BIOLOGYHONORSTHESISGUIDELINES
Thefacultyofthedepartmentwillvotewhetherornottoacceptthethesessubmittedbyhonors
candidates.Afternecessarycorrectionsaremadeonacceptedtheses,fourfinalcopiesshouldbe
submittedtothedepartmentasoutlinedbelow.Thosethesesnotacceptedforthedegreewith
departmentalhonorsarereturnedtothecandidate.Acceptedhonorstheseswillbeboundbythe
departmentanddepositedintheTrinityCollegeLibrary,bywhichacttheyaredeemedtobe
published,andmaybereadandcitedbyanyoneintheworld.
Itisnecessarythathonorsthesesmeetanadequatelevelofarchivalqualityanddepartmental
conformityforacceptancebytheCollegeLibrarian.Pleasenotethatthisconditionappliesto
onlytwocopies(oneforthemainlibraryandthesecondfortheLSClibrary)andnottoany
additionalcopiesthatyoumaywishtomake.Thearchivalanddepartmentalrequirementsareas
follows:
1 Thewhitepaperstockmustbeatleast20-poundweightandatleast25%ragcontentbond.
ThispaperisavailableintheLSCOfficefromMs.St.Amand.Eachcopyshouldbemadeona
highqualityprinter.Talkwithyouradvisoraboutthesisprinting;manystudentshaveused
CentralServices.
2. UseeitherCambriaorTimesNewRomanfontswitha12-pointsize,with1.5-2.0linespacing.
Leftmarginsshouldbe1.25inches;theothers1.0inches.Justificationoftextisoptional.
3. Thetitlepageandcommitteepagemustconformtothetemplatesappendedattheendofthis
document.
4. Thesesshouldbewrittenintypicalscientificstyle:Titlepage,Committeepage,Abstractpage,
Introduction,Materials&Methods,Results,Discussion,withorwithoutaseparatesection
titledConclusion.LiteratureCitedshouldimmediatelyfollowthetextofthethesis.Your
researchadvisorhaspreviousyear’sthesesandshouldbeconsultedifquestionsofformatting
arise.
5. TablesandFigures,undernormalcircumstances,shouldbeintercalatedwithinthetext,butin
certaininstancescanbeappendedafterLiteratureCited.Thesearetobegivenindependent
Arabicnumbers,andorderedastheyarementionedinthetext.Eachtableorfiguremustbe
providedwithaconcisebutexplanatorycaptionorlegendandmustbereferredtointhetext
ofyourthesis.Graphlegendsshouldincludeashortstatementaboutstatisticsseeninthe
graph(e.g.,“N=8,”or“Errorbarsindicate95%confidenceintervals”).
6. Figures(photographs,drawings,graphs)musthaveacaptionwhichcanbeonthesamepageor
ifnecessaryplacedonthefacingpage.Originalsarenotusuallynecessaryasfigures,butuse
yourbestproductsforthelibrarytheses.
7. Aftercorrectionsaremadeasconditionsforacceptance,fourcopiesoftheseswillbeboundby
thedepartmentinblackplastic“Quik-Bind”bindersatacommercialcopierestablishment.
BringthesecopiestoMs.ErinMostoller,LSC124.Additionalcopiescanbeboundatthe
expenseofthestudent.Thedepartmentwillplacewhitelabelsonyourthesiscoversbefore
depositingthemintheLSCandRaetherlibraries.
HonorsinBiology-p.2
Weencouragecandidatestoformattheirthesisfollowingajournalintheirfield.Whatever
you do, follow the direction of research advisor for writing and formatting guidelines.
Pleaseconsiderthesehelpfulstyle/editorialtipsasyouwrite(butconsultwithyouradvisor
asstylesvaryamongdisciplines):
a. Usethefirstpersonsingular(“I”)–notthefirstpersonplural(“we”),exceptforthose
experimentsorresultsthatweretrulyobtainedincollaborationwithsomeoneelse.Youmay
switchtopassivevoice(e.g.,“xxxwasmeasured...”asopposedto“Imeasured...”)onlyif
authorshiphasbeenclearlyestablishedinanearliersentence,usuallyinthesameparagraphby
theuseof“I”.
b. Spelloutnumbersonethroughnineexceptinchemicalnames,orwhenusedwithunitsof
measureortime(6mm,3days,butfivesamples).Neverstartasentencewithanumeral;ifyou
mustopenwithanumber,spellitout.
b1. Ingivingranges,use“from10.1to31.0mm,”but“therangeis10.1–31.0mm.”
c.
Whenabbreviatingaunitofmeasurement,donotincludetheperiod(e.g.,m,cm,mm,hr,da,ha,
min,sec,mL,L,km,etc.).Keeponespacebetweenanumeralanditsunitofmeasurement(e.g.,
300ft-c,not300ft-c;25mL,not25mL).Spacesshouldalsobeleftbetweenstatistical
equations:n=12,p=0.002,notn=12,p=0.002.
d. Ifyoureportstatisticsinyourthesis,reportexactprobabilities(e.g.,p=0.057,notp>0.05)
Reporttheresultsofstatisticaltestsorcentraltendencyasinthefollowingexamples: (t=2.47,1df,p=0.013)
(χ2=2.21,10df,p=0.029)
(x=7.8,SE=3.21,n=46)
“P”caneitherbeupperorlowercase,butbeconsistent.Avoidtheredundantuseoftheword
“significant(ly).”Write,forexample,“themeansdiffered(t=2.47,1df,p=0.013),”without
usingsignificantly.
e. Givethemeaningofanabbreviationthefirsttimeitappearsinthetext[exceptions:journal
titles,unitsofmeasurement].
f.
Scientificnamesshouldappearinitalicsandnotbeunderlined.(Familiesandonupinthe
taxonomichierarchyarenotitalicizedorunderlined.)GivetheLatinbinomial(genusand
species)andcommonnamethefirsttimeanorganismismentioned.Manybiologistsuseonly
thecommonnameafterthescientificnameisgivenonce.Somestudentswillusethebinomials
throughout,ascommonnamesdonotexist.Manybiologistsonlywriteoutthegenusthefirst
timeitisusedinthetext(Sciuruscarolinensis),andthereafterabbreviatethegenus(S.
carolinensis).Notehowever,thattheserulesvarydependingonthediscipline(especiallyin
Botany;seeexamplesbelow),soconsultwithyourresearchadvisor.
f1. Botanistsoftengivethefullbinomialthefirsttimeitismentionedineachparagraph,and
thenabbreviatethegenusthereafterintheparagraph.Botanistsalsolistauthoritiesofeach
plantspeciesafterfirstusageofLatinbinomial,andomitthereafter(e.g.,Gigartina
acicularis(Wulfen)J.V.Lamour.).
f2. Donotput“the”beforeagenericorspecificname.Anorganismis“theblotchedkingsnake,”
butitisnot“theLampropeltisgetulus”or“theLampropeltis”sojustleaveoutthe“the”in
suchusage.
g. Donotusepostalcodeforstatesinyourthesis(e.g.,ratherthanCTuseeitherConn.or
Connecticut.
h. Ifaphraseorsentenceisdirectlycopiedfromanothersource,usequotationmarksand
HonorsinBiology-p.3
immediatelyfollowwithaproperliteraturecitation.
i.
Inmanyjournals,commonlyusedLatinphrasessuchasetal.,e.g.,andi.e.,arenotitalicized,
whereasotherlesscommonlyusedphrasesare(e.g.,adlibitum).Notethatsomeadvisorsmay
wantyoutoitalicizeallLatinphrases,socheckwithyouradvisoraboutitalicizing.
j.
TheCouncilofScienceEditors(CSE)styleisastandardcitationstyleusedbymostlifesciences
journals.TherearethreeCSEstylesystems:Name-Year,Citation-Sequence,orCitation-Name.
WeaskthatyouusetheName-Yearsystem,unlessyourthesisadvisorwantsanothersystem.
YoushouldlookforaCSEcitationstyleguide;thereareplentyoutthere,butweofferafew
examplesbelow.IntheName-Yearsystem,in-textcitationsconsistoftheauthor(s)lastname
andtheyearofpublication(e.g.,Smith2012).IntheLiteratureCitedsection,allcitedsources
arelistedinalphabeticalorderbyauthorlastname.
a. Forin-textcitations,theauthor’slastnameandyearofpublicationareenclosedin
parentheses:“...laterwork(Smith2012)foundthat...”ortheauthor’snameisusedin
thesentenceandtheyearisinparentheses:“...Smith(2012)laterrejectedthe
findings...”
b. Ifthedocumenthastwoauthors,includebothsurnamesseparatedby“and”beforethe
publicationyear:“arecentstudy(JonesandSmith2014)foundthat...”Ifthedocument
hasmorethantwoauthors,includeonlythefirstauthorname,followedby“etal.”:
“...butlaterstudies(Nilonetal.2014)establishedthat...”(Notethat”etal.”isan
abbreviationfortheLatin,“etalia,”wherealiaisabbreviatedbutetisnot,sobesureto
havethecorrectpunctuationfor“etal.”)
c.
Ifyouarecitingseveralauthorsatonce,listtheminchronologicalorder,or
alphabeticallyiftwoworkswerepublishedinthesameyear,andseparateeachwitha
semicolon:(O’DonnellandDeNicola2006;Dunlap2010;Smedley2010;Foster2014)
d. Whenthesameauthororauthorshavemultiplepublicationsinthesameyear,usea
lowercasemodifiertodistinguishthembaseduponthealphabeticalorderofthe
journalsinwhichthepapersappeared:(Blackburn2004a;Blackburn,2004b).
e. Ifapublicationyoucitewaswrittenbyacommitteeoragencywithunknownauthors,
asisoftenthecasewithtechnicalandgovernmentalreports,citetheorganizationname.
k. Allreferencesreferredtointhetextmustbecitedattheendofthepaperinalphabeticalorder
underLiteratureCited.Noreferencesshouldappearinthissectionunlesstheyhavebeen
citedinthetext.Youmayusetheliteratureformatappendedbeloworproscribedinatop
journalinyourfieldofinvestigation,provideditdoesnotuseanabbreviatedformatwithout
articletitles—weexpecteachcitationtohaveatitleintheLiteratureCitedofyourthesis.
Pleasenotethatauthorfirst(given)namesshouldalwaysbeabbreviated.Alsonoticethat
unlessawordinthetitleofajournalarticleisaproperword,onlythefirstwordinthetitleis
capitalized.Whateverformatyouchoose,youmustbeconsistentwithallofthecited
papersandbooks.Herearetwoexamplestoconsider:
a. Journalarticle=Author(s).Year.Articletitle.Journalname.Volume(Issue):Pages.
Example:DunlapKD,JashariD,PappasKM.2011.Glucocorticoidreceptorblockade
inhibitsbraincelladditionandaggressivesignalinginelectricfish,Apteronotus
leptorhynchus.HormonesandBehavior.60:275-83.
b. Book=Author(s).Year.Booktitle.Edition.PlaceofPublication:Publisher.Example:
TaylorWR.1960.MarineAlgaeoftheEasternTropicalandSubtropicalCoastsofthe
Americas.AnnArbor(MI):Univ.MichiganPress.
HonorsinBiology-p.4
Ifyouneedtociteinternetsources,pleasefollowthebelowexamples:
Northernsnakeheadfishinfosheet[Internet].2005.MarylandDepartmentofNaturalResources,
FisheriesService<www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/snakeheadinfosheet.html>,accessed13Oct.
2005.
Schneider,C.W.2005.ThebenthicmarinealgalfloraofBermuda.
<www.trincoll.edu/~cschneid/bermuda.html>,accessed13Oct.2005.
ELECTRONICREPOSITORYOFTHESESORPROJECTS
Graduatingseniorsnowhavetheoptionofelectronicallydepositingtheirthesesorseniorprojects
intothenewWeb-basedTrinityCollegeDigitalRepository.Seniorswhotakeadvantageofthis
optioncanchoosewhethertoallowunrestrictedopenaccesstotheirwork,orlimitaccesstothe
campuscommunityonly.Oncetheirworkhasbeenuploaded,itwillbeapermanentpartofthe
Repository,andidentifiedwithauniqueurlforfuturereference.
Inthepast,seniorswereexpectedtoprovideaprint,boundcopyoftheirthesisforinclusioninthe
CollegeArchives.Seniorsmaystillpursuethisoptioniftheywish.Alternatively,theymaychoose
thisnewelectronicoption,byfollowingthestepsbelow:
1. Anytext-basedfileformatwillbeaccepted(i.e.,Word)andthenautomaticallyconvertedtopdf
forpublicationintheRepository.Iftheprimaryformatofthethesisis*not*text,i.e.,video,
audio,images,etc.,pleasecontacttheRepositoryadministratorfirstforassistance.
2. Werecommendthatyoudiscussthetwoaccessoptions(openaccess,orTrinity-only)withyour
advisor.Alsorememberthatanyquotedtext,images,music,charts,etc.,inthethesisshould
eitherbeusedunderFairUseguidelines,orbypermissionfromthecopyrightholder(s)ofthe
quotedmaterial.
3. Tostartthesubmissionprocess,followthislink:
http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/cgi/ir_submit.cgi?context=theses
<http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/cgi/ir_submit.cgi?context=theses>andcreateanaccount
withtheRepositorysoftware.(ThiswillbedifferentthanyourregularTrinitylogin)
4. Readthroughthesubmissionagreement,andcheckmarktheboxtoagreewiththeterms.
5. Finally,fillinthefieldsonthesubmissionform,includingselectionofopenaccessorcampusrestricted,anduploadthethesisdocument.
6. Werecommendsubmittingtheentiretextofthethesisasonefile.(i.e.combineallthechapters
andappendicesintoonedocument)
7. TheRepositorycanalsoacceptanysupplementalfiles,intheformofmedia,translations,etc.
Powerpointfileswillbeconvertedto.pdfbytheRepository.Atthebottomofthesubmission
form,thereisacheckmarkbox,whichwhenselectedallowsyoutouploadadditionalfileson
thenextpage.
8. OncetheRepositoryadministratorapprovesthethesissubmission,itwillbevisibleonthe
Repositorysite.
Followingarethe2titlepagesforyourthesis,properlyformattedandwithproper
font.
HonorsinBiology-p.5
TRINITYCOLLEGE
EFFECTSOFVARIOUSSALINITIESONASALT-MARSHALGA,
VAUCHERIA(TRIBOPHYCEAE,CHRYSOPHYTA)
BY
LAURAA.MACDONALD
ATHESISSUBMITTEDTO
THEFACULTYOFTHEDEPARTMENTOFBIOLOGY
INCANDIDACYFORTHEBACCALAUREATEDEGREE
WITHHONORSINBIOLOGY
DEPARTMENTOFBIOLOGY
HARTFORD,CONNECTICUT
27APRIL2012
HonorsinBiology-p.6
EFFECTSOFVARIOUSSALINITIESONASALT-MARSHALGA,
VAUCHERIA(TRIBOPHYCEAE,CHRYSOPHYTA)
BY
LAURAA.MACDONALD
HonorsThesisCommittee
Approved:
______________________________________________
CraigW.Schneider,Advisor
______________________________________________
LisaA.Foster
______________________________________________
MichaelA.O’Donnell
Date:________________________________________