Choosе а primаte behavior topic. It should be a relatively specific topic so you can more easily pull
together the different sources in your analysis – but not so specific that you cannot find sources.
Some suggested topics to start with are listed at the end of this sheet. Your topic must be
primatological, but it can be situated outside of biological anthropology. You are encouraged to
choose a primate behavior topic that relates to your major or your major interests (this may not be
possible if your major is outside of Liberal Arts). The topic you choose will likely change a bit while
you do your research – this is fine and expected. Please make sure I approve your topic before your
finalize your bibliography.
Research your topic. Find and read MANY DIFFERENT SOURCES about your topic. This will
help you narrow down which 5 you want to use. Do not pick the first 5 you find. Pick the best 5
that suit your needs.
Your sources must be from peer-reviewed scholarly sources and should be reporting on original
research (i.e., not a summary of someone else’s work). Examples of peer reviewed scholarly sources
include professional journal articles (see list below), articles from edited volumes, and books written
for a professional audience by the person(s) doing the research. You should find your sources using
the Library website. Note that many sources may not have the name of your topic in their title. Be
creative with the words you use in searching for relevant sources.
Once you have chosen your 5 articles, write a 1-page review of each one in which you discuss the
key point(s). It should be clear from your review why you chose that specific source. Give the full
bibliographic information of each source above the 1-page review of it.
After writing your 1 page reviews (these are the annotated part of your bibliography), write a 2-3
page analysis of your topic according to the sources. Your analysis should be in the form of a
literature review; a discussion of the topic where you cite each of your sources. Your analysis should
not be a regurgitation of the 1 page summaries, although there will obviously be some overlap.
Your analysis instead should focus on your topic and should weave references to the sources
throughout. Your 2-3 page analysis should appear at the end of your 1-page reviews. We will talk
more about this in class.
Some suggested topics (they may need further narrowing down)
• Conflict resolution behaviors in a given species or group of species
• Play behavior in juveniles (narrow down to age group or species, etc.)
• Female or male dominance hierarchies in a given species or group of species
• Activity rhythm comparisons (1 species, multiple disparate sites)
• Are diurnal (or nocturnal) primates strictly diurnal (or nocturnal)?
• Human/primate interactions (various topics here)
• Food sharing behavior in a given species or group of species
• Mixed species communities (various topics here)

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For referencing

American Journal of Physical Anthropology (AJPA) Citation Style

FOR BOOKS (with one or more authors, but not edited books):
Author’s last name initials. Date of publication. Title of book in lower case. Place of publication:
publisher.
Examples:
Byers SN. 2002. Introduction to forensic anthropology: a textbook. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Hildebrand M. 1988. Analysis of vertebrate structure. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Moynihan M. 1976a. The New World primates: adaptive radiation and the evolution of social
behavior, languages and intelligence. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Sussman RW. 2000. Primate ecology and social structure, vol. 2: New World monkeys. Needham
Heights: Maryland.
FOR ARTICLES IN EDITED BOOKS OR VOLUMES:
Article author’s last name, initials. Date of pub. Article title. “In:” followed by book editors last
names and initials, followed by, “editors”. Title of book. Place of publication: Publisher.
Page range of article.
Examples:
Garber PA. 1984. Use of habitat and positional behavior in a Neotropical primate Saguinus oedipus.
In: Rodman PS, Cant JGH, editors. Adaptations for foraging in nonhuman primates. New
York: Columbia University Press. p 112-133.
Grand TI. 1990. The functional anatomy of body mass. In: Damuth J, MacFadden BJ, editors.
Body size in mammalian paleobiology: estimation and biological implications. New York:
Cambridge University Press. p 39-47.
Kay RF, Meldrum DJ. 1996. A new small platyrrhine and the phyletic position of Callitrichinae. In:
Kay RF, Madden RH, Cifelli RL, Flynn JJ, editors. Vertebrate paleontology in the
Neotropics: the Miocene fauna of La Venta Colombia. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian
Institution Press. p. 435-458.
Roberts D. 1974. Structure and function of the primate scapula. In: Jenkins FA. Jr., editor. Primate
locomotion. New York: Academic Press. p 171-200.
FOR ARTICLES IN JOURNALS:
Author last name, initials. Date of pub. Article title. Journal it is published in volume #:page range.
Examples:
Dagosto M. 1985. The distal tibia of primates with special reference to the Omomyidae. Int J
Primatol 6: 45-75.
NOTE: article title is not capitalized except for first word; journal name is abbreviated – International Journal of
Primateology is now Int J Primatol -; volume # is italicized.
Additional examples:
Bock WJ. 1988. The nature of explanations in morphology. Amer Zool 28: 205-215.
Fleagle JG, Conroy GC, Simons EL. 1975. Ape limb bone from the Oligocene of Egypt. Science
189: 135-137.
Garber PA. 1984b. Proposed nutritional importance of plant exudates in the diet of the
Panamanian tamarin, Saguinus oedipus geoffroyi. Int J Primatol 5: 1-15.
IN TEXT CITATION
When writing, you must give the original author(s) credit for every idea of his/hers you use or refer
to. This means that giving one citation at the end of a paragraph full of a writer’s many ideas is not
enough; you should acknowledge each of the ideas with a citation. To cite (acknowledge) a source
in your writing, use the author’s last name followed by the date: (Davis, 2003). No page number is
needed unless it is a direct quote (and note that I strongly discourage use of direct quotes). Most
citations will come directly after the idea you are crediting them with, such as:
Recent work on tamarin anatomy have shown species level distinctions (Davis, 2003).
OR
Davis’ (2003) work showed species level distinctions in tamarin anatomy
If there are two authors, use both their names:
The data were re-analyzed and found to have additional import (Gonzales and Katembe, 1999)
or
Han and Wittsand (1999) suggest the data need to be re-analyzed using the new methodology.
If there are three or more authors, use only the first author’s name, followed by “et. al.”:
So for a 2004 article by Collier, Ramos, and Dunphy, you would put: “Collier, et. al., 2004”, but in
the bibliography, ALL names must be given (see above under “Additional Examples”).