RULES FOR ALL EXTRA CREDIT PAPERS AND “MAKE-UP EXAM” PAPERS:
1. Topic Choice: Topics must be from the approved list found in this packet (next page). You cannot
turn in a paper from another class.
2. Quotations: In the body of any paper, you must include at least two direct quotations of material from
the sources in your bibliography. Use quotation marks or indenting to indicate clearly that these are
quotations. You may use any format for citing from the sources.
3. Sources and Sources Page: You must uses at least three sources other than your official class texts. You
can use those too. List all sources on a sources page, which does not count toward the total number of pages
required for this paper. You may use any format for listing your sources.
4. Length of Papers: Must be at least four pages of paragraph-form text (pictures/tables/lists etc. don’t
count) It is OK to leave some blank space on 1ST and 4TH pages but, combined, those two pages should add
to at least one full page of text.
5. Typing Style: All papers must be typed, double-spaced, no fonts larger than 12, no margins greater
than 1 inch.
6. Copying from Sources: Do not copy groups of sentences off a web site or out of a book or other source
to compose your paper except in places where you put the material in quotes and cite a source. Your paper
must be an original paper written by yourself. All sources must be listed (cited) on your sources page. You
shall not submit a paper that was not written in bulk by you for this class or which you already used for
credit in another class. The instructor reserves the right to give no credit to a paper found to be in substantial
violation of these rules. The school allows additional penalties and disciplinary action for a student who is
caught in violation of the school’s rules on plagiarism and cheating. I can easily track down papers copied
off the Internet using Meta-Search techniques and turnitin.com
Extra Credit Topics List for Extra Credit #1 Paper (EC#1):
Compare the Moon to Mercury
Compare Mars to Venus
Compare Asteroids to Comets
Compare Ceres to Pluto and Eris (all are “dwarf planets”)
Discuss the discoveries of Johannes Kepler and his life (at least half about his work on astronomy)
Discuss the discoveries of Galileo and his life (at least half about his work on astronomy)
Compare Io with Europa (2 of Jupiter’s moons)
Compare Titan with Enceladus (2 of Saturn’s moons)
The Methods and Results of Studies of Exoplanets
Discuss the Doppler Effect and Its Uses in Astronomy
Possibility of Life at Mars, Europa, and Elsewhere in the Solar System