Choose a research topic/question from those listed below. Write a 2500 –
3000 word paper using no more than six sources including at least three
academic sources. Academic sources include peer-reviewed scholarly
journal articles, academic books which are edited and published by a
university press, and science-based magazines such as “Nature,”
“Scientific American,” and “Smithsonian.”
Use APA style for citations within the text of your paper and in your
bibliography. Make sure you understand this requirement. You do not
need to write an abstract or use headers/footers.
Keep in mind:
1. You will be required to turn in a bibliography and outline prior to
submitting your paper. I will not accept papers unless you have
submitted both bibliography and outline. Your bibliography assignment is
in unit 3 and your outline assignment is in Unit 4. Failure to submit
either will seriously jeopardize your grade. Your paper must use the
sources in your bibliography and follow your outline.
2. Your title page and bibliography do not count toward your total
pages. And you must submit your bibliography again along with the final
paper.
3. Wikipedia is not a valid source because anyone can edit a page. Do
not use Wikipedia as a source.
4.Plagiarized papers will receive a zero!
5. Turn in your assignment in Microsoft Word. I cannot download other formats.
Topics:
Bio-Cultural Anthropology: The effect of breastfeeding on fertility and
the consequences in traditional populations which do not use artificial
contraception.
Bio-Cultural Anthropology: The environment’s effect on skin color and
the cultural adaptations to offset it. Make sure you discuss
environmental effects on light-skinned people in an equatorial
environment and dark-skinned people in areas of low sunlight.
Bio-Cultural Anthropology: How have new reproductive technologies
changed our definitions of family, kinship, and marriage? Make sure you
discuss sperm banks, harvesting of ova, freezing of embryos, use of
surrogates, and in-vitro fertilization along with the cultural changes
that have accompanied these technologies.
Physical Anthropology: How have advancements in molecular biology in the
last twenty years contributed to the understanding of human origins?
How can ancestry be traced using mitochondrial DNA and the Y chromosome?
Linguistics: How have sociolinguists attempted to preserve moribund
languages of dying cultures? What efforts are being made today to keep
indigenous languages from dying out?
Linguistics: Find studies of apes (chimps, bonobos, and gorillas) who
have been taught to communicate with humans. Who were the researchers,
their subjects, and what was the outcome of their studies?
Archeology: What are the environmental, technological, and social
factors contributing to the domestication of plants and animals beginning
around 10,000 years ago (the Neolithic)?
Archeology: Describe a recent cultural resource management project or
one currently underway. What is the project? Why is it important to
preserve this particular cultural resource? What are the challenges of
the project?