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Valuing Grasslands

February 2024

Critical Ecosystems for Nature, Climate and People

Accelerating Adaptation

December 2023

Explore the promise and limitations of nature-based solutions in the race to adapt to increased flooding and droughts.

La planificación de infraestructura en el Perú

noviembre 2023

Este documento presenta los resultados más importantes de más de dos años de investigaciones y reflexiones sobre la planificación de infraestructura en el Perú, con el fin de contribuir al debate en el marco de la elaboración del Plan Nacional de Infraestructura Sostenible para la Competitividad. Descargar

La sostenibilidad en la planificación nacional

Este documento aborda la sostenibilidad ambiental en la planificación de la infraestructura en el Perú, de modo que asegure estándares de sostenibilidad. Descargar

Enfoque territorial en la planificación nacional

Este documento presenta reflexiones sobre cómo se aborda el enfoque territorial en la planificación de infraestructura en el Perú para asegurar estándares de sostenibilidad. Descargar

Beyond the Megawatt

August 2023

Optimizing Impact of Clean Energy Procurement: Growing Demand for Social and Environmental Outcomes

Power With Purpose

Driving Change Through Clean Energy Procurement. This case study shares the lessons learned and best practices for applying the 3C framework based on a national procurement process. The study describes the partnership between electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian and The Nature Conservancy.

Article 6 Explainer

Questions and answers about the COP27 decisions on carbon markets and what they mean for NDCs, nature, and the voluntary carbon markets.

To Trade or Not to Trade

Options for operationalizing corresponding adjustments under Article 6.

Una Receta Para el Impacto

Componentes clave para que las empresas impulsen un impacto medible en la salud de las cuencas hidrográficas.

Offsets As Ordered

February 2023

The authors sought to uncover what due diligence buyers conduct when they transact carbon credits. Through this study they hope to help buyers share insights to ease the due diligence process and help buyers advocate for high quality in carbon markets. Download the report

Bold Pathways to 2030

It’s amazing what a year can bring. A global framework for nature. An inspiring array of projects and initiatives. Our “Protect” annual report has the latest. Download

30x30 Coral Reef Restoration

December 2022

This paper reviews the role of coral reef restoration in the context of climate change and global 30 by 30 targets, arguing that while restoration should not be used as a silver-bullet in the face of global declines, it has an important role to play to deliver social and ecological goals. Download the Paper

Eligibility Requirements for REDD+ Standards

November 2022

This report (an update of 2021 version) provides an overview of seven REDD+ standards, as well as the sources of finance for which they are eligible. Our goal is to simplify the understanding of various standards, funding sources, and markets for REDD+ in order to facilitate access to REDD+ finance. Visit the REDD+ Standards Tool

Inland Water Ecosystem Briefing

Explicit inclusion of inland water ecosystems in the area-based conservation targets and indicators is critical to recover and safeguard the most threatened and least protected ecosystems and biodiversity on the planet. This briefing provides an overview of the evidence for this recommendation.

Pacific Coast Fisheries Diversification Framework

October 2022

This document can be a vital resource for communities making determinations about what kinds of fisheries activities to engage in, what kind of fisheries permit and quota assets to invest in, what kind of infrastructure investments to make, and what kind of market activities to engage in.

Foodscapes Acceleration Guide

September 2022

Swift change must come to our global food system. This guide features case studies and offers scalable solutions for a better path forward. Download

Natural Climate Solutions Handbook

A technical guide for assessing nature-based mitigation opportunities in countries. More information in English

基于自然的 气候变化解 决方案 手册

评估各国基于自然的减缓机遇 的技术指南 More information in Chinese

Guide des Solutions Climatiques Naturelles

Guide technique pour évaluer les opportunités d’atténuation basées sur la nature dans les pays. More information in French

Panduan Solusi Iklim Alami Buku Pedoman

Panduan Teknis untuk Menilai Peluang Mitigasi Berbasis Alam di Negara-negara More information in Indonesian

Manual de Soluções Climáticas Naturais

Manual técnico para avaliação de oportunidades nacionais de mitigação baseada na natureza More information in Portuguese

Manual de Soluciones Naturales al Cambio Climático

Una guía técnica para evaluar las oportunidades de mitigación basadas en la naturaleza a nivel nacional More information in Spanish

Ufumbuzi wa Hali ya Tabianchi Mwongozo

Mwongozo wa Kiufundi wa Kutathmini Fursa zitokanazo na utunzaji mazingira wa katika nchi Mbalimbali More information in Swahili

Financing Nature for Water Security

TNC and Agence Française de Développement (AFD) outline a tested process for designing, implementing and financing watershed investment programs that drive long-term water security outcomes for people and nature. More information

The Bioeconomy of Pará's Socio-biodiversity

Results and public policy recommendations from TNC Brazil, BID and Natura. More information

A Recipe for Impact

Key Ingredients for Companies to Drive Measurable Impact in Watershed Health

Hurricane Damages to Mangrove Forests

Severe storms can damage mangroves which deliver much-needed coastal resilience to communities. TNC, UNAM, & CINVESTAV document the threats to mangroves, techniques to restore mangroves, and costs of restoration to evaluate the potential use of mangrove insurance to protect/restore these assets.

Article 6 Answers to Common Questions

January 2022

This TNC-produced summary reflects on UNFCCC COP26 progress in setting rules for international cooperation through carbon markets, also known as “Article 6.” More information: Article 6 Answers to Common Questions

Bioeconomy in the State of Pará (Full Report)

February 2022

In the State of Pará, Brazil, the diversity of the flora contributes to the economy and keeping forests standing is more profitable than cutting them down. This is the first study of the whole value chain of biodiversity in a State.

Bioeconomy in the State of Pará (Exec. Summary)

Februrary 2022

The executive summary of the report 'Socio-biodiversity Bioeconomy in the State of Pará' Download the Executive Summary in Spanish

Comparative Analysis of Risks to Coral Reefs

December 2021

Report: Comparative Analysis of Risks Faced by the World's Coral Reefs More information: Reef Resilience Network

October 2021

A technical guide for assessing nature-based mitigation opportunities in countries More information on Natural Climate Solutions

Foodscapes: Toward Food System Transition

New ways of envisioning, managing and implementing the transitions necessary for the full-scale transformation of our global food system More information

The Playbook for Climate Finance

The Playbook for Climate Finance presents innovative strategies that can help fund the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as well as adaptive measures for climate-vulnerable communities around the world. More information

Biodiversity Net Gain in England

This paper seeks to support the development and implementation of England’s biodiversity net gain (BNG) policy. It provides a framework that can help other countries exploring biodiversity offset markets.

Measuring Corporate Watershed Projects

August 2021

This report focuses on measuring and evaluating the impact of corporate watershed projects.

Biodiversity Action Guide

There’s no shortage of strategies available to create a nature-positive planet now—our downloadable guide shows how to translate ambition into action. Read the Feature

Global Risk of River Flooding

New research identifies regions of greatest climate-driven river flood risk to human lives and food production globally, calling for urgent acceleration of investment in nature-based adaptation plans. Download the Executive Summary

This report provides an overview of six REDD+ standards, as well as the sources of finance for which they are eligible. Our goal is to simplify the understanding of various standards, funding sources, and markets for REDD+ in order to facilitate access to REDD+ finance.

The Blue Guide to Coastal Resilience

This guide helps disaster risk reduction planners use nature based solutions to reduce coastal community vulnerability and exposure to climate-related disasters and increase environmental, economic, and social benefits for people. More information

Sustainable Water Impact Fund: 2020 Impact Report

The Sustainable Water Impact Fund (SWIF) seeks to demonstrate new ways of investing in land and water assets that deliver meaningful conservation outcomes. The SWIF annual Impact Report offers investors, the conservation community, and other stakeholders insights to educate and inspire.

Nesting REDD+

Pathways to Bridge Project and Jurisdictional Programs: This report examines current financial approaches to reduce emissions from deforestation through offsetting, and offers case studies and lessons learned to unlock more finance to protect forests in the future.

Benefit Accounting of NBS for Watersheds

This report provides guidance on how to account for the benefits of nature-based solutions, helping users identify and account for the stacked water, carbon, and biodiversity benefits provided by these solutions and additional socio-economic benefits accrued. More information

The World’s Forgotten Fishes

February 2021

The report highlights the world’s forgotten freshwater fishes, of which one-third now face extinction. More information

Resilient European Cities

December 2020

Nature-Based Solutions for Clean Water More information

Food & Nature Digest

November 2020

Accelerating the Green Recovery: The global market analysis takes a closer look at environmental sustainability in the food, beverage and agricultural sectors. More information

Insurance for Natural Infrastructure

Assessing the feasibility of insuring coral reefs in Florida and Hawai‘i More information

NDC Transparency Guidance for Developing Nations

This report clarifies reporting requirements for nationally determined contributions, as defined by the Katowice Climate Package established at UNFCCC COP 24.

COVID-19 Response and Recovery

October 2020

A joint NGO policy paper outlining recommendations for COVID-19 Response and Recovery through nature-based solutions

Financing Nature

September 2020

We need $700 billion/yr to reverse the global biodiversity crisis—but we can get nearly halfway there with no new funding. This report from the Paulson Institute, The Nature Conservancy & the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability reveals 9 critical actions to close the nature funding gap. More information

Mapping Carbon Accumulation Potential

from Global Natural Forest Regrowth (Read on Nature) More information

N4C: Nature-Positive Recovery

A nature-positive recovery for people, economy and climate includes principles for investing in nature-based jobs and initiatives to stimulate the post-COVID economy. More information

Lifting Off: Analysis of Potential Carbon Offsets

This report analyzes the opportunities and challenges of carbon offset credits for the international airline industry, and the role natural climate solutions can play to help reduce overall emissions. More information

Clean and Green Energy Pathways Report

The Nature Conservancy describes six critical ways to help governments, corporations and lenders accelerate our clean energy buildout while preserving natural lands, increasing local benefits for communities, and reducing wildlife impacts. More information

Investing in Nature for European Water Security

January 2020

This report outlines a strategic vision to mobilise greater investments in nature address Europe’s outstanding water security challenges. More information

Private Finance for Nature-Based Resilience

This report aims to capture qualitative measurement of the positive momentum being built with market-based solutions to protect and improve natural capital. More information

Playbook for Climate Action

November 2019

Five ways to spark global, multisector change for the planet right now More information

Guide to Including Nature in NDCs

September 2019

A checklist of information and accounting approaches for natural climate solutions.

Guide to Including Nature in NDCs: Spanish

Una Guía Para Incluir La Naturaleza en Las Contribuciones Determinadas a Nivel Nacional: A checklist of information and accounting approaches for natural climate solutions [en Español]

Agroideal Annual Report 2019

How Agroideal is helping take food production in Brazil to a higher level of sustainability and profitability. (em português)

Towards a Blue Revolution

A guide from TNC & Encourage Capital on impact investing in sustainable aquaculture.

Nature-Based Solutions in the Private Sector

This white paper provides guidance to companies looking to adopt and scale nature-based solutions within their organizations.

Protect Source Waters: Africa

Building the foundation for increasing investment in source water protection across Africa: 2019-2025

The Paris Agreement, Carbon Pricing & NCS

This report examines natural climate solutions in the context of carbon finance, corporate investment and land sector offsets.

Role of Jurisdictional Tropical Forest Programs

December 2018

Multi-stakeholder jurisdictional programs can accelerate sustainability transitions in tropical forest landscapes. More information

Nature in the Urban Century

November 2018

A global assessment of where and how to conserve nature for biodiversity and human wellbeing. More information

The Science of Sustainability

October 2018

Exploring a unified path for development and conservation. More information

Soil at The Nature Conservancy

A Shared Science Agenda: Priorities and Activities

Innovative Finance for Resilient Coasts

This briefing paper, prepared in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, considers how scaled up investments in coastal areas can build up community resilience.

Carbon Market Incentives

September 2018

Soils play can play a major role climate mitigation, but they have largely been missing from carbon markets. More information

Catalyzing the Growth of EM in Fisheries

Opportunities, barriers and recommendations for scaling electronic monitoring in fisheries.

Envisioning a Great Green City

View The Nature Conservancy's vision for a sustainable urban century. More information

Strong Voices, Active Choices

The Nature Conservancy's practitioner framework to strengthen outcomes for people and nature. More Information

Sustainable Land Bonds

Report on how governments can finance climate commitments and strengthen rural economies. More Information

The Business of Planting Trees

January 2018

A new report details some of the growing investment opportunities in restoring degraded land. More information

Lands of Opportunity

November 2017

An exploration of strategies for implementing natural climate solutions around the world. More information

The Path to a Safe and Sustainable Future

An examination of how to mainstream nature-based approaches in comprehensive flood risk management.

Environmental Market for Stream Barrier Removal

October 2017

This report explores opportunities provided by existing regulatory programs in the United States to improve stream health through the removal of these barriers to aquatic connectivity. More information

Funding Trees for Health

September 2017

An analysis by The Nature Conservancy on finance and policy actions to enable tree planting for public health. More information

Smarter Agricultural Practices

Case studies on sustainable agricultural practices around the world.

Global Agriculture Projects

Case studies from TNC's global agriculture work.

The Power of Rivers: A Business Case

A new report—produced in partnership with McGill University, The University of Manchester and PSR—brings decision makers a first-of-its-kind global analysis to help yield better economic, social and environmental outcomes in hydropower planning and management.

Assessing the Return on Investment in Watershed Conservation

Study explores Brazil’s Camboriú River Watershed. Also available in Portuguese and Spanish. More information

The Biggest Environmental Challenges of 2017

February 2017

Perspectives from our global and regional leaders on the most pressing issues facing people and the planet. More information

State of Private Investment in Conservation

January 2017

Sponsored by NatureVest and JPMorgan Chase & Co., this report provides a landscape assessment of an emerging private investment market.

Beyond The Source

New report analyzes 4,000 cities to demonstrate the health, climate and biodiversity benefits of source water protection. More information

Progress Report Towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets

December 2016

New analysis shows that countries are behind in meeting goals for biodiversity conservation. More information

Coastal Blue Carbon Ecosystems: Opportunities for Nationally Determined Contributions

November 2016

Coastal countries have an opportunity to take their blue carbon ecosystems into account when considering their national level climate actions. More information

reThink Soil Roadmap

A new report by The Nature Conservancy, supported by General Mills, quantifies the value of soil health across the croplands of the United States. More information

Planting Healthy Air

October 2016

The report shows that even a conservative global investment in urban trees can save tens of thousands of lives. More information

Strong Voices, Active Choices (2016)

Indigenous peoples and local communities are vital leaders in the pursuit of lasting solutions to the world’s most pressing conservation and development challenges. More information

Water Share Report

August 2016

This report explores the potential for water markets and impact investment to serve as part of the solution to global water scarcity. More information

Sub-Saharan Africa's Urban Water Blueprint

Assessing the potential for watershed conservation to benefit cities, rural livelihoods and nature across 30 large cities in Sub-Saharan Africa. More information

Atlas of Ocean Wealth

This Atlas represents the largest collection to date of the economic, social and cultural values of coastal and marine habitats globally. More information

Improving Hydropower Outcomes: An Example from Myanmar

This report demonstrates a framework that could be applied in Myanmar and worldwide to change the trajectory of water resource development. More information

China Urban Water Blueprint

The China Urban Water Blueprint analyzes the state of the 135 surface water sources tapped by the country’s 30 largest and fastest growing cities. More information

Managing Coasts with Natural Solutions

February 2016

These "Guidelines for Measuring and Valuing the Coastal Protection Services of Mangroves and Coral Reefs" seek to reorient the cost-benefit analysis between built, or “gray infrastructure”, and “green infrastructure”—based on environmental processes. More information

Global Lands Report

December 2015

This report by The Nature Conservancy looks at how development and conservation can work in tandem to help society make better choices on how we use our lands. More information

A World at Risk: Global Development Risk Assessment

October 2015

A first-of-its-kind assessment identifies the most at-risk regions in the world for habitat conversion. More information

The Power of Rivers Report

August 2015

This report explores the potential for achieving balanced outcomes from hydropower development that works for people and nature. More information

Early Lessons from Jurisdictional REDD+

January 2015

This report reinforces the idea that with the appropriate investment and stakeholder support, low emissions development programs have the potential to become models of forest-friendly development around the world. More information

Sharing the Benefits of REDD+

This report looks at the full set of opportunities to generate benefits from REDD+ for local communities and other stakeholders. More information

Urban Water Blueprint

November 2014

The Urban Water Blueprint report analyzes the state of water in cities around the world and offers cost-effective solutions to improve water quality. More information

Investing in Conservation: A Market Assessment

This first-of-its-kind report reveals a conservation investing market of approximately $23 billion across just the last five years, and finds that investments in this space are expected to more than triple over the next five years. More information

Coasts at Risk

An assessment of coastal risks and the role of environmental solutions. More information

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• 05 February 2020

Nature will publish peer review reports as a trial

You have full access to this article via your institution.

Publishing peer-review reports will help readers see the often fascinating and important discussions that take place between researchers and reviewers of research. Credit: Getty

Research communities are unanimous in acknowledging the value of peer review, but there’s a growing desire for more transparency in the process. As part of that, researchers want to see how publishing decisions are made, and they want greater assurance that referees and editors act with integrity and without bias.

For many journals, including Nature , peer review has typically been single-blind — that is, authors do not know who is reviewing their paper. At the same time, the contents of peer-review reports, and correspondence between authors, reviewers and editors, are kept confidential.

This prevents readers from seeing the often fascinating and important discussions between authors and reviewers, which are crucial in shaping and improving research and checking its integrity. Keeping these debates confidential also helps to reinforce perceptions that the research paper is the last word on a subject — when the latest finding is often simply a milestone along the scholarly journey.

Our authors have told us they want change. In a 2017 survey of Nature referees , 82% agreed that standard peer review ensures high-quality work gets published. But 63% said publishers should experiment with alternative models, and more than half said peer review could be more transparent — and expected publishers to do more to make it so.

Along with many journals, we have begun to open up the peer-review process. Four years ago, Nature invited referees to be acknowledged in papers — with the consent of both author and reviewer. Around 3,700 Nature referees have chosen to be publicly recognized, and around 80% of the journal’s papers have at least one referee named.

Beginning this week, authors of new submissions to Nature will be offered the option to have anonymous referee reports published, along with their own responses and rebuttals, once a manuscript is ready for publication.

Those who agree to act as reviewers should know that their anonymous reports — and their anonymized correspondence with authors — might be published. Referees can also choose to be named, should they desire.

In making this change, Nature is following seven other Nature Research journals. They are: Nature Biomedical Engineering , Nature Cell Biology , Nature Ecology & Evolution , Nature Human Behaviour , Nature Immunology , Nature Microbiology and Nature Structural & Molecular Biology . And in taking this step, we’re joining the pioneering efforts of The EMBO Journal and BMC journals — and, more recently, Nature Communications , which has been publishing reviewer reports since 2016 .

We will report back as the trial progresses, but the experience of Nature Communications has been positive. In 2018, the overwhelming majority (98%) of the journal’s authors who had published their reviewer reports told us they would do so again. Last year, almost 70% of research in the journal was published with referee reports and authors’ responses. This figure represented 62% of papers in chemistry, 58% in physics, 74% in Earth sciences and 74% in life sciences.

But our surveys have shown that not all researchers support visibility for reviewer reports. One concern is that, even with anonymity, reviewers might be less critical — perhaps expecting reciprocal treatment for their own papers. Or some could spend many hours striving to produce a ‘perfect report’, adding to the burden of peer review. The experience from Nature Communications negates this concern. The vast majority of our reports are already written in a professional and constructive manner — greatly enhancing the integrity of our research papers — so we do not want our reviewers to change what they do now.

Research published in the Nature Research journals is subjected to high levels of scrutiny before it is considered acceptable for publication — and as editors, we see our authors’ tremendous effort to make their manuscripts technically robust. We feel these efforts deserve to be seen. Published peer reviews are intended to advance scholarly discussion about a piece of research — dialogue that continues after publication − and it is important that our readers and the research community at large can benefit from such discourse. We are pleased to help make that happen.

Nature 578 , 8 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00309-9

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• v.9; 2013 Dec

Perceptions of nature, nurture and behaviour

Mairi levitt.

Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Lancaster University, County South, Lancaster, LA1 4YL UK

Trying to separate out nature and nurture as explanations for behaviour, as in classic genetic studies of twins and families, is now said to be both impossible and unproductive. In practice the nature-nurture model persists as a way of framing discussion on the causes of behaviour in genetic research papers, as well as in the media and lay debate. Social and environmental theories of crime have been dominant in criminology and in public policy while biological theories have been seen as outdated and discredited. Recently, research into genetic variations associated with aggressive and antisocial behaviour has received more attention in the media. This paper explores ideas on the role of nature and nurture in violent and antisocial behaviour through interviews and open-ended questionnaires among lay publics. There was general agreement that everybody’s behaviour is influenced to varying degrees by both genetic and environmental factors but deterministic accounts of causation, except in exceptional circumstances, were rejected. Only an emphasis on nature was seen as dangerous in its consequences, for society and for individuals themselves. Whereas academic researchers approach the debate from their disciplinary perspectives which may or may not engage with practical and policy issues, the key issue for the public was what sort of explanations of behaviour will lead to the best outcomes for all concerned.

Trying to separate out nature and nurture as explanations for behaviour, as in classic genetic studies of twins and families, is now said to be both impossible and unproductive. The nature-nurture debate is declared to be officially redundant by social scientists and scientists, ‘outdated, naive and unhelpful’ (Craddock, 2011 , p.637), ‘a false dichotomy’ (Traynor 2010 , p.196). Geneticists argue that nature and nurture interact to affect behaviour through complex and not yet fully understood ways, but, in practice, the debate continues 1 . Research papers by psychologists and geneticists still use the terms nature and nurture, or genes and environment, to consider their relative influences on, for example, temperament and personality, childhood obesity and toddler sleep patterns (McCrae et al., 2000 ; Anderson et al., 2007 ; Brescianini, 2011 ). These papers separate out and quantify the relative influences of nature/genes and nurture/environment. These papers might be taken to indicate how individuals acquire their personality traits or toddlers acquire their sleep patterns; part is innate or there at birth and part is acquired after birth due to environmental influences. The findings actually refer to technical heritability which is, ‘the proportion of phenotypic variation attributable to genetic differences between individuals’ (Keller, 2010 , p.57). In practice, as Keller illustrates, there is ‘slippage’ between heritability, meaning a trait being biologically transmissible, and technical heritability. This is not simply a mistake made by the media or ‘media hype’ but is, she argues, ‘almost impossible to avoid’ (ibid, p.71).

While researchers are aware of the complexity of gene-environment interaction, the ‘nature and nurture’ model persists as a simple way of framing discussion on the causes of behaviours. It is also a site of struggle between (and within) academic disciplines and, through influence on policy, has consequences for those whose behaviours are investigated. There is general agreement between social scientists and geneticists about the past abuses of genetics but disagreement over whether it will be possible for the new behavioural genetics to avoid discrimination and eugenic practices, and about the likely benefits that society will gain from this research (Parens et al. 2006 , xxi). In a special issue of the American Journal of Sociology ‘Exploring genetics and social structure’, Bearman considers the reasons why sociologists are concerned about genetic effects on behaviour; first they see it as legitimating existing societal arrangements, which assumes that ‘genetic’ is unchangeable. Second, if sociologists draw on genetic research it contaminates the sociological enterprise and, third, whatever claims are made to the contrary, it is a eugenicist project (Bearman, 2008 , vi). As we will see all these concerns were expressed by the publics in this study. Policy makers and publics are interested in explaining problem behaviour in order to change/control it, not in respecting disciplinary boundaries, and will expect the role of genetics to be considered alongside social factors. 2

Social and environmental theories of criminal behaviour have been dominant in criminology, and in public policy (Walsh, 2009 , p.7). Genetic disorders and mental illness have provided explanations for a small minority of offenders with specific conditions. A 2007 survey of American criminologists found that ‘criminologists of all ideological persuasions view alleged biosocial causes of crime (hormonal, genetic, and evolutionary factors and possibly low intelligence) as relatively unimportant’ compared with environmental causes (Cooper et al., 2010 ). Sociology textbooks have typically discussed biological theories of criminality only as discredited (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004 , Giddens, 2009 ). Biosocial theories are seen as attractive to ‘agents of social control’ and to be more likely to lead to abusive treatment of offenders. However, with increasing research and public interest in genetics more attention has been paid to biological aspects of crime and to genetic variations within the normal range. Research has focussed on violent and antisocial behaviours which are criminal or may be seen as a precursor to criminal behaviour, for example, antisocial behaviour in young people. Media reports have headlined ‘warrior genes’, ‘the aggressive gene’ and the ‘get out of jail free gene’, all referring to levels of monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) (Lea and Chambers, 2007 ; Levitt and Pieri, 2009 ) 3 . Think tanks and ethics groups have considered the ethics and practicalities of genetic testing for behavioural traits (Campbell and Ross, 2004 ; Dixon, 2005 Nuffield Council on Bioethics, 2002 ).

An attraction of research into genes and behaviour is the hope that identifying a genetic factor that is correlated with an increased incidence of, say, violent and antisocial behaviour, will point to a way of reducing such behaviour. Fotaki discusses the attraction of biological explanations of inequalities in health based on the assumption that genetic interventions ‘would succeed in addressing the causes of ill health that public health policies cannot.’ (Fotaki, 2011 , p.641). The danger is that biological explanations ‘are once more employed for political purposes to explain away the social roots of health inequalities.’ (ibid). Social scientists, and criminologists, have presented biological/genetic explanations of behaviour as dangerous in terms of their potential effect on the individuals or groups identified as genetically at risk. There are obvious dangers of discrimination against, and the stigmatisation of, already vulnerable groups who would be the first to be tested i.e. ‘problem’ families or minority ethnic groups. Discrimination could affect education, employment and family life. The effect of an individual being told s/he has a risk based on a genetic test has been much discussed in relation to health risks (Claassen et al., 2010 . While such information could be motivating, because it is personalised, it can also induce a fatalistic attitude that discourages the person from taking preventative measures. Claasen et al. conclude that it is important to identify those vulnerable to the fatalistic impact and to tailor health risk information (ibid p.194). Identifying risk for behaviour, rather than for disease, is likely to be more problematic because of the difficulty of finding preventative measures that are within the individuals’ own control.

..using DNA to assess risk, make a diagnosis or tailor treatments, may weaken beliefs in the efficacy of preventive behaviour and reinforce biological ways of reducing risk, resulting in a preference for medication as opposed to behavioural means to control or reduce risk (ibid, xiv).

Claasen et al.’s comment on genetic tests for health conditions could apply equally to parents given a behavioural risk for their young child from a genetic test, perhaps before any problem behaviour was evident. The test result could weaken parents’ belief that they could take action to prevent/reduce the risk of the behaviour developing in their child and pharmaceutical solutions, as posited by Caspi et al. might not be available (Caspi et al., 2002 , xvii). However, it is not necessarily the case that evidence of genetic or biological influence on behaviour leads to more punitive treatment. DeLisi et al. give the example of the use of findings from adolescent brain science in the case of Roper v. Simmons in the US which abolished the death penalty for adolescents. On the basis of the research it was stated that young people under the age of 18 ‘are more vulnerable or susceptible to negative influences and outside pressures including peer pressure’ (DeLisa et al., 2010 , p.25) When evidence on genetic traits associated with criminal behaviour has been allowed by courts, mainly in the US, it has so far more often been accepted as a mitigating rather than an aggravating factor in the offenders’ behaviour (Denno, 2009 , Farahany and Coleman, 2006 ).

Environmental explanations of behaviour can, of course, also be presented as deterministic, claiming a closed future for those experiencing poverty and disadvantage. However, it is biological explanations that have caused more concern not only because of the history of eugenics but also because they may be seen as more fundamental, being there from birth, and as harder to change. The public in surveys are reported to see the greatest role for genetic factors in physical features, a lesser role in health conditions and a smaller role still in human behaviour (Condit, 2010 , p.619).

Public perceptions

The model of nature/genes and nurture/environment is still used in behavioural genetics, as well as in popular culture, and has implications for public policy, including the treatment of offenders who claim that a genetic trait has influenced their criminal behaviour. The aim of this research was to explore ideas on the causes of behaviour, particularly violent and antisocial behaviour and examine how respondents use the nature/nurture model. This qualitative research looks at the ways in which lay publics in different age groups conceptualise the factors and influences that made them who they are and their explanations for the behaviour of other people; especially violent behaviour. It was hypothesised that the increased research and media emphasis on the role of genetic factors in health and behaviour might result in an increasing interest in ‘nature’, biology and genes as explanations for behaviour particularly among the young, but, when explaining their own behaviour people might prefer to see themselves as agents with control over their lives. By exploring explanations of behaviour with respondents from different generations, age differences should be apparent.

The views of 78 respondents from 3 generations were gathered by individual interview and questionnaires, using the same open ended questions and responses to two real-life criminal court case studies where environmental or genetic factors had been used by the defence team. Respondents were drawn from a group of retired people participating in an informal ‘senior learners’ programme at Lancaster University, a group of their mainly younger relatives and, in order to recruit more third generation respondents, a group of first year students taking a criminology module. The senior learners group had a programme of talks and discussions and could attend undergraduate lectures. They had, by definition, shown an interest in current issues in a range of fields. There were no educational or age requirements for the group but all the volunteers were retired from paid work and were aged from around 65 years to over 80 years.. They had had similar careers to those popular with social science students; social work, probation, teaching and administrative positions. The senior learners were asked to pass on questionnaires to younger relatives to investigate age differences in attitudes. The first 13 senior learners who responded were interviewed but as only 15 questionnaires were received from their relatives ethical approval was obtained to distribute the same questionnaire to Lancaster University students taking the criminology first year module. Most students were enrolled on social science degrees, including psychology and sociology, and age 18 or 19. While the sample of senior learners and relatives had only a few more women than men, 78 per cent of the students were female reflecting the gender balance on the module as a whole. This makes it difficult to comment on any gender differences in responses. No claims to generalisability are made for this exploratory study. Responses were coded and entered on SPSS and also analysed thematically using Atlas-ti.

The introduction to the interviews and questionnaire was ‘I am interested in your views and ideas on what makes us the people we are; what makes people behave the way they do? What is the influence of nature and nurture?’ The terms, nature and nurture were not used again until the final question. Although the terms were not defined all respondents readily used them with consistent meanings. They identified ‘nature’ with biology, ‘what you are born with’ and genes or DNA and nurture with all aspects of the environment including parenting, socio-economic conditions, the food you eat, culture and other people. Their understanding of environment was therefore similar to that used by genetic researchers; environment as everything that is external to the individual, although they tended to refer more to the social than the biological environment.

A general warm-up question asked whether, in their own family, there was anything they thought of as a ‘family trait’. Then respondents were asked; ‘Imagine a baby swapped at birth and brought up in a completely different family– which influences do you think would be most important – the influence of the birth parents or the influences of the new family- and why?’ 4 The rest of the interview schedule, and the subsequent questionnaire, consisted of open-ended questions.

Respondents were asked how they would explain different kinds of behaviour if they came across a child who is kind and considerate; a young person who displays antisocial and aggressive behaviour adult and an adult with criminal convictions for violence. This was to tap into any differences in general explanations of good and bad behaviour in young people and adults. A quotation about the child killers in the Bulger case being ‘unreformable’ was used to ascertain whether they saw some types of violent behavior, and the actors concerned, as immutable. In order to see how respondents conceptualized the influences of nature/biology/genes and environment/people/experiences in their own lives, respondents were asked to write down ‘what or who made you what you are today’ and any explanation of their responses. Comments were gathered on the introduction of an environmental factor (childhood neglect) by the defence in a violent attack by two young boys in England, and on a genetic factor (MAOA levels) introduced by the defence in an criminal court in Italy. Respondents were asked how they thought such evidence should be dealt with; whether it should affect the degree of blame and whether it should affect criminal responsibility. The final question asked if it mattered ‘for individuals or society’ whether nature or nurture was seen as most important in explaining problem behaviour. Those interviewed were asked if they had any further comments and there was a space for any additional comments on the questionnaire.

This paper focuses on the ways in which respondents employed nature/genes and nurture/environment in their responses as a whole and what other concepts they drew on when explaining behaviour.

Respondents’ explanations of what makes people behave the way they do are discussed through three themes.

• Nurture is more influential than nature
• Nature and nurture interact
• Emphasising nature (but never nurture) can be dangerous

Theme 1: Nurture is more influential than nature

Whether asked about influences on a baby adopted at birth, on their own lives, on an aggressive child or a violent young person, almost all respondents emphasised nurture. Parents and family were seen as the most important influences for babies and young children, moving to peer group and other relationships and experiences for a young person. The explanation for the violent behaviour of an adult had more to do with the individual and the importance of nurture/environment in explaining behaviour weakened. The quotations below explaining behaviour in a child adopted at birth, a young person and an adult illustrate the widening of influences from infancy through childhood and the onus on adults to take responsibility for themselves.

[a child] The environment in which a child grows up in, particularly the influence and role of the parents shapes how a child will grow up and what sort of adult they will be (77 Student). [a young person] I believe that upbringing shapes a person’s personality. Provisions of education, lifestyle opportunities and friendship groups all determine ….outlook. You can see evidence in young people at the school I teach at (20 Relative). Once adult they have to take responsibility for themselves and address whatever has been in their background. An adult can’t turn round and say it’s not my fault (5 Senior Learner).

Participants also saw themselves as shaped by the people surrounding them, starting with their parents, or those who brought them up. Several mentioned the illness and/or death of a parent during their childhood and older respondents talked about separation due to the second world war. Students were especially likely to mention the influence of morals instilled in them by their parents, the core values and discipline that they were taught at home. Educational experiences were important to all. For the senior learners the school leaving age had been age 15, so whether or not they stayed on at school and took public examinations was crucial for their future, and, this decision depended largely on their parents and environment. For the student respondents who had come to university from school, life so far has been ‘kind of set-out’ (41 Student), in the sense that they had progressed through the education system to gain qualifications for university. For their peer group it was normal still to be in education or training at the age of 18.

The lasting effects of early influences were particularly striking among the senior learners, because they were much further removed in years from their childhood. Many related stories about parental influence and also about teachers who taught them at least 50 years ago and had affected them for better or worse. For example a senior learner recalled one of her teachers;

I hated primary school – the teacher in 3rd or 4th year juniors [for ages 9–11] I hated her she was not a nice woman….. I passed to go to the grammar school and it shocked her. She made a derogatory comment – may not have been directed at me but felt it was- about some who should have passed and didn’t and some passing who should not have done…… I always vowed I would never be like that when I was teaching….(11 Senior Learner).

Those who related negative influences presented themselves as active in response, not necessarily at the time but later in their lives. For example a student whose mother had died wrote that ‘it made me more independent’ and another student who was bullied at school wrote that ‘it made me stronger’. The adult had to deal with all the influences (negative or positive) and take control.

Theme 2: Nature and nurture interact

While respondents’ view of themselves and of a child adopted at birth assigned greater influence to environment this did not mean that they held a simplistic model of, for example 60:40 nurture to nature. In this one question when they were asked to choose one or other as the major influence, almost all chose nurture, as many social scientists might do. However, in open questions and comments more complex interactive models were expressed. Environment/nurture can affect genes/nature and vice versa. No one used the term epigenetics but responses referred to the possibility of environmental influences affecting gene expression, for example;

People with certain predispositions (e.g. to violence) are affected by society, and society affects how their genes are expressed (40 Student).

An older respondent reflects on personal experience of child rearing and asks whether nurture is influenced by nature;

I think the nature nurture debate is very interesting. In my family I can see where my children have their own natures that have developed despite being brought up in the same family with the same boundaries etc. However, as a parent did I alter how I nurture them to take into account their nature? (14 Senior Learner).

This quotation illustrates the inseparability of nature and nurture. The child is developing within the family and the parent is developing parenting strategies informed by previous experiences and by other influences including the reactions of the children.

It was obvious to respondents that both genetic and environmental factors impact on everyone (although the role of genes is not yet understood) and it will be harder for some than for others to behave well because of their genes and environment. These people may need different treatment or extra help if they have committed violent and aggressive crimes but that does not excuse their behaviour. Only in exceptional cases, like insanity, can a young person or adult be said to have no choice but to act in a particular way. It is important that people are seen as responsible while also giving them the help they need. In these two comments the treatment for environmental problems and ‘biology’ are similar; the individual can be helped to modify his/her behaviour.

No, [nature and nurture] both play a part, but they can’t be the explanation for everything. Some people grow up in broken homes and get treated appallingly- yet they seem to understand right + wrong and accept responsibility for their actions. There are too many excuses and we never solve any problems, just make them harder to resolve.......I think if you are sane and you know right from wrong you need to suffer the consequences if you’ve committed a crime, but I do appreciate you may need help psychologically if you have anger issues, for example. If we constantly find reasons to diminish blame from people who have committed heinous acts of crime more people will think they can get away with it and it will cause more harm than good (78 Student). Some say you can’t fight your biology, but there are social factors that can stop bad behaviour like learned restraint (72 Student).

The desire to leave a space for individual agency may be linked to the finding that emphasising nature, but never nurture, could be dangerous. It is clear that as children grow up they can exercise more control over their environment, although some have more control and choices than others. On the other hand, whatever the individual is born with (genes and nature) is, or seems to be, less malleable which could lead to different criminal justice policies and different social perceptions of the criminal.

Theme 3: Emphasising nature (but never nurture) can be dangerous for society as a whole as well as for the criminal and victims

The question asked was whether it mattered ‘for individuals or society’ if either nature or nurture was seen as most important in explaining problem behavior. The two most popular answers were that both nature and nurture were needed to explain behaviour, or, that nurture was more important and that there were dangers in emphasising nature. No one in the sample regarded an emphasis on nurture as dangerous or detrimental to the individual or society. On the contrary, emphasising nurture was thought more likely to lead to non-punitive treatment of offenders. There would be attempts to alter future behaviour through improved education and parenting and spreading of knowledge in society about the impact nurture has on young people. Society as a whole would share the blame rather than the individual. As a student put it; ‘society as a whole [would be] open for criticism’ (55 S). An emphasis on nurture was therefore seen as more likely to lead to understanding of problem behaviours and effective treatment, however, the individuals were still to be held responsible for their behaviour.

In contrast there was a mistrust of nature/genetic explanations that again centred on the practical consequences for individuals. It would affect the way criminals were treated by others but could also change their view of themselves. Behaviour would be seen as unchangeable, out of the control of the individual or social action. As a consequence, individual accountability might be removed. The idea that individuals must normally be held responsible for their actions was constantly emphasised (Levitt, 2013 ).

It does [matter] because [if nurture is emphasised] people will care, parent and look after and raise people with more care. However if it’s proven it is nature, then people may lose the will to live (60 Student).

Several SLs referred to the examination at the end of primary education (the ‘eleven plus’) when explaining why they emphasised environment/nurture rather than nature, or, in this case, innate intelligence. The ‘eleven plus’ examination was used to decide which children would be offered a place at an academically selective grammar school and was based on the idea that intelligence, and future academic achievement, could be accurately measured and predicted at the age of 10 or 11.

‘The 11+ was a nature thing. I did the 11+ − it had an effect. Saying children not going to improve or change. Very embedded in the whole idea of nature – it can’t really be true’ (8 Senior Learner).

An emphasis on nature has practical detrimental consequences for individuals. Their status is fixed, for example as ‘not academic’ or ‘born evil’ and suggests, to them and to others, that their ‘nature’ is unchangeable or very difficult to change by individual or social action.

Yes, [it matters] hugely as position of blame is dependent on whether a person chose to do what they did .....nature suggests no control (35 Student).

Those who thought an emphasis on nature meant people were irredeemable either gave that as a reason not to emphasise nature or to suggest that in fact ‘defects’ of nature could be overcome, as in this comment by a student emphasising the power of education;

Yes it is very important because it helps to understand if people are reformable (nurture) or irredeemable (nature). I believe we are determined by our education and thus with the proper help we can change. In the case of people with major biological defects, education is still a way to get over these obstacles and society should be ready to help these people (38 Student).

It might be thought that offenders themselves would embrace a genetic explanation of their behaviour if this was interpreted, as the respondents feared, as meaning they were not responsible for their crimes. However, a small study of juvenile offenders in the Netherlands found that they gave social explanations of their crimes and most rejected the idea that biology might be a factor. They committed a crime for a specific purpose like to get money or to impress others or they gave environmental reasons such as a deprived background or peer pressure or explained their offences were due to psychological conditions brought on by the use of alcohol and soft drugs (Horstkötter et al., 2012 , p.291). Whether they gave goal directed or environmental reasons ‘most of them also state that they had a choice and that it was their choice to commit the crime’ (ibid p.292). As one young offender said in interview;

In the end the person makes the choice himself… The choices I have made also had a share in my past. But in the end I am the one who has made these choices (ibid).

Genes and environment

Respondents were at ease with the language of nature and nurture which was only used in the introduction to the questionnaire or interview. They readily equated genes with nature and nurture with all sorts of environmental influences. There was an acknowledgement that our understanding of environmental factors is greater than our understanding of genetics but that that would change. Older respondents were more likely to be concerned about such a change.

They're going to be doing a lot more with genetics. Influences policy profoundly and people have to be very careful. It worries me that seen to be [more determining]. The complexities don’t get looked at. If you emphasise environment it is safer from a policy point of view because given that most people don’t know what they are talking about it is safer to see the person as redeemable than to come down on the side of genetics and write people off (3 Senior Learner).

This quotation is typical in its view that nature/genes are seen as determining even though the influences on behaviour are, in reality, complex. Like the studies quoted at the beginning of the article respondents often acknowledged the complexities as nature and nurture interact but separated them when explaining the causes of specific behaviours. Students were less likely to be fearful of genetic explanations of behaviour despite their academic interest in social science. However, the hypothesis that young people might be more likely to be interested in genetic explanations for behaviour was not shown in this small study. The senior learners were more likely to refer to reading on genes and display knowledge of genetics. Older respondents and their relatives more often echoed the sociologists’ concerns about behavioural genetics discussed by Bearman earlier (Bearman, 2008 ). For those who feared the practical consequences of genetic explanations, like the respondent quoted above, ‘it is safer’ to keep away from them.

Some respondents in all age groups were prepared for advances in genetics to change their understanding of behaviour and prepared for current views of genes/nature as more basic, fixed and unchanging to change too. One of the youngest relatives, in her 20s, emphasised our incomplete knowledge of genetic influences on behaviour as a reason for focussing on nurture ‘at present’;

It is very tricky as we cannot see genes and I am not sure that I totally trust the idea of blaming genes for violent behaviour- maybe the person has a gene for passive behaviour as well. …….In any case we can change nurture but at present we cannot change nature so let’s do one thing at a time (20 Relative).

As respondents in this small study grappled with explanations for their own and others’ behaviour they focussed on the practical consequences leading to a greater concern over explanations based on nature than the more familiar ones based on a complex web of environmental factors. Whereas academic researchers approach the debate from their disciplinary perspectives which may or may not engage with practical and policy issues, the key issue for the public was what sort of explanations of behaviour will lead to the best outcomes for all concerned.

1 Behavioural epigenetic research has indicated that life experiences can affect gene expression. While controversial the research suggests the possibility of further complications for the nature-nurture relationship as nurture may be said to shape nature (Buchen, 2010 Powledge, 2011 ). 2 Bearman op cit iv. The ESRC Cambridge Network Social Contexts of Pathways into Crime (SCoPiC) promoted multidisciplinary research into the causes of crime and included the E risk longitudinal twin study led by Terri Moffitt which investigated how genetic and environmental factors shape children's disruptive behaviour http://www.scopic.ac.uk Accessed 3 Sep 2013. 3 Violent and antisocial behaviour in this longitudinal study was correlated with a common genetic trait (low expression of MAOA) only where the person was severely maltreated in childhood. Behaviour was measured on 4 outcomes; diagnoses of conduct disorder, psychological tests of aggression and anti-social personality disorder and convictions for violent crime. Caspi et al. 2002 (supplementary material). 4 This initial warm-up question implied that the influences of nature and nurture could be separated and quantified as in common usage both in academic and popular discourses. As discussed respondents were able to express their views more fully (and with more complexity) in the subsequent open questions.

Acknowledgement

The support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is gratefully acknowledged. This work was part of the Research Programme of the ESRC Genomics Network at Cesagen (ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics).

Competing interests

The author declares that she has no competing interests.

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Online Guide to Writing and Research

The research process, explore more of umgc.

• Online Guide to Writing

The Nature of Research

What is “research”?

Your friend mentions that they just knitted a sweater and you have always wanted to learn how to knit.  What could you do now? You could watch a video on YouTube, look for knitting books at your local library, or ask your friend who can knit how to start.  What you are actively doing here is “researching” the topic of knitting and learning more about it.  We do this in our everyday lives, and we also do this when writing a paper for our academic coursework.   

Simply put, research is information gathering about something that’s new to you.  We research every day, utilizing the internet for most of our research gathering, whether personal or academic. 

Academic research is information gathering under parameters specified by your coursework and assignment instructions.  For instance, if you are a political science major and you need to write a research paper about the similarities and differences between socialism and capitalism, you would then perform research to learn more about these terms and your final product (your paper) will join the scholarly community when completed.   

Mailing Address: 3501 University Blvd. East, Adelphi, MD 20783 This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License . © 2022 UMGC. All links to external sites were verified at the time of publication. UMGC is not responsible for the validity or integrity of information located at external sites.

Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing

Chapter 1: College Writing

How Does College Writing Differ from Workplace Writing?

What Is College Writing?

Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?

Chapter 2: The Writing Process

Doing Exploratory Research

Getting from Notes to Your Draft

Introduction

Prewriting - Techniques to Get Started - Mining Your Intuition

Prewriting: Targeting Your Audience

Prewriting: Techniques to Get Started

Prewriting: Understanding Your Assignment

Rewriting: Being Your Own Critic

Rewriting: Creating a Revision Strategy

Rewriting: Getting Feedback

Rewriting: The Final Draft

Techniques to Get Started - Outlining

Techniques to Get Started - Using Systematic Techniques

Thesis Statement and Controlling Idea

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Freewriting

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Summarizing Your Ideas

Writing: Outlining What You Will Write

Chapter 3: Thinking Strategies

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone: Style Through Vocabulary and Diction

Critical Strategies and Writing

Critical Strategies and Writing: Analysis

Critical Strategies and Writing: Evaluation

Critical Strategies and Writing: Persuasion

Critical Strategies and Writing: Synthesis

Developing a Paper Using Strategies

Kinds of Assignments You Will Write

Patterns for Presenting Information

Patterns for Presenting Information: Critiques

Patterns for Presenting Information: Discussing Raw Data

Patterns for Presenting Information: General-to-Specific Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Specific-to-General Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Summaries and Abstracts

Supporting with Research and Examples

Writing Essay Examinations

Writing Essay Examinations: Make Your Answer Relevant and Complete

Writing Essay Examinations: Organize Thinking Before Writing

Writing Essay Examinations: Read and Understand the Question

Chapter 4: The Research Process

Planning and Writing a Research Paper

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Ask a Research Question

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Cite Sources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Collect Evidence

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Decide Your Point of View, or Role, for Your Research

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Draw Conclusions

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Find a Topic and Get an Overview

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Manage Your Resources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Outline

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Survey the Literature

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Work Your Sources into Your Research Writing

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Human Resources

Research Resources: What Are Research Resources?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Electronic Resources

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Print Resources

Structuring the Research Paper: Formal Research Structure

Structuring the Research Paper: Informal Research Structure

The Research Assignment: How Should Research Sources Be Evaluated?

The Research Assignment: When Is Research Needed?

The Research Assignment: Why Perform Research?

Chapter 5: Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity

Giving Credit to Sources

Giving Credit to Sources: Copyright Laws

Giving Credit to Sources: Documentation

Giving Credit to Sources: Style Guides

Integrating Sources

Practicing Academic Integrity

Practicing Academic Integrity: Keeping Accurate Records

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Paraphrasing Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Quoting Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Summarizing Your Sources

Types of Documentation

Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists

Types of Documentation: Citing World Wide Web Sources

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - APA Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - CSE/CBE Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - Chicago Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style

Types of Documentation: Note Citations

Chapter 6: Using Library Resources

Finding Library Resources

Chapter 7: Assessing Your Writing

How Is Writing Graded?

How Is Writing Graded?: A General Assessment Tool

The Draft Stage

The Draft Stage: The First Draft

The Draft Stage: The Revision Process and the Final Draft

The Draft Stage: Using Feedback

The Research Stage

Using Assessment to Improve Your Writing

Chapter 8: Other Frequently Assigned Papers

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Article and Book Reviews

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Reaction Papers

Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Adapting the Argument Structure

Writing Arguments: Purposes of Argument

Writing Arguments: References to Consult for Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Anticipate Active Opposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Determine Your Organization

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Develop Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Introduce Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - State Your Thesis or Proposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Write Your Conclusion

Writing Arguments: Types of Argument

Appendix A: Books to Help Improve Your Writing

Dictionaries

General Style Manuals

Researching on the Internet

Special Style Manuals

Writing Handbooks

Appendix B: Collaborative Writing and Peer Reviewing

Collaborative Writing: Assignments to Accompany the Group Project

Collaborative Writing: Informal Progress Report

Collaborative Writing: Issues to Resolve

Collaborative Writing: Methodology

Collaborative Writing: Peer Evaluation

Collaborative Writing: Tasks of Collaborative Writing Group Members

Collaborative Writing: Writing Plan

General Introduction

Peer Reviewing

Appendix C: Developing an Improvement Plan

Working with Your Instructor’s Comments and Grades

Appendix D: Writing Plan and Project Schedule

Devising a Writing Project Plan and Schedule

Reviewing Your Plan with Others

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Ski resorts’ era of plentiful snow may be over due to climate crisis, study finds

US ski industry is losing billions as average season has become five to seven days shorter in past half century

If you have been enjoying lushly covered mountains by skiing or snowboarding this winter then such an experience could soon become a receding memory, with a new study finding that an era of reliably bountiful snow has already passed due to the climate crisis.

The US ski industry has lost more than $5bn over the past two decades due to human-caused global heating, the new research has calculated, due to the increasingly sparse nature of snowfall on mountain ranges. Previous studies have shown that in many locations precipitation is now coming in the form of rain, rather than snow, due to warming temperatures.

This situation, the new study states, has shortened the average ski season in the US by five to seven days over the past half century, costing the industry an average of $252m a year from lost revenue and the rising cost of making snow via machines .

“We are probably past the era of peak ski seasons,” said Daniel Scott, a scientist at the University of Waterloo in Canada, who undertook the research with colleagues at the University of Innsbruck . “Climate change is an evolving business reality for the ski industry and the tourism sector.”

Unusually warm winters for parts of the US, as well as ski resorts in Europe, have illustrated the mounting problems facing the pastime. Mountains across France, Austria and Bosnia have been left almost entirely bare of snow, forcing ski lifts to judder to a halt and resorts to shutter.

In the US, sites across the western half of the country have reported less than half the normal snowpack, causing resorts to scramble into greater snow production or scale back their offering to skiers.

“The record-breaking temperatures this winter provided a preview of the future,” Scott said. “It tested the limits of snowmaking in many areas and altered millions of skiers’ ski visits and destination choices.”

Last year was the hottest, globally, ever recorded and 2024 is following this with extraordinary levels of heat that have set new records in January and February . The absence of a normal winter in many locations has been evident in the mountains, with the lack of snow not only imperiling winter sports but also risking a crucial reservoir of water where melting snowpack feeds rivers and streams throughout spring.

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The winnowing away of ski seasons is already evident, according to the new research which compared winters from the 1960s and 1970s with the two decades since 2000. The shrinkage is set to continue as the world heats up further due to the burning of fossil fuels, with ski seasons set to be reduced by 14 to 33 days by the 2050s, even if the world is able to severely cut planet-heating emissions and develop advanced methods to make snow.

Should the world fail to curtail emissions the future is even bleaker, the study forecast, with as much as two months of the year lost for ski conditions by the mid-part of the century if this occurs.

“Average ski seasons in all US regional markets are projected to get shorter in the decades ahead under all emission futures,” Scott said.

“How much shorter depends on the ability of all countries to deliver on their Paris climate agreement emission reduction commitments and whether global warming temperatures are held below 2C (3.6F).”

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New study reveals breakthrough in understanding brain stimulation therapies

For the first time, researchers show how the brain can precisely adapt to external stimulation.

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (03/14/2024) — For the first time, researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities showed that non-invasive brain stimulation can change a specific brain mechanism that is directly related to human behavior. This is a major step forward for discovering new therapies to treat  brain disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.

The study was recently published in  Nature Communications , a peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journal.  

Researchers used what is called “transcranial alternating current stimulation” to modulate brain activity. This technique is also known as neuromodulation. By applying a small electrical current to the brain, the timing of when brain cells are active is shifted. This modulation of neural timing is related to neuroplasticity, which is a change in the connections between brain cells that is needed for human behavior, learning, and cognition. 

“Previous research showed that brain activity was time-locked to stimulation. What we found in this new study is that this relationship slowly changed and the brain adapted over time as we added in external stimulation,” said Alexander Opitz, University of Minnesota biomedical engineering associate professor. “This showed brain activity shifting in a way we didn’t expect.” 

This result is called “neural phase precession.” This is when the brain activity gradually changes over time in relation to a repeating pattern, like an external event or in this case non-invasive stimulation. In this research, all three investigated methods (computational models, humans, and animals) showed that the external stimulation could shift brain activity over time.

“The timing of this repeating pattern has a direct impact on brain processes, for example, how we navigate space, learn, and remember,” Opitz said.

The discovery of this new technique shows how the brain adapts to external stimulation. This technique can increase or decrease brain activity, but is most powerful when it targets specific brain functions that affect behaviors. This way, long-term memory as well as learning can be improved. The long-term goal is to use this technique in the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Opitz hopes that this discovery will help bring improved knowledge and technology to clinical applications, which could lead to more personalized therapies for schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.

In addition to Opitz, the research team included co-first authors Miles Wischnewski and Harry Tran. Other team members from the University of Minnesota Biomedical Engineering Department include Zhihe Zhao, Zachary Haigh, Nipun Perera, Ivan Alekseichuk, Sina Shirinpour and Jonna Rotteveel. This study was in collaboration with Dr. Jan Zimmermann, associate professor in the University of Minnesota Medical School.

This work was supported primarily by the National Institute of Health (NIH) along with the  Behavior and Brain Research Foundation and the University of Minnesota’s Minnesota’s Discovery, Research, and InnoVation Economy (MnDRIVE) Initiative. Computational resources were provided by the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI).

To read the entire research paper titled, “Induced neural phase precession through exogenous electric fields”, visit the  Nature Communications website .

Rhonda Zurn, College of Science and Engineering,  [email protected]

University Public Relations,  [email protected]

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A study found no brain injuries linked to Havana Syndrome. Participants question the research

A study by the National Institutes of Health spanning four years did not find signs of brain injuries in people affected by the mysterious ailment known as Havana Syndrome, but the results, published Monday in a medical journal, have been disputed by participants who accused authors of bias and mishandling confidential medical information.

According to a research paper published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the NIH team found no signs of brain injuries in advanced MRI scans of 81 people who experienced “anomalous health incidents,” the government term for the events associated with the Havana Syndrome.

Two earlier imaging studies published in JAMA had found signs of mild traumatic injury and other changes in the brains of people exposed to the incidents in Cuba and China.

Havana Syndrome got its name from the city where U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials first reported in 2016 experiencing strange noises and sensations of pressure, and later developed debilitating symptoms like vertigo, migraines and hearing and cognitive problems. The incidents were later reported around the world, which led to suspicions that a foreign adversary, possibly Russia, was attacking U.S. diplomats and spies with directed energy or some other unknown weapon.

The NIH imaging study, conducted by the NIH Clinical Center between June 2018 and November 2022, recruited participants stationed in Cuba and other places like China, Austria, and the United States. Only 49 of the 81 patients were scanned twice.

A second paper published in JAMA says the researchers did not find significant differences in blood , vision, hearing, and cognitive tests of 86 participants and those of a smaller controlled group “except for self-reported and objective measures of imbalance; symptoms of fatigue, post-traumatic stress, and depression.” According to that study, 41% of participants had symptoms of neurological disorders.

“The post-traumatic stress and mood symptoms reported are not surprising given the ongoing concerns of many of the participants,” said Louis French, deputy director of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and a co-author of the study. “Often, these individuals have had significant disruption to their lives and continue to have concerns about their health and their future. This level of stress can have significant negative impacts on the recovery process.”

Congress to look at intelligence agencies’ handling of Havana Syndrome investigation

Although it concluded in 2022, the study was published Monday amid news that the House Intelligence Committee is launching a formal inquiry into how spy agencies handled the Havana Syndrome investigation, following complaints by whistle-blowers.

The results of the study align with an earlier intelligence community assessment published in March 2023, which concluded that most of the symptoms experienced by those affected were probably the result of “pre-existing conditions, conventional illnesses and environmental factors” because an attack by a foreign adversary was unlikely.

The assessment cites the NIH study, which was unpublished at the time, to support its conclusions.

‘Knife in the back’: Havana Syndrome victims dispute report dismissing their cases

However, the new study is unlikely to put the issue to rest, as some of the participants have questioned the integrity of the research.

Before the papers were published, Tim Breegen, a lawyer with the firm Hogan Lovells, sent an email to JAMA’s editorial board and the NIH Director of Research Integrity with a document listing several concerns from some of the study’s participants. Breegen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Breegen’s complaint, obtained by the Herald, includes allegations that NIH officials and researchers involved in the study maintained close contact with the CIA and were pressured to “ensure the studies ‘found’ what was asked of them.” The email says that doctors involved in the study made private remarks to patients that they were pressured or were afraid to report a traumatic brain injury diagnosis accurately, and that patients were told verbally of findings that were not later reported in writing in their medical records.

“As the nature and scope of the cooperation between CIA and NIH throughout this process has come to light, participants have dropped from the program, undermining the integrity of any longitudinal study findings and impeding the duty of both to put the welfare of Agency personnel first,” the complaint says.

The document said NIH asked the CIA to provide a comparative control group “given the unique and complex nature of the study’s participants and the unique demands of field-deployed intelligence officers.” However, the control group provided was not comparative or matched to the study participants, “and NIH staff routinely complained to participants about this fact,” the document adds.

The complaint also questions the inclusion in the study of one NIH doctor who, in 2017, made repeated comments about the Havana Syndrome being a case of mass hysteria.

Other allegations revolve around ethical issues regarding the recruitment of participants and the handling of medical data.

According to the complaint, several patients were coerced into taking part in the NIH study. They were told it was the only way to get bloodwork or brain scans and “were effectively blocked by their respective employers to visit other private institutions for that testing.”

Participants were told that the only way to get follow-up medical care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was if the NIH approved it. According to the document, enrollment in the NIH study “became a mandatory gateway to further care when its role was properly confined to data collection and analysis.”

The complaint adds that some officials who were evacuated from their posts after being affected by one of the mysterious incidents were directly told to report to NIH, which acted as the clearing medical entity to send them and their family members “back to post after weeks of research, with no treatment or treatment recommendations given to impacted individuals.”

The document also claims that NIH researchers disclosed specific test results to participants’ government employers without keeping them anonymous and without authorization, which resulted in consequences for study participants.

Asked about the allegations, an NIH spokesperson said: “We understand that some patients may be disappointed that researchers were unable to identify clear markers of injury. We take these allegations very seriously and will be reviewing the research’s performance in accordance with policy, which will determine the appropriate offices’ next steps. Beyond this, we wouldn’t discuss a review.”

A JAMA spokesperson did not say if the journal investigated the complaints.

“The publication process is confidential, so we can neither confirm nor deny anything that occurred prior to publication,” said Jen Zeis, the Director of Communications and Engagement for JAMA Network, which includes 13 peer-reviewed journals.

But JAMA also published Monday an article by Dr. David Relman, a prominent Stanford University professor, pointing out several limitations of the NIH study and research in general about the Havana Syndrome. Though the journal calls it an editorial, it does not represent the journal’s views, Zeis said.

“With few differences between cases and controls in the two current studies, one might suspect that nothing or nothing serious happened with these cases. This would be ill-advised,” Relman said.

Relman led a National Academy of Sciences study between 2019 and 2020 that concluded that the set of symptoms that came to be known as Havana Syndrome was “unlike any disorder in the neurological or general medical literature” and is “consistent with the effects of directed pulsed radiofrequency energy.” He was co-chair of an Intelligence Community Experts Panel that found that commercially available devices known as directional loudspeakers or acoustic lasers could caused the symptoms.

Relman said that “incomplete information, nonstandardized clinical testing, delayed reporting, and the sensitive nature of the circumstances, individuals, and their work” have hampered understanding of the syndrome.

Among the problems affecting the NIH study, he notes that some patients were scanned up to four years after the incidents, “which is important for a syndrome that evolves quickly with time.” He also argues that the researchers aggregated cases for their analysis, diluting findings for particular clusters of individuals.

Relman said NIH investigators relied on blood biomarkers developed for traumatic brain injury, which are known to peak about 24 hours after an incident and return to normal levels 3 to 7 days later. However, only 16 out of the 86 individuals studied had their blood tested within three days of the incident. “Hence, their study lacked relevant statistical power,” Relman wrote.

He also said that current MRI technology used in the study “may be insensitive to, or improperly timed for, the kinds of potentially transient cellular and local physiological disruption that characterizes” the health incidents.

The authors of the NIH study acknowledged some of these limitations. They said that testing closer to the incident might have resulted in different findings and that their research could not be directly compared to previous ones because they used a different sample of individuals.

“A lack of evidence for an MRI-detectable difference... does not exclude that an adverse event impacting the brain occurred at the time” of the incident, said Carlo Pierpaoli, an NIH investigator and lead author on the imaging paper.

This story was originally published March 19, 2024, 11:56 AM.

Nora Gámez Torres

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After ‘unexpected’ delays, AG’s office to release initial timeline of Lahaina fire in April

L AHAINA, Hawaii (KHON2) — Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez said the state will release its initial timeline of the Lahaina fire on April 17.

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The Fire Safety Research Institute was hired by the AG’s office to investigate the timeline of events on Aug. 8, 2023, or Phase 1 of the report.

AG Lopez said FSRI ran into delays.

In an email to KHON2, the AG’s team said FSRI was seeking documents and data, including photos, video and audio recordings; along with interviews with key Maui County personnel who worked during those first three days.

“Initial requests for information were made directly by FSRI investigators. The initial responses from the county were often slow and yielded less information than expected. To confirm that all responsive documents were being provided in response to these requests, the issuance of the initial three subpoenas by the Department of the Attorney General was deemed necessary. Afterward, the County of Maui stated that it would require subpoenas for subsequent document productions and interviews with any County of Maui personnel,” the email stated.

Attorney General Lopez said on Monday that FSRI has all the information needed to develop a timeline and conduct an analysis of what happened. The AG’s office said:

The purpose of this investigation is to make sure that this tragedy never happens again, period .

Former Attorney General Doug Chin said the public must remember that the state and four counties are all different entities.

“One reason why the county might be saying we want subpoenas for everything could be because the state and county aren’t getting along, that’s one possibility. Another possibility is that when you have a subpoena you’re introducing a formal process that ultimately, if there’s a disagreement or a problem, a judge will be able to look at this and decide whether the production of documents is satisfactory or if there needs to be more or whether the county doesn’t have to produce so much, is all under the supervision of a judge,” Chin explained.

The AG’s office said it issued 64 subpoenas to Maui County since November, including 11 subpoenas for documents from Maui Police, Maui Fire and Public Safety, Maui Emergency Management Agency, Maui Public Works, Maui Water Supply and the Finance Department.

The AG also issued 53 subpoenas to interview Maui Police officers, Maui dispatchers and MEMA workers.

“They want to know as much as possible about the events of that day, where were people, where were the different Maui county employees,” explained Chin.

“Whether it was law enforcement or the emergency management officials or other players involved in Aug. 8, 2023 those are going to be the people they want to interview and the documents they wrote up that day is what the state is going to want to look at because those are present in time contemporaneous recollections of what was going on that day.”

Chin said they can subpoena texts, social media posts, and other types of communication from that day.

“Anytime you have a subpoena process what that does is create a formality in the investigation that I think in this case the state and county probably want,” Chin explained.

“That way if there is any pushback on ‘why are you subpoenaing so many people’ or ‘why are you asking for so many documents’ or ‘we’re going to produce these documents and not these documents to you because they’re privileged,’ all of those can be resolved by a judge if the two parties, the state and the county, can’t agree with each other.”

He said the downside of the formal subpoena process is that it takes time.

The Camp Fire which destroyed the town of Paradise, California claimed 85 lives.

KHON2 reached out to the Butte County District Attorney who said they had to issue hundreds of subpoenas to PG&E employees and the whole process took about one year.

The list of subpoenas for the AG’s Phase 1 investigation, did not include Hawaiian Electric, which has touted transparency.

“We have fully cooperated with the attorney general’s investigation and have not received any subpoenas,” HECO said in a statement.

Maui County said in an email on Monday afternoon that it shares the AG’s goal of comprehensively analyzing the timeline of the August 2023 utility-caused fires, a task that is simultaneously being completed by the County of Maui Fire Department, by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and by dozens of independent experts in the ongoing lawsuits related to the fires.

The county pointed out that MPD had completed its After Action Report in which a timeline was given.

Maui County said it’s delivered over thirty different productions of documents (containing nearly 20,000 distinct files, including almost 8,000 video and audio files, 48,000 pages, and over 118 gigabytes of data) and has made its workers, directors, deputies, and employees available for over 150 technical interviews and numerous site visits into and around the affected areas.

“The County has shown and continues to show great respect for the Department’s investigative authority in this matter,” the email stated.

Maui officials added, “Of course, the County also appreciates the Department’s [Attorney General] mutual respect for the realities faced by a significant number of County personnel, who must continue maintaining the operations of County infrastructure and systems while they also grieve, re-orient their lives, and recover physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually from the fires. To this end, subpoenas were requested for personnel testimony following multiple instances of FSRI arriving to interview County personnel, including first responders, without notice, coordination, or legal representation. In fact, there were several occasions where such interviews occurred during work hours and were interrupted by emergencies requiring the attention of County personnel, only to have FSRI waiting for them upon their return.”

Maui County said document subpoenas were requested to organize and track FSRI’s “dozens of requests, many of which FSRI communicated directly to County personnel despite the County’s repeated requests to go through Corporation Counsel.”

The e-mail added that the document subpoenas have “greatly assisted in managing FSRI’s more than 150 informal and unorganized document requests and has allowed County personnel to better track the progress of production for each. It has also helped the County identify multiple instances of repeated requests or requests for information that had already been provided.”

“Finally, the County has provided to FSRI all documents that have been produced by the County in response to dozens of UIPA requests from the public.

The County, pursuant to the ongoing litigation, is in the process of disclosing both the UIPA production and the FSRI production to all parties in the ongoing litigation—including hundreds of claimants and their attorneys and experts. The County is in the process of complying with its discovery obligations with respect to that order.”

The FSRI told KHON2 it conducts advanced fire science research to advance fire safety knowledge and address the world’s unresolved risks and emerging dangers and works in collaboration with its international network of partners.

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FSRI said the Phase One report will analyze how the fire incident unfolded, based on science, during the first 24 to 72 hours of the fire and its aftermath, and includes a comprehensive timeline of events. The analysis will be included in Phase Two. 

“Since the investigation is ongoing, FSRI cannot provide additional details before the Phase One report is released on April 17,” the e-mail stated.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2.