Life Sciences Commons^™

Weeds In The Flower Garden: An Exploration Of Plagiarism In Graduate Students’ Research Proposals And Its Connection To Enculturation, Esl, And Contextual Factors, Joanna Gilmore, Denise Strickland, Briana Eileen Timmerman, Michelle Maher, David Feldon

Faculty Publications

Existing literature provides insight into the nature and extent of plagiarism amongst undergraduate students (e.g., Ellery, 2008; Parameswaran & Devi, 2006; Selwyn, 2008). Plagiarism amongst graduate students is relatively unstudied, however, and the existing data are largely based on self-reports. This study investigated the rates and potential causes of plagiarism amongst graduate students in master’s and doctoral programmes in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and science or mathematics education by examining actual research proposals written by graduate students. Results indicate that plagiarism is a prevalent issue at each of the three university sites sampled and across all of the investigated disciplines. …

Genomic Organization And Molecular Phylogenies Of The Beta (Β) Keratin Multigene Family In The Chicken (Gallus Gallus) And Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia Guttata): Implications For Feather Evolution, Matthew J. Greenwold, Roger H. Sawyer

Faculty Publications

Background: The epidermal appendages of reptiles and birds are constructed of beta (β) keratins. The molecularphylogeny of these keratins is important to understanding the evolutionary origin of these appendages, especially feathers. Knowing that the crocodilian β-keratin genes are closely related to those of birds, the published genomes ofthe chicken and zebra finch provide an opportunity not only to compare the genomic organization of their β- keratins,but to study their molecular evolution in archosaurians.

Results: The subfamilies (claw, feather, feather-like, and scale) of β-keratin genes are clustered in the same 5' to 3' orderon microchromosome 25 in chicken and zebra finch, …

Development Of A ‘Universal’ Rubric For Assessing Undergraduates’ Scientific Reasoning Skills Using Scientific Writing, Briana Eileen Timmerman, Denise Strickland, Robert L. Johnson, John R. Payne

Faculty Publications

We developed a rubric for measuring students’ ability to reason and write scientifically. The Rubric for Science Writing (Rubric) was tested in a variety of undergraduate biology laboratory courses (total n = 142 laboratory reports) using science graduate students (teaching assistants) as raters. Generalisability analysis indicates that the Rubric provides a reliable measure of students’ abilities (g = 0.85) in these conditions. Comparison of student performance in various biology classes indicated that some scientific skills are more challenging for students to develop than others and identified a number of previously unappreciated gaps in the curriculum. Our findings suggest that use …

Organismal Climatology: Analyzing Environmental Variability At Scales Relevant To Physiological Stress, Brian Helmuth, Bernardo R. Broitman, Lauren Yamane, Sarah E. Gilman, Katharine Mach, K. A.S. Mislan, Mark W. Denny

Faculty Publications

Predicting when, where and with what magnitude climate change is likely to affect the fitness, abundance and distribution of organisms and the functioning of ecosystems has emerged as a high priority for scientists and resource managers. However, even in cases where we have detailed knowledge of current species’ range boundaries, we often do not understand what, if any, aspects of weather and climate act to set these limits. This shortcoming significantly curtails our capacity to predict potential future range shifts in response to climate change, especially since the factors that set range boundaries under those novel conditions may be different …