This assignment will allow you to explore an area of evolutionary biology that is particularly interesting to you and to present the results of this exploration in the form of a clearly reasoned review paper. By reading the primary literature and synthesizing it in the form of a review paper, you will gain experience in library research, critical evaluation, and writing .
Evolution is a broad field with extensive primary literature.
During the lecture portion of this course, it will not be possible to cover most topics in depth. The term paper will give you an opportunity to read and evaluate the primary literature in a field that has attracted your attention. Library research for the paper is a vital part of the assignment. We may suggest a few references, but for the most part you will be on your own for literature research. If you have not used the library for literature reviews in biology before, please be sure to visit the UConn Library web site and experiment with the computer-based literature databases .