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Preface | |
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General Aduice about Writing and Reading Biology | |
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Introduction and General Rules | |
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What Lies Ahead? | |
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What Do Biologists Write About, and Why? | |
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The Keys to Success | |
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Avoiding Plagiarism | |
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On Using Computers in Writing | |
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On Using Computers for Data Storage, Analysis, and Presentation | |
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Summary | |
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Using Shortcuts and Autocorrect | |
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Locating Useful Sources | |
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What Lies Ahead? | |
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Easy Ways to Access the Primary Literature | |
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Using indexes | |
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Using Science Citation index | |
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Using Current Contents Connect | |
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Using Medline and Other Databases | |
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Prowling the Internet | |
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Conducting Web Searches: Developing Productive Search Strategies | |
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Final Thoughts about Efficient Searching: Technology Isn�t Everything | |
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Closing Thoughts | |
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Summary | |
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Using Search Engines Effectively | |
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General Advice on Reading and Note Taking | |
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What Lies Ahead? | |
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Why Read and What to Read | |
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Effective Reading | |
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Reading Data: Plumbing the Depths of Figures and Tables | |
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Reading Text: Summarize as You Go | |
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Take Notes in Your Own Words | |
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Final Thoughts on Note Taking: Document Your Sources | |
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Summary | |
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Reading and Writing About Statistical Analyses | |
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What Lies Ahead? | |
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Statistical Essentials | |
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Summary: Using Statistics to Test Hypotheses | |
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Moving Beyond p-Values | |
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Reading about Statistics | |
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Writing about Statistics | |
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Summary | |
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Citing Sources and Listing References | |
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What Lies Ahead? | |
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Citing Sources | |
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Summary of Citation Format Rules | |
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Preparing the Literature Cited Section | |
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A Sample Literature Cited Section | |
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Bibliographic Management Software | |
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Producing Hanging Indents | |
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Revising | |
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What Lies Ahead? | |
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Preparing the Draft for Surgery: Plotting Idea Maps | |
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Revising for Content | |
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Revising for Clarity | |
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Revising for Completeness | |
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Revising for Conciseness | |
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Revising for Flow | |
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Revising for Teleology and Anthropomorphism | |
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Revising for Spelling Errors | |
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Revising for Grammar and Proper Word Usage | |
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Becoming a Good Reviewer | |
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Checklist | |
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Tracking Changes Made To Documents | |
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Guidelines for Specific Tasks | |
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Prelude: Why Are You Writing Papers and Proposals and Giving Talks? | |
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Writing Summaries, Critiques, Essays, and Review Papers | |
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What Lies Ahead? | |
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Writing Summaries and Critiques | |
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Sample Student Summary | |
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Writing Essays and Review Papers | |
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Checklist for Essays and Review Papers | |
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Answering Essay Questions | |
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Basic Principles | |
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Applying the Principles | |
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Summary | |
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Writing Laboratory and Other Research Reports | |
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What Lies Ahead? | |
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Why Are You Doing This? | |
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The Purpose of Laboratory and Field Notebooks | |
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Components of the Research Report | |
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Where to Start | |
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When to Start | |
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Writing the Materials and Methods Section | |
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Writing the Results Section | |
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Citing Sources | |
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What to Do Next? | |
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Writing the Discussion Section | |
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Writing the Introduction Section | |
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Talking about Your Study Organism or Field Site | |
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Deciding on a Title | |
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Writing an Abstract | |
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Preparing an Acknowledgments Section | |
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Preparing the Literature Cited Section | |
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Preparing a Paper for Formal Publication | |
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A Note about Co-Authorship | |
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Checklist for the Final Draft | |
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Using Computer Spreadsheets for Data Collection | |
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Graphing with Excel | |
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Writing Research Proposals | |
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What Lies Ahead? | |
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What Are Reviewers Looking For? | |
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Researching Your Topic | |
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What Makes a Good Research Question? | |
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Writing the Proposal | |
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Tightening the Logic | |
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The Life of a Real Research Proposal | |
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Checklist | |
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Presenting Research Findings: Preparing Talks and Poster Presentations | |
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Oral Presentations | |
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Checklist for Being Judged | |
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Poster Presentations | |
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Checklist for Making Posters | |
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Writing Letters of Application | |
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Before You Start | |
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Preparing the CV | |
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Preparing the Cover Letter | |
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Recruiting Effective Letters of Recommendation | |
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Revised Sample Sentences | |
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Commonly Used Abbreviations | |
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Recommended Resources | |
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Index | |