Dominica Journal Guidelines and Grading

Journal Format The journal is an important part of the Dominica Study Abroad field experience. A major goal of the journal is to capture the experience in writing for your future reference. The journal must contain both information of scientific interest AND your personal observations on the ecology, geography, and culture of Dominica. Your impressions on people, food, music, and experiences will often prove to be things that you will read and reflect upon in the future.

Required Format for Journal Date/General Observations on Weather. Narrative of days events including: –Places visited –New habitats or organisms observed –Progress on individual and group projects –Other activities of note –Impressions and reflections List of species observed, with scientific names. Follow the format on the journal notes we handed out in class

Journal Grading We encourage lots of personal expression in the body of the journal entry, but the journal is also part of a graded class and so we have devised the following grading system for the journal.

Journal Grades C Grade: You have journal entries for every day of the class, but there is no format followed. Daily observations sometimes address scientific aspects and at other times are more personal. No attempt to summarize daily accumulations of information. B Grade: Daily entries always cover both scientific AND personal observations, but format is inconsistent. Some attempt at summarizing information over the course of the class. A Grade: Daily entries always cover both scientific AND personal observations, but format is consistent in style, with sections on basic observations (time, date, weather) habitats visited, species observed, research completed, plus personal observations.

Required Format for Reports Title followed by names of authors Abstract (Should be word summary of objective of study and major conclusions) Introduction (Background information on why you did the study and relevant cited work) Methods (Material used, sampling and observational methods employed, description of location of study) Results (Should contain tables, figures, and presentation of the research results only) Discussion (This is where you get to discuss the relevance of your results, how it relates to your initial research question as presented in the introduction, and what possible errors etc affected your study) Literature Cited (We expect citations from the literature, especially books and technical papers)

Premise of project is clearly stated in the Introduction, and is based on thorough review of scientific literature and on-line material, including all relevant previous Dominica projects. All research hypotheses or goals are clearly stated, as are scientific questions to be addressed by the project. 20 points All known relevant scientific literature, on-line material and previous Dominica projects are correctly cited in the paper and assembled into a references cited section. 10 points Student made effective use of all available field time for gathering data or information, including number of experimental replications, or other observations, including photographs, videos, sound recordings 20 points Paper includes appropriate and clear methods for data visualization and/or statistical analysis including tables, figures, charts and maps, 10 points Comments and suggestions by instructors on one or more preliminary drafts are effectively and conscientiously addressed. 20 points The degree to which the project has provided clear tests of hypotheses, met the goals set for the project, or helped to answer questions raised in the introduction are clearly discussed in the Discussion, and new knowledge or discoveries resulting from the project are concisely summarized. 20 points Total 100 points