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Assignment: submit a 10-page paper which will be "chunked" to populate your web site. Also include an outline of your paper.
Paper requirements:
 Please write a term paper on the topic you have chosen for your web site. The paper should be based primarily on a literature review. The literature can be any combination of paper sources: books; articles in journals or magazines; trade newsletters; extension publications; etc. It may also incorporate conversations you have had with experts in the field ("personal communications") as well as your own empirical knowledge. Your citation list may not include web sites (that material is already on the web).
Choose a topic that you can be passionate about, that really interests you. The sky's the limit... almost. It might be giant pumpkins, leaf surface ecology, diseases of zinnias, some aspect of climate change or genetic engineering. You may develop an informational site on the history, culture or economics of a particular crop or horticultural feature.
Choose something relatively specific, and something that may not have much presence yet on the net. For instance, Tomatoes would be too broad, but Heirloom Tomatoes or Tomato Hydroponics would be good. Turfgrass Ecology would be too broad, but Common Weeds of Turfgrasses (with a focus on Tennessee) would be good. Here are a few more examples, to give you a feel for specificity:
- Ancient Ornamentals
- Aquatic Ornamentals
- Ornamental Legumes
- Brassica Biofumigants
- Culinary Herb Gardens in East Tennessee (or the site title might be Tennessee Herbs, with a longer phrase in the header modifying the title)
- Switchgrass Varieties
- Favorite Tennessee Wildflowers
- Vegetable Hydroponics: Organic vs. Conventional
- Rooftop Gardening
- Soybean Diseases - Tennessee
- Terpenoids and Global Warming
- Insect Pests of Roses
Graduate students: select something other than the literature review for your thesis (although it may be related). We will discuss the possibilties in class.
All students: do not select a topic for which you have previously written a term paper.
Use a techical writing style. You may choose your audience: scientists, homeowners, or professionals (landscape designers, turfgrass managers, farmers).
Examples of writing style:
 Garden magazines. E.g. Organic Gardening: Cures for Common Compost; Horticulture: Wonderful Wood Ferns
Extension publication: Bulbs and More Annual and Perennial Flower Shade Gardening in Tennessee
Science section of a newspaper
Science article. E.g. Discovery magazine: Talking Plants Bite of the Hobo Spider
Newsweek: Troubled Waters; CNN Plant a Tree, Drive a Big SUV?
Scientific review article
Textbook
Requirements: 10 pages of text, double-spaced; 12-point Times Roman font; 1-inch margins. Please paginate. You may use photos or illustrations -- in fact, your web project requires these -- but do not count these toward the 10 page limit. In addition to the paper, please attach an outline of the paper.
Provide a citation list (references) for the paper, which is not included in the 10-page requirement (use citation format below). Remember, no web references for the paper.
Citation format: choose an acceptable professional format for citing articles, books, etc. Examples:
Journal article: Augé RM, Toler HD, Moore JL, Cho K, Saxton AM. 2007. Comparing contributions of soil versus root colonization to variations in stomatal behavior and soil drying in mycorrhizal Sorghum bicolor and Cucurbita pepo. Journal of Plant Physiology 164: 1289-1299.
Book: Poincelot RP. 2004. Sustainable Horticulture. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, pp. 546-549.
Magazine article: Wells, E., S.L. Hamilton and J. Newburn. October 2000. Summer’s Best. Greenhouse Grower. Pg. 89-98.
Newsletter: Hamilton, S.L., Fall 2000. The Autumn Garden. Garden Talk, F.O.G. Newsletter, Vol. 6, no.4.
Personal communication: no cittaion needed in list; just cite in text as (personal comunication: Name, Affiliation), for example (Anita Jones, superintendent of Wildfire Public Golfcourse, Knoxville, TN) or (personal comunication: Dr. John Sorochan, professor, University of Tennessee)
Provide a list of references. Reference format: use this style http://crop.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/47/2/782#BIBL.
Submit paper and outline as a WordPerfect or Word document to the course Blackboard web site by due date, also place paper hardcopy in instructor's mailbox in PSB 252 by due date.
 Required components
Proposal
Paper
Bi-weekly progress reports
Peer assessment
Oral presentation
Schedule
Evaluation
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