Astro 203, Fall 2003 Olszewski and Rigby Termpaper Outline Information Termpaper Information I) Due dates: Outline is due Oct 21 at the beginning of class. Termpaper is due on or before Nov 25. II) Topics: We have (or will have very shortly) an online registration program. So we've chosen topics. Pick one. Maximum of three people per topic (the computer will enforce that). You need to sign up with your name! If you screw up, please send Jane (jrigby@as.arizona.edu) and email to allow her to remove the mistake. III) The Termpaper itself: a) Details: minimum of four typed pages, SINGLE SPACED, 10 or 11 point type, maximum of half inch margins. References are placed on a 5th page, title placed on a zeroth page. Figures placed on extra pages. NO QUOTATIONS ARE ALLOWED (and no plagiarism is allowed). All work must be in your own words. You are expected to read, synthesize, and then write in your own words. So imagine that you're on the phone to your mother or father. You're really excited about what you've learned, so you try to explain it. You would never say "wait, i can't tell you in my own words, let me find the page and quote it to you." The words you are to use, however, are those befitting a 200-level science class at a major university. YOU ARE TO WORK ALONE. HANDING IN THE PAPER CERTIFIES THAT YOU WORKED ALONE. b) What's in the termpaper: This is not an exhaustive list, but it gives you an idea of the type of work we expect. ASK US IF YOU'RE UNCERTAIN. All of these ideas won't necessarily apply to all topics. How does this object (or this sort of object) fit into stellar evolution? what sort of main sequence star was it, or will it be Why do astronomers care about this particular type of object? Are there special uses for these sorts of objects? Do these objects contribute something special, like provide all the gold in the universe? What wavelength ranges are best for studying these objects, and why? How long have we known about these objects? Is there special Physics we need to know to study these objects? What happens to these objects next in their evolution? Does the future of life on Earth depend on these objects (this clearly applies to only a small subset of topics) c) What else? 1) You need to ensure that you DO NOT repeat what's in the book, so you need to read the book. 2) You need to pick some aspect of the object you've chosen, and be specific. We don't want a general ``everything there is to know'' paper. We want you to read a reference, and find something that you get excited about, and then learn more from other references. But again, we want something that goes beyond the sort of discussion in the textbook. 3) We expect that you'll start by finding an article in a periodical like ``Sky and Telescope'' or ``Astronomy'' or ``Scientific American'' (see below). THEN, we expect that you'll delve deeper into some aspect of the material. This will likely help you with the ideas above, too. 4) This is NOT a historical paper. You are to discuss modern astrophysical ideas. IV) The outline: a) The reason we have an outline is that we want you to start off on the right track. That said, NO TERMPAPER WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT A PREVIOUSLY APPROVED OUTLINE. "Approved," means that you handed it in on time, and that we made suggestions that you then follow. We may disapprove your outline, and you'll have to get it approved before continuing. YOUR OUTLINE CANNOT BE LATE. b) Termpaper outline consists of a TYPED sketch of what you've learned PLUS the references you've found to date. Expected size: 1 page, but in outline/sketch form. c) The most important part is your initial references. Lots of people get themselves into trouble because they end up finding only professional references which are intended for grad school astronomers and beyond. That's not you! "Astronomy 100" texts and encyclopedias are forbidden as references. You may use them to get started, to help you think of ideas to search for references. The WWW is ok, but it's really best if your first references for the outline are real published references. So, none of your references for the outline can be from the WWW. Use the WWW judiciously. We suggest the following to get you started (you may have to learn how to search these references... librarians can teach you): SKY AND TELESCOPE ASTRONOMY MAGAZINE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SCIENCE NEWS AMERICAN SCIENTIST STARDATE GRIFFITH OBSERVER There are many great popular-level books. Check out the astronomy section in the general books part of the bookstore, then see if we have them in the UA library. The librarian at the Science Library who can help you is Maliaca Oxnam. She'll be providing us with links to useful ways to use a research library, and we'll be announcing some opportunities to meet with her for general and specific work. Watch the website! See us IN ADVANCE if you're having trouble finding references. V) References Your paper will consist of a set of fairly big ideas with supporting information. What your listed references are for is the big ideas, NOT the details. So, for instance, if you say "Jupiter's formation is actually remarkably like that of the Sun," that's a fairly big idea and likely came from one of your readings. So you'd say, in the text, "Smith 1994, page 23", and then give the full reference to the book/article in the back of the text. If you say, later in the paper "Jupiter has 80 cataloged moons," that's a simple fact not worthy of a reference (at least in the context of this paper). If it isn't, you need to tell me why having 80 moons is fundamental to an understanding of how Jupiter or the Solar System was assembled. You need to have at least 3 references for the termpaper. For the outline you must have at least one credible reference. As we said above, NONE OF THE REFERENCES FOR THE OUTLINE CAN BE WWW SITES. At most one reference for the termpaper can be from the WWW.