Tips for Students of Biology and Links to Websites of Interest

Using Microsoft EXCEL for statistical analyses

Microsoft EXCEL appears to have significant problems in some statistical modules that users contemplating using this software for statistical analyses should be aware of.

The abstract of a paper by McCullough & Wilson (1999) states:

“The reliability of statistical procedures in Excel are assessed in three areas: estimation (both linear and nonlinear), random number generation, and statistical distributions (such as for calculating p-values). Excel's performance in all three areas is found to be inadequate. Persons desiring to conduct statistical analyses of data are advised not to use Excel.”

McCullough, B.D. & Wilson, B. (1999). On the accuracy of statistical procedures in Microsoft Excel 97. Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, 31(1): 27-37.

*A further note of caution about using Microsoft Excel 2007 *

Students are requested to note that Slashdot.org is reporting a multiplication bug in Microsoft Excel 2007 (http://it.slashdot.org/it/07/09/24/2339203.shtml)

Excel is reporting the result of the formula =850*77.1 as 100000 rather than the correct 65535. This seems to extend to any multiplication/division combination that should yield 65553.

(e.g.=5.1*12850 =10.2*6425, = 850/(1/77.1) and even =SUMPRODUCT(850,77.1,2,0.5) )

Excel 2003 reports correct results for these calculations.

According to an item posted on ECOLOG-L on Wednesday 26th September 2007, Microsoft recognizes the problem and assures that Excel will learn to multiply. It should be fixed in the next week.

Sandro Lanfranco,
26th September 2007

The University IT Services issued the following statement on 10 October 2007: MS Excel 2007 Bug Hotfix As some of you may be aware, last month, Microsoft reported that MS Excel 2007 displays incorrect answers for some calculations. For example multiplying 850 by 77.1, displays 100,000 instead of 65,535 which is the correct answer. A hotfix has just been released by Microsoft to correct this calculation bug. We encourage all Excel 2007 users to download and install this: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/943075/ Users of other Excel versions need not take any action.

Eco-Tools (online calculations for ecology and conservation biology)

The Eco-Tools web site, www.eco-tools.net performs a number of common calculations from ecology and conservation biology. Users submit a data file, and numerical and graphical results are returned as a web page. Current tools include life table calculations, species richness estimation, F-statistics, timeseries autocorrelation, taxonomic autocorrelation, ordination and simple count-based PVA. The site is free, and open source. The calculations are performed by Mathematica, and the calculation code is available for inspection. Modules are based on published sources. The present version is a beginning -- a number of additional tools are in development, and more are planned.

Will I find this journal in the University Library?

For instructions on how to check if a particular journal of interest to biology students is carried by the University of Malta Library, in either print or electronic format, access this document and follow the instructions therein.

This document was produced by Ms Joanna Felice, Senior Assistant Librarian Reference Department, University of Malta Library (e-mail: joanna.felice@um.edu.mt).

Searching the WWW (compiled by PJS)

The Internet and especially the World Wide Web is a ‘virtual’ library of millions of pages and affords the user the ability to search a body of knowledge heretofore unthinkable. There is no single online search tool which has an index to the entire contents of the Internet. Each search engine uses different search techniques and various software tools (called spiders) to build indexes of the Internet. When doing searches through them, they also yield different "views" of the Web and the Internet as a whole. So first and foremost, after connecting to each search tool for the first time, always read the tool's description, search options, and rules and restrictions before trying to perform a search.

Citing Electronic Documents and Sources (compiled by PJS)

Information is increasingly becoming available in electronic format, including e-mail communications, newsgroup postings, Internet websites, and CD-ROMs. As with more traditional sources of information such as printed journals, books and reports, standard formats for providing formal citations for electronic sources have been formulated. It is recommended that a citation format based on the American Psychological Association style be used (see the following links).

Web Extension to American Psychological Association Style (WEAPAS) [Proposed standard for referencing online documents in scientific publications]

APA Style guide [Internet sources are not yet included in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Several workers have addressed this need, but no one style has yet gained universal acceptance. The following citation guidelines, based on the APA format, have been developed by Janice R. Walker of the University of South Florida, whose MLA-style format for citation of Internet resources has been endorsed by the Alliance for Computers and Writing and has gained wide acceptance among scholars and academics.]

Evaluating WWW resources (compiled by PJS) (Updated)

The Internet is a vast source of information, however, there is very little quality control, editing, peer-review or other filtering that printed information is usually subjected to. Almost anyone can publish almost anything on the Internet, and just because a piece of information appears on the ‘net it does not mean it is accurate, reliable or even true (for examples see http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/skeptic.htm). Students using the Internet as a source of scholarly information have to tread carefully. The following sites provide some guidance on evaluating the worth and quality of sources of information on the Internet.

How To Evaluate A Web Site, by LaJean Humphries, library manager for Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt of Portland, Oregon, USA [Follow the links].

Criteria for evaluation of Internet Information Resources, compiled by Alastair Smith, Victoria University of Wellington Department of Library and Information Studies.

Both sites provide links to additional resources concerned with the evaluation of Internet information sources that are well worth following.

See also the Information Quality WWW Virtual Library, which is a large set of pages that keeps track of online resources relevant for evaluation, development and administration of high quality factual/scholarly networked information systems.

Dr. Chris Staff from the Department of COmputer Science and AI at the University has a very successful presentation titled 'Using the Internet as an Academic resource'

Plagiarism (compiled by PJS)

The ‘Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary’ (http://www.m-w.com/home.htm) defines the verb to plagiarize as “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the source : to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source”. Examples of academic plagiarism include: copying or paraphrasing information from a source without proper acknowledgement or any acknowledgement at all; failing to give a citation to the source of information obtained from print, electronic or other media; copying another person’s essays, assignments, laboratory reports, dissertation etc without that person’s knowledge; and commissioning another person to do your work for you. Computers and especially the Internet have made plagiarism even easier through the ‘cut and paste’ tool, the use of scanners and OCR software, and the availability of sites on the Internet (so called ‘Papermills’) where one can download ready-made essays (‘term papers’) for free or commission one for a fee. Some students plagiarise unknowingly, often through lack of experience, while others do it deliberately to deceive. As plagiarism is one of the worst crimes that one can commit in academia, students are advised to inform themselves about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. The following sources may be helpful in this respect.

How To Avoid Plagiarism [Northwestern University]
Plagiarism web pages by David Gardner [University of Hong Kong] (follow the links)
Avoiding Plagiarism @ Oregon State University [Oregon State University]

The examples of deliberate and unwitting plagiarism in these sources will serve as eye-openers!

The ‘Avoiding Plagiarism’ website from Ohio University gives extensive links to what constitutes plagiarism, policy statements and regulations on plagiarism from a number of USA, Canadian, British and Australian universities, and articles, websites and resources on how to avoid plagiarism.

You will also profit from accessing the webpages on 'How Not To Plagiarize' and that on 'Paraphrase and Summary' from the University College of Toronto Writing Workshop

Presenting information: Writing Guidelines for Science Students

A task that most students find very difficult is how to write and produce presentations (such as seminar presentations to a class or a presentation at a conference), and how to design a technical poster or write a scientific report (such as a laboratory report, a dissertation or a scientific paper). Some very good advice and plenty of examples on how to design and write different types of scientific works as well as memos, letters and a curriculum vitae (which is referred to as a résumé in the US) is provided at a site titled ‘Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students’ produced by the University of Vermont.

The different types of scientific literature

Do you know the difference between primary, secondary, tertiary and grey literature ? If not, click here

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