Ecology 3060 Lab Reports

1. Ecology 3060 Lab Reports • Read all the material on lab reports at the beginning of the manual and read the rubric. • Be sure you understand your experiment. • I will grade by the rubric. • Read scientific papers to become familiar with scientific style. • Give me your best the first time. I will not correct your paper. • Remember the importance of paragraph and sentence structure, grammar, and spelling. Double spaced. • Auburn University Writing Center. • (https://fp.auburn.edu/writing/writingcenter.aspx). • Note: The scientific writing format described in the manual takes precedence over any other person’s opinion. • You can call and see if there is someone with a scientific background available. • Janice Dyer (4-7588) in Wildlife and Forestry will help W&F students with writing. frewjan@tigermail.auburn.edu

2. Plagiarism • Never copy anything word for word from anywhere, not even a phrase, not even if you cite it. • Plagiarizing in the first submission is also an academic honesty issue. • Copying another’s work while changing it just enough to not be plagiarism does not satisfy the requirements of this course. • Guard your work. If someone else copies your paper, you are responsible.

3. Steps in writing an ecology paper“How do I get started?” • Read at least two scientific papers on the subject of the assigned experimentora subject you enjoy. If you’re not writing in the style of a scientific paper you will lose points, so you must be familiar with this type of writing. • Read the material in the lab manual on writing papers including the rubric at the back of the laboratory you are writing up. • Write the introduction, methods, results, and discussion in that order. If you have not read enough material on your experiment to complete your introduction and discussion, search for more articles. • Write the abstract and title last. • Proofread. • Read your paper out loud to a live person if possible, and/or have someone else proofread for you. • See your TA with any questions at any point during this process.

4. Paper is due emailed to me as a Microsoft Word document before the lab period begins. Date___ • Send it two hours early and I will check for errors such as attachment failures and Word version conversion errors. • Come see me!