Insect Collection: All students will prepare and submit an insect collection, which will constitute 100 points of the total score for the course. Your collection must consist of at least 75 species, representing a minimum of 5 insect pests of floral plantings, 15 insect pests attacking trees and shrubs, 10 insect pests of fruits, 5 arthropod pests of greenhouse plantings, 10 insect pests of turfgrasses, 15 insect pests of vegetables, 10 beneficial arthropods, and 5 general feeders. Following submission, your collections will be graded and some specimens removed for our teaching reference collection. The rest will be returned.

Library Research Paper: Students taking this course for both undergraduate and graduate credit will be expected to write and submit one high quality, in-depth library research paper. The topic for the paper will be chosen by each student, but must be approved by the instructors in advance. Any course-related topic of special interest to the student can be considered.

The library research paper should be typed (use Times New Roman font - 12 characters/inch), with 1 inch margins, and double-spaced (please do not use bolded letter or fonts larger than 12). At least 8 - 10 references should be used in developing this paper. The body of the paper (content portion) should be about 12 pages in length. The paper will be graded, but not returned. Paper format must be as follows:

1. Title Page - Include paper title, your name, address and zip code, telephone number, and e-mail address

2. Abstract - A short summary or precis of the entire paper, 150-200 words total, to be written after the paper is finished.

3. Literature Review - Summary of current literature, in your own words.

4. Analysis/Discussion - Your critique, opinions and thoughts about the literature, comments as to the need for future work, etc.

5. Conclusions - Conclusions you have drawn as a result of reading the literature.

6. Literature Cited - An alphabetical listing of literature citations, in the format suggested below:

Examples:
Borror, D.J. and R.E. White, 1970. A Field Guide to Insects: America North of Mexico, Peterson Field guide Series, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, MA, 404 pp.

Davidson, R.H., and William F. Lyon, 1987. Insect Pests of Farm, Garden, and Orchard, eighth edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY, 640 pp.

Hedges, S.A. and M.S. Lacey, 1996. PCT Field Guide for the Management of Structure-Infesting Beetles. Volume I: Hide and Carpet Beetles/Wood-Boring Beetles. Franzak and Foster Co., Cleveland OH, 196 pp.

The paper should be submitted through e-mail as an attachment file. Scoring of graduate student papers will be based on the quality of the literature review, the depth and insight of the analysis and discussion, the conclusions drawn (2/3 for these aspects, collectively) and the quality of writing and expression (1/3). The library research paper will be worth 100 points.

You may begin on your research paper as soon as you wish. For those of you who want to get this aspect of the course work out of the way early, this will give you the opportunity to get moving.

As a basic entomology reference, it is hard to beat the Encyclopedia Britannica, which is now offering a free website -- essentially giving away the whole thing. Give it a try. Once you get to the site, just enter the word "insect" and you are off. It contains a lot of basic insect knowledge. The website address is: www.britannica.com

Grading:

Class assignments will be due on the date specified. Late assignments will be down graded (-5 points), and assignments more than two weeks late will not be graded, unless prior arrangements have been made or circumstances arise that prevent you from completing your assignments by the specified dates.

University Libraries : http://iris.unl.edu/