NTRES 2100 - FIELD BIOLOGY Fall 2016
Research Reports and Presentations
General: Each student should develop a report in the form of a research paper describing and interpreting the results of their project and a short presentation that summarizes their research project. Details are provided below.
Research Paper
DUE DATE:Tuesday, November 22. 2015 at 11:58 pm (ePortfolio - link to come)
Length: Five pages of text, 1.5 - spaced, should be sufficient for most projects. This does not include figures, tables, or your literature cited section.
Each report must include the usual sections of a scientific paper as follows:
Title:
Be brief, but informative.
Abstract:
A brief summary in 2-3 sentences of each of the following: objectives, methods, results, and main conclusions (see journal articles for the approach/tone of this section).
Introduction:
This should contain some brief background on the subject, including relevant references to articles in the research literature. A statement of objectives and hypotheses or questions should be included.
Methods and Study Site:
Describe the study area where your data were collected, how your data were collected, and how you summarized and analyzed them.
Results:
Report your observations with reference to any and all tables and graphs of your data; reserve any interpretation of the results for the Discussion section. Present the collected data in figures and tables and also simply describe the results in words.As you describe your results, direct your reader to the relevant Tables and Figures as in the example below:
While white roots are vulnerable to herbivory, a large fraction of white roots damaged by herbivores may not actually pass through the gut of the organisms and thus follow a more typical path of microbial decomposition (Table 2, Figure 4).
Each table and figure must have a proper heading that clearly describes what is being presented (see examples below).
Figure 1. Leaf area (a), leaf thickness (b), stomatal density (c) and guard cell length (d) of four tree species growing in the open and understory.
Table 1. Aboveground height and total dry mass of herbaceous species sampled in an abandoned weedy field.
Plant Species / Height(cm) / Total Dry Mass
(g)
S. glauca / 76.0 / 32.0
V. cracca / 35.5 / 23.8
P. capillare / 67.8 / 37.9
Discussion:
Interpret your results, being careful to avoid simply restating the results. What do your findings mean? How are they important or relevant? How do they compare with observations in the literature? What additional information or data could have improved your results?
Literature Cited: We expect a minimum of five peer-reviewed references from the scientific literature (journal articles).
In-text citation should look like this (Abrams, 1987). (Author(s), Year).
If two authors (Rodewald & Goebel, 2015).
Use “et al.” if citing more than 2 authors (Henrichs et al., 2013).
Example: Abrams (1987) explained that deer and squirrels eat leaves.
Follow the format used in the reference list from one of the research articles that you read:
Example:
Abrams, P. A. 1987. The functional responses of adaptive consumers of two resources.Theoretical Population Biology 32:262-288.
Research Project Presentations
Each student should prepare a short talk that summarizes their research project. Student talks should last 6-8 minutes, so that there will be a few minutes remaining for questions. Try your best to speak clearly and loud enough, and facing your colleagues (avoid talking to your slides). Be sure to practice (and time) your talk.
Research presentations will take place in 301 Rice during labs on Nov. 15-18.
Each student will sign up for a time slot but you need to be present for both of your normal lab periods.
Please bring your presentation on a thumb drive to upload at the beginning of the period or turn it in beforehand on Cornell box.
We suggest that you talk follow the outline of your research paper. Use Powerpoint or Keynote (Mac) to create a talk that includes the following:
- Title slide - (1 slide) that includes your name and affiliation
- Intro/background – (1-3 slides) that provide a brief overview of the research topic; why it is interesting/relevant; what is known and what is less well understood
- Research Questions/Hypotheses – (1 slide) – List your main research questions or hypotheses
- Study Area/Sites – (1-2 slides) – Show a map of area where study was done; you may want to show some habitat images.
- Methods (2-4 slides) – Provide details on your methods used and how data were summarized/analyzed. Give enough information so that we can get a quick sense of how the work was done but avoid describing things in to much detail.
- Results (3-4 slides) – Describe the main results, including figures, tables.
- Discussion (1-2 slides) – Explain why/how your results are interesting/important. Try not to simply restate the results here…this is the interpretation of the results, and making sense of patterns you found. It is also appropriate to talk briefly about what you could have done to improve the study if you could do it again.
Use photos/images to make slides a bit more attractive, but not required. Avoid having too much text, or too many images (gets distracting).Use bullet points. Font size should be 18 – 24, though larger for slide title/heading. If you have further questions, contact one of the TAs or instructors.