Cooperation – Is cooperation actually selfish? Develop this hypothesis using evidence of primates.
- Overview – Pose a big question. Say why this is an interesting question for the field. Say why it has been difficult to answer. Say that you will review what has been done to answer this question to date. Somewhere in this overview / introduction you must state your argument, thesis statement, or question.
- Background theory – Review the theory in more detail. Start big, then focus in on your small area of the review. For some topics, you will want to develop the different sides to the issue – How many different sides are there? What does each side say? What is the history of each side? In this section, you should provide the reader with everything they will need to understand the empirical studies that you will later present. So, be sure this section is comprehensive. If you later introduce a new term or idea, then return to this background section to add an explanation of that term or idea.
- (e.g.,) Brief background on the theory of sexual selection, but zero in quickly on sperm competition. Define sperm competition and provide some basic examples. Provide evidence that testicle size increases with increasing sperm competition. When do we see sperm competition? What types of primate groups have sperm competition (e.g., multi-male groups)? Start to raise the question in the mind of the reader as to when we don’t see sperm competition. Do we get tradeoffs between sperm competition and other forms of sexual selection?
- Support for each argument – This is where you organize and digest all of the empirical studies. You probably will have more than one argument here, which should be organized under appropriate subheadings. But, your format under each subheading should be as follows:
- Subheading 1
- Supporting evidence 1 – There is less fighting amongst males in species that have sperm competition
- Supporting evidence 2 – There are fewer flashy male signals in species that do not have sperm competition
- Discussion (or save for later–see below)
- Thesis sentence. The largest testicles are associated with species that do not exhibit other forms of competition among males.
- Subheading 2
- Supporting evidence 1 – Not a lot of skew in mating success (behaviorally)
- Supporting evidence 2 – Yet, a lot of skew in reproductive success (genetically)
- Discussion (or save for later–see below)
- Thesis sentence. These taxa (from subheading 1) nevertheless still exhibit variation in the number of offspring produced.
- Discussion – Making this a separate section is optional. Often it works better to actually “discuss” each item as you raise your points in the sections above. This depends on whether each point needs to be discussed separately (keep discussions within each subheading) or whether each point needs to be discussed in light of your other points (make a separate discussion section). Either way, you must find somewhere to really discuss each idea you are developing.
- Conclusion – A conclusion is not a discussion or a place to repeat yourself. A conclusion does one or more of the following things:
- Summarize the main points made in the paper in a new way (try to do this without repeating your same words)
- Remind the reader where we stand on this question (were you able to answer it? If so, what is the answer? If not, why can’t we answer it yet?)
- Provide a launching point for further study (what questions remain?).
- References — all citations in the text should be included at the end as full references, and no references should be in the reference list that were not cited in the text.
Are you struggling with your paper? Let us handle it - WE ARE EXPERTS!
How our paper writing service works
It's very simple!
-
Fill out the order form
Complete the order form by providing as much information as possible, and then click the submit button.
-
Choose writer
Select your preferred writer for the project, or let us assign the best writer for you.
-
Add funds
Allocate funds to your wallet. You can release these funds to the writer incrementally, after each section is completed and meets your expected quality.
-
Ready
Download the finished work. Review the paper and request free edits if needed. Optionally, rate the writer and leave a review.