A cover/title page, including your name, the year of the prize, the winner(s) – note it could be multiple persons – and the topic of the award. ·An introduction, informing the reader about the year, the award, and the winnersï‚·A section devoted to the historical background regarding the topic. 3 sources, 4 pages for Astronomy 101.
Astronomy 112 –
Don't use plagiarized sources. Get Your Custom Essay on
Nobel Prize Research Paper Assignment | Custom Essay Services
Get an essay WRITTEN FOR YOU, Plagiarism free, and by an EXPERT!
Dr. Sirola’s Nobel Prize research paper guide
Thanks to the difficult circumstances we find ourselves in – in-person classes no longer meeting – we are not able to complete the class project as originally constituted. However, university requirements for “core” (General Education Curriculum) courses such as ours require writing components. The sense of the class is that a relatively short research paper can fit in here.
Instead of the game project, students are now to write a 2500 word research paper (roughly 5 pages) regarding a Nobel Prize won for a discovery in astronomy. Here are the proposed guidelines:
- This paper will completely take the place of the original game project. My apologies if you’ve already put some work into your game, but in order to keep this fair, and to make life easier (it’s already difficult enough), we need to restrict ourselves to one type of project
- The paper should have a 2500 word count as its length goal. This is not meant to be super-strict; 2499 words won’t cost you points. It can also go over 2500 words, too. But it should be reasonably close – 1000 words would be well underneath the acceptable length
- All papers (like all our assignments) will be turned in electronically. I am able to read Microsoft word documents; pdf format is also acceptable. If you aren’t sure about this, send me a sample and I will tell you
- Write this at a level that a fellow astronomy student could follow. Proper English – spelling, grammar etc. – is expected
- Students are allowed to collaborate – up to 3 students per paper. This is not a requirement. Let me know via email (a) who you are working with, if anyone, and (b) the specific year & topic of the prize you are planning to write about. Let’s get this in by Friday, April 17th. If you miss this deadline, I still want to know this, so get this information to me as soon thereafter as possible
- The paper itself will be due Friday, May 1. I only need one copy, even if you are working in a group. If you are working in a group, make sure everybody’s name is on the paper
- All students working in a group will share the same grade for the paper
… And here is how to structure the paper:
- A cover/title page, including your name(s), the year of the prize, the winner(s) – note it could be multiple persons – and the topic of the award
- An introduction, informing the reader about the year, the award, and the winners
- A section devoted to the historical background regarding the topic. For example, suppose you are discussing Hans Bethe’s award for the proton-proton chain of hydrogen fusion that powers the Sun. Then your background would talk about how astronomers spent decades searching for a source of energy that would sustain a star and how they settled on nuclear energy, even before Bethe’s work came out
- A section on the biography of the winner(s). For example, you might discuss what two Bell Laboratory technicians, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, were actually doing when they found the “hiss” that was ultimately shown to be leftover heat from the earliest days of the universe. And, of course, the usual biographical background – where they were born, grew up, went to school etc.
- A section on the discovery that led to the Nobel Prize and its importance to astronomy. For example, you might discuss how Didier Queloz and Michel Mayor’s discovery of an exoplanet (a planet orbiting a star besides the Sun) led to a revolution in how astronomers understand the processes of star and planet formation
- A summary
- A works-cited page. There must be at least 3 independent sources (of course there can be more) of information. I am not concerned with the exact format of the citation (MLA is fine), but the citation needs to include all the information I need in order to find the source myself. Wikipedia is a good starting point for your research, but is not allowable as a source itself. You can count up to 1 citation from the Nobel Prize web site (yes, there is one) itself. If your citation refers to a source on the Internet, you need to (a) copy and paste the exact web address as part of the citation and (b) note the date you found it (example: “Retrieved March 30th, 2020”, placed at the end of the citation)
- Include at least one figure in your paper. This could be an image, a graph, a link to a simulation etc. – anything to give me a visual and/or context for the topic
… And here is the grading scheme:
- 5 points: contacting me with your topic & partners (and getting approval) by the 17th of April
- 5 points: cover page
- 10 points: introduction
- 15 points: historical background
- 15 points: biographical information
- 15 points: description of the discovery and its importance
- 10 points: summary
- 10 points: works cited
- 5 points: figure(s)
- 5 points: word count
- 5 points: proper use of Standard English
I freely confess that, even with these guides, the grading is somewhat arbitrary. If you have questions as to how I might want something presented, or whether an item is important to include etc. then just ask. Having said that, I don’t want to be swamped with 40 rough drafts; please keep your inquires short and to the point.
If you’re looking for help, don’t forget the university has a Student Writing Center. Its physical location is in Cook Library, but I expect that to be closed. However, they should be offering assistance remotely. It’s not their job to write your paper, but to give you help where needed. You will likely need to make an appointment.