I. Field Project Reports

    Field project reports should be written in the form of a scientific journal and follow the guidelines in the "Format for Written Research Papers..." handout. The Introduction should explain the purpose of the study and its relevance to the general topic. Hypotheses or research questions should be explicitly stated. Include some background information and a brief literature review to set the stage for the project being written about here. It is important to place your study within some larger general framework.

    Within the Methods section, summarize the experimental design and methods employed to test your hypotheses or address your research questions. Also you should briefly describe the Study Site. In the Results, clearly summarize your data and point out any trends. These results should then be interpreted within the Discussion and related to general theory.

    Please present all text, literature cited, and tables in double-spaced format by the specified date. Late papers will lose points unless exceptional circumstances prevail. Try not to get behind and remember to follow the suggested format. Some additional comments follow to help you write the research report.

Abstract

 
Is it informative, concise, complete? Is it written in the third person? (Abstracts are usually in the third person while main body of article generally uses the active voice).

 
What is the main objective of this study?

Is its relevance to a general topic immediately apparent?

Is your hypothesis clearly stated and is it testable as written?

Are your research questions clear? Do we know what you are asking?
 

 
Can the work be repeated based on the methods provided?

What are the underlying assumptions, if any, to the study?

Are statistical analyses employed to test hypotheses or address research questions outlined sufficiently?

Results

 
Are all important results provided?

Were the results properly evaluated statistically?

Are the figures and tables clear, even without the text? Are they relevant to the study? Do they support what is said in the text?

Discussion

 
Are the data related to the hypotheses/questions clearly?

Do you interpret your results?

Do you integrate the results of your study with that of previous studies?

Are unexpected or inconsistent results explained?

If you speculate in the discussion, is this speculation reasonable and justifiable?

How does this study contribute to general theory? Are there any new ideas or interpretations?

 

    Research proposals should follow guidelines as provided in the "Format for Written Research Papers..." handout. We should understand your objectives and motives very early on in the proposal. Research questions or hypotheses should be stated clearly - these may be generally stated in the first section, but must be explicitly stated under the Project Description section. Use the Background Information section to place your study into some larger theoretical framework, as well as to review briefly what is known about the general topic.

    The Project Description is the "meat" of the proposal. Be sure that your hypotheses are explicit and make sense. Are these hypotheses or research questions testable as written? Let us know what are your expected results - it is better to present alternative hypotheses than to set up straw-man null hypotheses. Think about and discuss the underlying processes that may be operating in your system. You might not be directly testing these depending on your question and what is known about the system, but identify what these processes (or mechanisms) likely are. Use graphs and tables to present expected results as appropriate - graphics can do wonders to get your ideas across to people. Play close attention to the methods section. Does it really test the hypotheses/questions as they are written. Is your experimental design clear? Could someone understand your proposed methods well enough to repeat the study? Do you clearly identify what analytical techniques you will use to test the hypotheses? Are proposed sample sizes appropriate for these statistical techniques.

    Finally, pay close attention to the Significance section. Unfortunately, funding is limited and if you plan on pursuing a research career, you must learn how to write a convincing proposal. Even though you might have the perfect experimental design, if reviewers do not find your question compelling, you will not get funded. You must "sell" your project in this final section. Why should we fund this project? How will it contribute to general theory or how will it be applied to present day situations?

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