AN/WS 263: Behavioral Biology of Women Term Paper 2022
A Life History Analysis
Submit via “Turn it In” on Blackboard, by Monday, April 25 at Midnight
This term paper will be an opportunity to incorporate the knowledge you’ve learned in this course.
For the subject you will interview a post-reproductive woman and do an evolutionary/life history
analysis of her reproductive and life history decisions incorporating material you learn in the
course. The paper should be 10 double-spaced pages using 12 pt font and 1 inch margins. You
should use at least 10 references, which should be readings from the course. Other additional
references can be used as well. Your paper should include a reference section at the end, which is
not part of the 10 pages. Your paper should have page numbers, except for the first page. We will
not accept papers that are longer than 10 pages of narrative.
You should structure your interview around a woman’s life history stages. Your paper should be
organized under the following subheadings:
(1) Introduction
(2) Menarche and puberty
(3) Mating strategies & marriage
(4) Pregnancy
(5) Birth
(6) Lactation and parenting
(7) Menopause and older adulthood
(8) Conclusion
(9) References
First, you need to select someone to interview. Most people interview a female family member,
or someone else they are close to. Students often find this to be a very meaningful experience as
they learn more about the life history of someone they are close to. Interviews can be done in
person or on the phone. You will want to choose someone who is open to answering personal
questions, but be sensitive to the types of questions they will be willing to answer. It will be easiest
to choose someone who has passed through these different life history stages (i.e., has married and
had children). But, if you interview a woman who did not marry or did not have children you will
need to elaborate about those reasons and expand upon the other sections that are relevant.
Objective: The objective of this assignment is to use a woman’s life history as a vehicle to show
what you have learned in the course and as a way to bring up the different course topics. You can
thus weave in the person’s stories with what you have learned in the course and through your
readings — contrasting similarities and differences between other cultures, physiology, etc.
This course is on behavioral biology so you will want to think about how biology and behavior
have interacted in this woman’s life. How did her culture or personal history influence how she
experienced these biological events? We’ve learned a lot about factors influencing women’s
decision-making about when to conceive and when to invest in children. How was this reflected
in your interviewee? How did her life history decisions change with age? Were there any tradeoffs that were made such as delayed marriage or childrearing, work vs. family investment, etc.
You need to relate this to evolutionary theory and biological anthropology by considering a) are
these decisions adaptive? b) how does this woman’s experience contrast to other women and other
populations or time periods that you’ve learned about in class? c) how does this woman’s
experience highlight some of the unique human features as compared to other apes?
References: You should include references at the end of the paper (not part of the 10 page limit)
that follow the reference style contained in the syllabus for the course. Do not use footnotes.
References should be embedded in the paper. These should be 10 different references from
lectures, section readings and the assigned books. Different chapters of the Trevathan or Small
book and each of my lectures can count as separate references. Do not rely heavily on just one
source. You can cite reference material that was not part of the course, but these will not count as
the minimum 10 references. In general, the more references you have the better as it will show
your knowledge of the material. You can use my paper, Knott, CD (2001). Female reproductive
ecology of the apes: implications for human evolution, as a guide for how to cite references within
the body of the paper.
Examples of reference format:
Thompson, JK (1991) Body shape preferences: effects of instructional protocol and level of
eating disturbance. International Journal of Eating Disorders. 10:193-198
Knott, C. (2014: 2024 – Essay Writing Service | Write My Essay For Me Without Delay) Lecture 6: The Menstrual Cycle. The Behavioral Biology of Women.
Sample: There are many ways to do this assignment, but this is an extract of what someone wrote
during a previous class:
Examples of text:
“Every woman’s life is defined by the choices she has made which can be analyzed by studying
her life history…[followed by elaboration of what that means, etc.]
By the time X was 12 years old she had her first period. X’s menstrual cycles did not become
regular until about the time she became 40 and had all of her children. This is not typical for most
women who usually have regular cycles a few years after menarche begins (reference). X and her
family did not practice any puberty rituals and instead her menarche was not talked about or
acknowledged by anyone in her house. This is in contrast to the Pokot who … Interestingly, during
menstruation, X practices a few menstrual taboos. She had to hide her menstruation because she
lived in a house full of boys … ”
Contact Info: At the bottom of your assignment please provide a contact phone number or email
for the person you interviewed. I don’t plan on contacting people unless there is some question
about the veracity of your assignment.
Grading: Grading of the assignment will be based on your understanding of the course material
as shown through your writing and will be broken down as follows:
Integration of course material with life stages 40%
For each of the topic areas (2-7 above) report on what your interviewee said and then relate
this to what you’ve learned and read in the course. For each of the topic areas you should
try to make as many connections as possible between the interview and what the course
material. The more connections/points you make the higher your grade for this section. If
your interviewee didn’t experience one of these stages, you should compensate by saying
more about a different area or discuss her views of topic. For example, if she hasn’t been
through menopause, what are her thoughts anticipations of what she will experience?
Comparisons with other cultures and non-human primates 15%
Comparison with other cultures/women (10 pts). Draw connections between your
interviewee and what you’ve learned about women in other cultures. Again, the more
points you make the better your grade.
Comparison with apes/human evolution (5 pts). What can you say about apes or human
evolution based on what you’ve learned? You can contrast your interviewee’s experience
with that of other apes for example.
Expository quality/narrative 25%
Narrative (10 pts). Your narrative should include a discussion of how the person’s cultural
or personal history interacts with their biological experience of these life history events.
Also discuss trade-offs and decision-making. You should include discussion of whether
you can interpret these decisions as adaptive. Sections 1 and 8 above will be evaluated
under this section.
Expository quality (15 pts). Writing style, grammar, spelling etc.
Mechanics, following instructions 10%
Was the paper structured using the correct format? Were all instructions followed?
References 10%
Did you include the right number of references from the correct sources? Was the reference
style correct as explained in the instructions?
Evaluation
A 90-100 Paper showed true mastery and understanding of the course material. Thoroughly
integrated course material with information from the interview. Excellent
expository quality. Fully followed directions for paper construction and
references.
B 80-89 Paper showed a good understanding of the course material but not as thoroughly
explained as an “A” paper. Mistakes in writing, directions and references could
bring an “A” paper down to a “B” paper.
C 70-79 Paper showed more limited understanding of the course material, but lacked in
depth understanding of some of the areas. Mistakes may have been made in
writing, directions and references
D Below 70 Paper showed very limited understanding of the course material, and likely
substantial mistakes in writing, directions and references
A Life History Analysis – Checklist
You should include references at the end of the paper (not part of the 10 page limit) that
follow the reference style contained in the syllabus for the course. Do not use footnotes.
References should be embedded in the paper. These should be 10 different references from
lectures, section readings and the assigned books. Different chapters of the Trevathan or
Small book and each of my lectures can count as separate references. Do not rely heavily
on just one source. You can cite reference material that was not part of the course, but these
will not count towards the minimum 10 references. In general, the more references you
have the better as it will show your knowledge of the material.
1. I have read through the posted assignment carefully
2. I have read the example posted on the website (under term paper)
3. I have written at least 10-pages (not including the bibliography)
4. I have cited at least 10 sources from the class in my paper
a. Of these 10 sources, I’ve cited at least…
i. 2 lectures
1. I have used specific examples from lectures to compare with my
interviewee’s Life History
ii. 2 chapters from Small
iii. 2 chapters of Trevathan
b. If I cited sources from outside the class, I realize that…
i. These sources must be reputable, scientific sources
ii. Do not count towards the overall 10 source requirement
5. I have used in-line citations in my paper
6. I have formatted my bibliography using a common style convention
7. My paper uses 12-point font, double spaced, with 1” margins
Citation Examples:
● Help write my assignment – Bibliography Example
○ Lecture
■ Knott, C. (2014: 2024 – Essay Writing Service | Write My Essay For Me Without Delay) Lecture 6: The Menstrual Cycle. The Behavioral Biology
of Women.
○ Journal Article
■ Thompson, JK (1991) Body shape preferences: effects of instructional
protocol and level of eating disturbance. International Journal of Eating
Disorders. 10:193-198
● In-Line Citation Examples
○ Type 1:
■ According to Trevathan (2010 – Essay Writing Service: Write My Essay by Top-Notch Writer), women in food-rich societies may have a
higher risk of cancer due to frequent menstrual cycles across their lifetime.
○ Type 2:
■ Women in food-rich societies may have a higher risk of cancer due to
frequent menstrual cycles across their lifetime (Trevathan 2010 – Essay Writing Service: Write My Essay by Top-Notch Writer).
○ If you are using a direct quote, you need to include the page number at the end of
the sentence:
■ Norris (2021) writes, “I like pickles” (2).
■ It has been argued that pineapples should not go on pizza “because you
should not mix sweet foods with salty foods” (Norris 2021: 26).
○ You should not write the title of the individual lectures or chapters. Instead do:
■ (Knott, Lecture 7) or Knott (Lecture 7)
Note: In scientific writing we generally avoid directly quoting an author or scholarly source
since we aren’t commenting on the way something was phrased, but on the content, data, or
argument(s) being presented. Also, quoting authors at length, instead of putting their thoughts
into your own words, suggests that you may not fully understand what they are saying. Thus, in
general, please don’t use direct quotes from your sources unless absolutely necessary. You may,
though, quote your interviewee where appropriate in order to offer context, nuance, and
framing. That being said, please avoid long block quotes as this often comes across as “spacefillers,” which may cost you points.
● Citing a Study Ace my homework – Write my paper – Online assignment help tutors – Discussed in Lecture
○ Despite her slightly late onset of pubertal development, my interviewee
experienced menarche at age 13, which was consistent with the average age at
menarche, 12.5-13, in modern Western societies (Knott, Lecture 7).
——–
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A Life History Analysis for AN/WS 263: Behavioral Biology of Women Term Paper 2022
By Monday, April 25 at Midnight, submit via Blackboard’s “Turn it In” feature.
This term paper will be an opportunity for you to apply what you’ve learnt in class.
You will conduct an evolutionary/life history interview with a post-reproductive woman for the subject.
Using what you’ve learned in class, analyze her reproductive and life cycle decisions.
course. The paper should be ten pages long, double-spaced, using a 12 point font and one inch margins. You
should cite at least ten sources, all of which should be course readings. Additional information
References can also be used. At the end of your paper, you should provide a reference section.
not one of the ten
