ENL Communications

APA Documentation
In-text Citations Exercise

Biological Clocks:
The Body's Internal Timepieces
(excerpt)

1 Life in modern technological societies is built around timepieces. People set clocks on their smartphones,
microwave ovens, PVRs, and electric coffee makers. Students respond to bells that start and end the school day as well
as dividing it into blocks of time. Almost everyone relies on clocks to manage time well. While carefully managing
the minutes and hours each day, people are often encouraged or forced by current styles of family and work life to
violate another kind of time: their body's time. Biological clocks, which are also known as circadian cycles, are a
significant feature of human design that greatly affect personal and professional lifestyles.
2 The term 'circadian,' which is Latin for 'about a day,' describes the rhythms of people's internal biological
clocks. Circadian cycles are in tune with external time cycles such as the twenty-four-hour period of the earth's daily
rotation as signaled by the rising and setting of the sun. Usually, humans set their biological clocks by seeing these
cycles of daylight and darkness. Studies conducted in caves or similar environments that allowed researchers to control
light and darkness have shown that most people create cycles slightly over twenty-four hours when they are not
exposed to natural cycles of day and night (Allis & Haederle, 2005, p. 52 ; Enright, 2006, p. 34 ). Human perception of
the external day-night cycle affects the production and release of a brain hormone, melatonin, which is important in
initiating and regulating the sleep-wake cycle, as Alfred Lewy and other scientists at the National Institute of Health in
Bethesda, Maryland, have found (Winfree, 2004, p. 49).
3 An individual's lifestyle reflects that person's own circadian cycle. Scientists group people as "larks" or
"owls" based on whether individuals are more efficient in the morning or at night. The idea behind the labels is that "in
nature certain animals are diurnal, active at night. The 'morning lark' and 'night owl' connotations typically are used to
categorize the human extremes" (“Are You,” 2005, p. 11).
4 "Larks" who must stay up late at night and "owls" who must awaken early in the morning experience mild
versions of the disturbances, called 'jet lag,' that time-zone travelers often encounter. Travel researcher Phillip Bonner
(2004) explains that jet lag, a condition characterized by fatigue and irregular sleep patterns, results from a disruption
of circadian rhythms, a common problem among people who travel great distances by air to different time zones:
Jet lag syndrome is the inability of the internal body rhythm to rapidly resynchronize after sudden shifts in
the timing. For a variety of reasons, the system attempts to maintain stability and resist temporal change.
Consequently, complete adjustment can often be delayed for several days - sometimes for a week - after
arrival at one's destination. (p. 72)
5 Interestingly, research shows that the number of flying hours is not the cause of jet lag. Rather, as sleep
researcher Richard Coleman (2003) reports in Wide Awake at 3 a.m.: By Choice or by Chance?, "the number, rate, and
direction of time zone changes are the critical factors in determining the extent and degree of jet lag symptoms" (p. 67).
Eastbound travelers find it harder to adjust than westbound travelers because traveling east forces people to go to bed
before their biological clocks are ready for them to do so (Coleman, 2003, p. 69).
6 Another group that suffers greatly from biological clock disruptions consists of people whose livelihoods
depend on erratic schedules. This situation affects twenty to thirty million U.S. workers whose work schedules differ
from the usual morning starting time and afternoon or early evening ending time (Weiss 2005b p. 37). Charles
Czeisler, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Disorders at Brigham and Woman's Hospital in Boston, reports
that twenty-seven percent of the American workforce does shift work (Binkley, 1999, p.211). Shift work can mean, for
example, working from 7:00 am to 3:00 p.m. for six weeks, from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. for six weeks, and from
11:00p.m. to 7:00 a.m. for six weeks. Many shift workers endure stomach and intestinal-tract disorders, and, on
average, they have three times higher risk of heart disease than non-shift workers (Bingham, 2002). In a 1999 report to
the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Czeisler states that "police officers, [medical] interns, and
many others who work nights perform poorly and are involved in more on-the-job accidents than their daytime
counterparts" (as cited in Chollar, 2007, p. 26).
7 Other researchers confirm that safety is at risk during late-shift hours (Chollar, 2007, p. 26). In a study by
Czeisler of twenty-eight medical interns observed during late night shifts over a one-year period, twenty-five percent
admitted to falling asleep while talking on the phone, and thirty-four percent had at least one accident or near-death
accident during that period (Weiss, 2005a, p. 37).

(CONTINUED)
 References

Allis, T. & Haerderle, M. (2005, July 3). Ace in the hole: Stephania Follini never caved in. People, 52.

Are you a day or night person? (2005, March). USA Today Magazine, 606, 11.

Binkley, S. (1999). The clockwork sparrow. New Jersey: Prentice.

Bingham, R.. (Producer and Director). (2002). The time of our lives. [motion picture]. United States: PBS
Pictures.

Bonner, P. (2004, July). Travel rhythms. Sky magazine, 72-73.

Coleman, R. (2003). Wide awake at 3:00 a.m.: By Choice or by Chance? New York: Freeman.

Enright, J. (2006). The timing of sleep and wakefulness. Berlin: Springer-Verlang.

Weiss, R. (2005). Accidents in the workplace. Toronto: Random House.

Weiss, R. (2005, July 4). Safety gets the short shrift on long night shifts. Science News, 303, 37.

Winfree, A. (2004). The timing of biological clocks. New York: Freeman.

Read through the student paper “Biological Clocks: The Body’s Internal Timepieces” and
answer the following questions.

1. How many sources does the writer summarize when she/he asserts “Studies conducted in
caves or similar environments that allowed researchers to control light and darkness have shown
that most people create cycles slightly over twenty-four hours when they are not exposed to
natural cycles of day and night?” What kind of sources are these? (paragraph 2)
2 sources, science books and works.
2. What did Winfree write? When and where was it published? (paragraph 2)
“The timing of biological clocks”; New York(Freeman), 2004.
3. What source does the writer use to present the categories of “morning lark” and “night owl?”
Why doesn’t the writer cite the writer of the source? (paragraph 3)
“Are You”, because it’s a magazine
4. Why is the definition of jet lag that the writer quotes set apart from the text of his essay? Why
doesn’t the writer name the author in the citation? (paragraph 4)

5. Why is there a b after the date in the citation by Weiss? What else did Weiss write? For which
periodical does Weiss write? (paragraph 6)
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6. In the paper, why are there no quotation marks around Charles Czeisler's report that “twenty-
seven percent of the U.S. workforce does shift work?” From where did the writer get this
information? (paragraph 6)
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7. Why is there no page number within the citation of the source The Time of Our Lives?
(paragraph 6)
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8. Why are there square brackets around “medical” in the quotation from the 1999 report to the
American Association for the Advancement of Science? Did the writer read this report?
(paragraph 6)
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9. Who wrote “Ace in the Hole: Stefania Follini Never Caved In?” How long is the article?
(References)
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