Research Paper Guidelines
Objective: Your term paper should provide the instructor
with a measure of your ability to formulate a scientific question, collect (or
compile) and synthesize relevant data, to interpret the results, and to present
your results in a concise, meaningful format.
The paper should include an abstract, introduction (including
objectives), materials and methods, the results (including maps, tables, graphs
and analyses), a discussion of the results, and conclusions and/or
recommendations (including how this work will be translated to the classroom).
The term paper format includes:
Abstract–all
scientific documents should include an abstract at the beginning of the
paper. An abstract is a single spaced
summary of the report. It should not
exceed 200 words. The abstract should give a potential reader an overview of
the paper and its most significant findings.
Introduction --
This section should include the rationale for the research, your study
objectives or hypotheses, and relevant background literature.
Materials and
Methods -- this section should include a description of the study area,
specific sampling sites, and a description of the experimental set up, sampling
schedule, and methods used to measure various parameters. This does not mean you must spell out, step
by step, how you conducted the nutrient analyses rather it should employ
phrases such as “total nitrate nitrogen was measured using cadmium reduction
and measuring absorbance using a LaMott Smart
Colorimeter”. (details on various methodologies are
included in the project binder, in the test kits, in exercises, or in associated
manuals.)
Results--
this section should include the results obtained during the study. Do not interpret your results
in this section, simply present the data.
You should include tables and graphs to support the text. It may not be necessary to present every
piece of data. You must decide what data
you feel are important and present them in a meaningful way. Remember that all figures must be numbered
and include a caption, left justified, below the figure. Tables should be centered with a numbered
caption centered above the table (e.g. Table 1. Land Use Area). Relevant figures and tables should be
referenced within the text of your paper.
(e.g. “As
shown in Figure 1, nitrate did not differ among the sampling sites” or “Nitrate
did not differ among the sampling sites (Figure 1)”).
Discussion—Interpret
your results. For example, how did
different variables vary between sites?
How do recent data compare to what has been measured in previous years?
(Use the reserve materials in the library for this!) Did you find what you originally
expected? What may have contributed to
your observations? You may need to draw
from other sources to explain your observations (e.g. weather data, landuse data etc.)
Relate your findings to those in the literature. This is the heart of the paper and is
probably the most difficult part.
Conclusions—what
do you conclude from your data? How can this be used in your classroom?
References--
In the body of the text, literature used should be cited in an "author,
date" format --(e.g. Halls, 2001; or Lyon and
McCarthy, 1995; or Smith et al., 1998).
Complete citations should be given in the references section at the end
of the paper. Use the following formats for your references
section:
Halls, J. N.
2001. A decision support system of animated graphs, GIS, and
temporal ecological data to quantify and disseminate water quality information.
In David A. Swayne,
Ralf Denzer, and Gerald Schimak
(eds.) Environmental Software Systems, volume 4: Environmental Information and
Indictors. International Federation for Information
Processing, pp. 195-206.
NOAA. 1995. NOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP): Guidance for Regional Implementation. NOAA Technical Report NMFS 123, Department of Commerce. 102p. Available online at http://www.csc.noaa.gov/ccap/text/protocol.html
Other things to consider:
Organization --
Overall organization and presentation of the paper.
Structure–
proper citations of references, spelling, figure clarity etc.
Format: The paper length should be 3 pages of text. Figures and tables are not counted in the
page limit and should be placed on separate pages from the text. You may put
more than one figure on a page but avoid adding extra figures and tables that
are not relevant to the text. Margins
(top, bottom and sides) should be 1 inch. Text should be 12 point, Times New
Roman and double spaced. A title page
must be included (with title, author, and author's affiliation --i.e.
school). Each section should have a
header (e.g. Introduction) which is centered and in bold-faced type.
If you have any questions about what should be included in
each section or on a specific technique please contact one of us as soon as
possible. Please remember to use spell
check! Also, be advised that “data” are
plural!!!