A goal of this course is to introduce students to the primary literature in the field of evolutionary biology, and to provide guidance in development of interpretive and critical skills. The first written report involves critical analysis of a papers in the light of what you have learned from another. Assume that we know the papers thoroughly, and in a couple of pages (please, keep this short and to the point) go to the essence of the question being discussed. Do not present a synopsis of these papers. Tell us what the essential take-home message is from your comparative analysis. Remember, in relation to the principal paper there may be extraneous matters in the comparative papers. Concentrate on relevant issues that are common to the papers.

Read the paper by Jacob first. With that paper fully in mind, read the paper by Sire. Tell us why you think that the Sire paper is related to the Jacob paper in intellectual content.

Please limit your paper to 2 pages double spaced.

Present the paper in good form. Use a literature citation system in which you cite as follows: "Jacob (1977) introduces the idea --", and then have a full citation at the end of the paper in the following style:

Main Paper:

JACOB, F. 1977. Evolution and tinkering. Science 196:1161-1166.

Comparative Paper:

SIRE, Jean-Yves. 2001. Teeth outside the mouth in teleost fishes: how to benefit from a developmental accident. Evolution and Development 3(2): 104-108..