recommend that you obtain a term paper style manual or handbook. Several are available, check with the
college bookstore, library or Writing Center.
Cheating and/or plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in 0 points for the paper, and possibly a failing grade in the
class. All cases of plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of Behavioral and Social Studies and to the Academic Discipline
Officer. Plagiarism includes but is not limited to ?re-writing? a paper written by another student and/or cutting and pasting of
material from websites or other sources. All ideas and concepts which are not your own MUST be attributed to the original
author. Even a single copied sentence without proper attribution is plagiarism and will be handled accordingly.
All papers must have both ?in text? citations AND the ?Works Cited? page. Papers lacking either or both will not be
graded. Such papers will be returned for revision and will be penalized 50% of the possible points. If your paper is
returned for revision, it MUST be resubmitted within one week or before finals week begins, whichever is first. Please
make sure that your paper meets the requirements before you submit it. Remember that your paper must be
submitted to the Dropbox on D2L for a Turnitin originality report.
Late papers are penalized 50% of the possible points if submitted within one week of the due date. Please get them in
on time.