LITTER BOX BEHAVIOR IN A DOMESTIC CAT

An Investigation of Litter Box Behavior in A Domestic Tabby Cat

LITTER BOX BEHAVIOR IN A DOMESTIC CAT Abstract

The text of the abstract goes here. It should be a single paragraph presented as a block format, that is, the first line should not be indented. The purpose of the abstract is to provide a brief and comprehensive summary of the paper. It should be accurate (do not include information here that is not in the body of the paper), self-contained (spell out abbreviations), concise (120 word maximum), and specific (begin this section with the most important information and limit it to the four or five most important concepts, findings, or implications of the study). As part of the theme of being concise, use digits for all numbers except when they begin a sentence. Avoid citing references in the abstractbut you can use names of researchers, e.g., research conducted by Cole and Bond is addressed. Paraphrase rather than quote. Use active rather than passive voice (but without personal pronouns). Use past tense for work that has been conducted; future tense for work that will be conducted. It is a good idea to write this section last. Also notice that everything about this paper is double spaced. The next section begins on a new page. If you press and hold down the ctrl key while you press the enter key, MS Word will force a page break.

LITTER BOX BEHAVIOR IN A DOMESTIC CAT An Investigation of Litter Box Behavior in A Domestic Tabby Cat Begin the introduction here. Retype your title and center it at the top of the introduction as indicated abovethe body of an APA-style term paper does not start with the heading Introduction. The main purpose of this section is to present the review portion of your term paper (i.e., provide background of the animal and the behavior that you observed and will describe in the naturalistic observation research section of the term paper). Note that the behavior that you will observe needs to be a

behavior that you can explain from an evolutionary perspective. Behaviors that have an evolutionary perspective are basically any behavior that serves a biological purpose for that animal. For example, if you have Betta Splendens, which are small fish that you can buy at any pet store, and if you put two Bettas either in the same tank with a clear barrier, or in two clear tanks next to each other (do not put two Bettas in the same tank without a barrier), you will notice that the Bettas will display a unique defensive threat display behavior when they look at each other. From an evolutionary perspective, the purpose of this behavior is to fight off any predatory behavior. Another example of a behavior that can be explained from an evolutionary perspective is a dogs marking of areas where other dogs have urinated. Dogs do this because of their evolutionary history as pack animalsthey share their scents. As a final example, you could plan on conducting a naturalistic observation of ants in your backyard, and you could describe the behavior of foraging for food and brining the food back to the next. The reason why ants walk in a line and follow each other is because they are following a chemical

LITTER BOX BEHAVIOR IN A DOMESTIC CAT

marking that the pervious ant has left. Keep in mind that for each of the examples I have presented, you would need to provide some primary references on the animal and the particular behavior. Your textbook is a great place to start for reference. The introduction should start out broad and become more and more specific. For example, you might begin by defining any relevant terms. Then go on to review the relevant literature. Avoid an exhaustive and historical review, although since you are writing a term paper that encompasses a literature review of the particular animal you will be studying, and a literature review of the particular animals evolutionary behavior that you will be studying, some historical/background discussion would be appropriate. Describe important results from primary literature articles that will support your naturalistic observation research. Specifically, if you are wiring your term paper on your cats use of a litter box, you would present primary literature articles on the evolutionary history of litter box behavior in cats, and prior research on cats litter box behavior. Next, go on to make clear the connection between previous research and the present work. You might include any hypotheses and the rationale for them. For example, if you are writing a term paper on using a litter box in cats, you might propose a hypothesis that cats use a litter box to hide the scent of their elimination. The final paragraph of the introduction usually contains a statement which clearly and explicitly states what is unique about your term paper. For example, you could state that previous research on a certain topic has thus far not been integrated with current naturalistic observation research. This section should contain approximately four paragraphs: the general introduction, the literature review on the animal and its evolutionary behavior,

LITTER BOX BEHAVIOR IN A DOMESTIC CAT the connection of the naturalistic observation research to the literature, and the explicit

statement of uniqueness or purpose. The next section of the paper may contain several section headings that you will use to identify key points of your paper, such as: Naturalistic Observation Research Describe in detail the naturalistic observation research that you have conducted watching your cats litter box behavior. Describe your cat (age, sex, breed, etc.), where you have observed the behavior (basement, closet, etc.), the type of litter box, the type of litter, etc. Describe how often you observed the behavior (e.g., three 15-minute instances of the cat using the litter box). If you want, you may refer to a Table or Figure these are presented at the end of the paper, after the References section. For the purposes of this term paper, naturalistic observation refers to observation in your home, in your background, in a park, in a zoo, at a petshop, etc. Naturalistic observation does not include websites, movies, or television shows. Implications of the Experimental Evidence Point out and address the implications of the experimental evidence (or other sources of data) that you presented in the preceding section. Limitations of the Experimental Evidence Address any controversies or limitations of the primary literature and your empirical research. Future Directions

LITTER BOX BEHAVIOR IN A DOMESTIC CAT You can present any recommendations you may have, or any future directions that you think the research should take to investigate the phenomenon of interest (i.e., the topic of your term paper). Conclusion The purpose of this section is to present a brief, non-technical summary of the body of the paper (i.e., everything that you have written above). In other words, tell the

reader about the main findings without using statistical terminology. You need an ending paragraph in which you make a final summary statement of the conclusions you have drawn. You are also encouraged, when appropriate, to comment on the importance and relevance of your findings. How are your findings related to the big picture?

LITTER BOX BEHAVIOR IN A DOMESTIC CAT References

Kinsey, A. C., Pomeroy, W. B., Martin, C. E., & Gebhard, P. H. (1953). Sexual behavior in the human female. New York: W. B. Saunders. Plonsky, M. (2004). Psychology with style: A hypertext writing guide (Version 5). Retrieved from the Web 1/17/04. http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/apa4b.htm Riley, E. P., Lochry, E. A., & Shapiro, N. R. (1979). Lack of response inhibition in rats prenatally exposed to alcohol. Psychopharmacology, 62, 47-52.

LITTER BOX BEHAVIOR IN A DOMESTIC CAT Table 1 Litter Box Usage by My 6-Year-Old Male Siamese Cat Age Acquired Information How babies are made How babies are born Sexual intercourse Menstruation Nocturnal emissions Masturbation Birth control Homosexuality Genital terminology Orgasm STD's Mean 10.1 10.0 11.6 11.6 12.5 13.0 13.9 13.4 12.4 14.0 14.1 SD 2.9 3.1 2.6 2.2 2.6 2.6 2.4 2.8 2.9 2.3 2.3 Youngest Age Mean 8.5 8.4 10.4 9.9 10.8 11.4 12.0 11.3 10.4 12.5 12.0 SD 2.8 3.1 2.6 2.1 2.6 2.8 2.2 2.8 3.3 2.7 2.4 Oldest Age Mean 11.9 11.6 13.1 12.6 13.4 14.0 14.3 14.1 13.1 15.0 14.7 SD 2.7 2.8 2.6 2.1 2.7 2.6 2.4 2.5 3.3 2.6 2.4

STD's = Sexually transmitted diseases

LITTER BOX BEHAVIOR IN A DOMESTIC CAT Figure Captions Figure 1. Mean number of trials to learn a passive avoidance task as a function of age and maternal ethanol consumption in rats. Data based on Riley, Lockrey and Shapiro (1979).

LITTER BOX BEHAVIOR IN A DOMESTIC CAT

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