APMA98 Experimental Agriculture Title of assessment: Scientific paper Weighting of assessment: 70% of module mark Overview and learning outcomes assessed The assignment will help you to develop higher level skills such as logical reasoning, critical thinking, ability to extract knowledge from primary research literature, ability to express complex ideas and arguments in writing, in a well-structured manner, according to standard practice in research. All this will be done in the specific context of experimental agriculture. The assignment addresses the following learning outcome "Know how to write a scientific paper to report on the findings of experiments". In order to write the paper, you will need to first design the experiments, which requires understanding of the principles of experimental design, and then you will need to carry out these experiments and analyse the results statistically. Therefore, the assignment addresses the two other learning outcomes "Understand the principles of experimental design for crops and livestock” and “Carry out laboratory and glasshouse experiments and analyse the results statistically". The assignment consists of three stages: (1) formative laboratory notebook, (2) formative draft "Title, Introduction and Materials and Methods", and (3) summative scientific paper. Requirements (1) Formative lab notebook (paper or electronic version using photographs or scans). Hand in in class during the second week of the term. (No late submissions!). For the experiments carried out in class, students will keep a laboratory notebook (journal of what the student did, the materials used and measurements taken). Students will use the information in this notebook and any handouts to write a draft materials and methods section as required for a scientific paper. There is no minimum or maximum word limit for the lab notebook, but a hard-backed lined notebook is preferable and it can be a largely hand-written record. (2) Formative draft that includes Title, Summary (maximum 300 words), Introduction (maximum 400 words) and Materials and Methods (maximum 600 words) for scientific paper. This must be laid out exactly as though it were being submitted for publication in the journal Experimental Agriculture. Full instructions and a template are provided via Blackboard-- >Assessment (3) Summative scientific paper. Write a scientific paper reporting the results of experiments. You will revise the formative draft introduction and materials and methods sections so that they will form part of this summative scientific paper assignment. Experiment 1: Effect of short heat treatments on germination of wheat seed (germination test) Experiment 2: Effect of short heat reatments on the time-course of wheat seed germination (germination time-series) Word limit for the whole paper is 2500 words, excluding references and appendix. The paper must be laid out exactly as required for publication in the journal Experimental Agriculture, a template with detailed instructions is provided. Summary should have maximum 300 words. You may include an appendix with raw data, Jupyter notebooks or other details of statistical analyses. Assessment criteria Scientific paper will be assessed according to the University Marking Criteria Framework at Level 7 as set out in the University's Assessment Handbook, Section 10 Annex 2. The following criteria will be particularly relevant to this assignment: --The paper should have a sound logical structure, and written in a clear and effective manner --Knowledge and understanding of the subject --Accuracy and sufficient level of detail. Materials and Methods section should have sufficient information for the reader to be able to reproduce the experiment (see checklist below). --Critical awareness of current research, issues/new research & developments in the field of study/professional practice (demonstrated in Introduction and Discussion sections of the paper) --Ability to systematically address and communicate complex issues clearly and articulately, as appropriate to the intended audience (intended audience here is the readership of the journal Experimental Agriculture) --The paper must be laid out exactly as required for publication in the journal Experimental Agriculture, you will lose marks if it is not Submission details: Your assignment must be submitted electronically to Turnitin via Blackboard by 12:00 noon Penalties for late submission The Module Convener will apply the following penalties for work submitted late, in accordance with the University policy. • where the piece of work is submitted up to one calendar week after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for the piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of five working days; where the piece of work is submitted more than five working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded. The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/qualitysupport/penaltiesforlatesubmission.p df You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work. Plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another's work as one's own. This applies to whatever the source of the material (for example, a published source, the web, or the work of another student), whether the material is copied word for word or paraphrased, and whatever the extent of the material used (including ideas, arguments, words, diagrams, images or data). Plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct and will be penalised accordingly. By submitting your work online you are making the following declaration: By submitting my work online, I certify that it is my own work, or the unaided and original work of a project group, and use of material from other sources has been properly and fully acknowledged in the text. I have read the definition of plagiarism given above and the advice on good academic practice contained in the Programme Handbook. I understand that the consequence of committing plagiarism, if proven and in the absence of mitigating circumstances may include failure in the Year or Part of my programme or removal from membership of the University. I also certify that neither this piece of work, nor any part of it, has been submitted in connection with another assessment. Green stickers If you are entitled to special assessment arrangements because of a disability or specific learning difficulty (such as dyslexia or dyspraxia) you will be entitled to include a “green sticker" with your written work, to alert markers to this situation. For any assessment work which you need to physically hand in on paper, you can obtain a supply of green stickers from the Disability Rep in your ool. For work submitted online, through Blackboard or Turnitin, you will be provided with an electronic version of the green sticker. Instructions on how to insert your "green sticker" can be found at: https://www.bb.reading.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/institution/Services/CQSD/TEL/Guides/Student/ help_pages/How%20to%20insert%20green%20sticker.pdf/n
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