PROJECT PAPER FORMAT

This format has been established by the scientific community because of its clarity and organization. Each section must be clearly labeled using the headings and subheadings in bold below. See Sample Report.

TITLE

Your Name

RESEARCH QUESTION: state your research question

State your research question.

HYPOTHESES: state your hypotheses

State your null (H0) and alternative hypotheses (H1, H2, etc.). The null hypothesis is the one that states there is no significant difference.

Date(s) and Times: include the date(s) you collected your data (give the year too); also include the times you will be collecting data (if relevant -- for example, time will be relevant for birds but usually not for plant abundance studies). [Must show at least 8 hours of data collection]
Location(s): include study site location.
Sample: include placement and size of transects/observation areas, etc.). Also include total sample area size.
Data Collection: specifically, what data did you collect, and how did you collect the data. [Must show at least 8 hours of data collection]
Data Analysis: specifiy how all data, once you have collected it, are to be summarized and analyzed (e.g., include chi square analysis).

Data Summary: in paragraph form, present averages, totals, percentages, whether the data were significantly different, etc. (refer to tables and figures).
Tables and Graphs: Each table/graph/map should be named (i.e., Table 1, Table 2, ... Graph 1, Graph 2, ... etc.) and put at the end of the report. Each table/graph/map should contain a caption that includes enough information to allow the table/graph/map to stand alone so that someone would understand the data without reading the rest of the report (e.g., include dates, times, locations, sample size, etc.). Note: Do not interpret at this point.

Tentative Conclusion 1 : state the answer(s) to your question. For example: There were 2.2 times more saguaros on the south side (106 per 10,000 square meters) than the north side (48) of the hill (a significant difference).
Causal Question: ask why there were or were not significant differences. For example: Why were there significantly more saguaros on the south side of the hill compared to the north side?)
Multiple Hypotheses: outline as many possible explanations (answers to the causal question) you can think of for your results (come up with at least 3 hypotheses for each causal question)
* Give supporting statements from the literature and your critical thinking in bullets under each hypothesis.

Tentative Conclusion 2, Causal Question 2, Multiple Hypotheses 2

Etc.

Ways to Improve/Extend Study: If you could redo your study what would you do differently and why?
Next Question: Give a new research question that would take what you learned from this study and would extend the study.

Give the complete citation (see how to cite sources) for at least two sources of information (journal article, book, website, etc.) relevant to your study (alphabetize).
Under each citation, using your own words, briefly present the relevant information contained within the source and how it pertains to your study.

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