Important Components of a Field Notebook

• Date, location, participants, and short description of the problem you are investigating and why
• Index map showing layout of the area where you acquired data
• For a lab experiment sketch the setup, with dimensions, of any apparatus
• List and describe any equipment involved: include manufacturer, model number, serial number and identifying characteristics
• Data should be recorded neatly and in an organized fashion. Record the raw readings from instruments (e.g. file names for the SmartSeis) and save any corrections, calculation, multiplying values etc. for later. Record the time, place and result of a measurement along with identifying characteristics of the place and associated information.
• Record all data you acquire and note any problems and special circumstances associated with particular observations. Occasionally make multiple measurements at a station so that you can assess the uncertainty in your observations.

Project Report

Most of the projects we do in this class involve experimental design, acquisition of data, downloading data, and processing those data. A cogent description of each step is an integral part of your report. Particularly for magnetics, field notes should be transcribed to a spreadsheet. For refraction seismology, you might want to plot and interpret your data differently than the results from the Answers Menu on the Smartseis. In the spreadsheet always include sufficient columns and rows of calculation so that I can see the progressive development of your final result.

For example, for a final spreadsheet of magnetic determinations I want to see the date, time, & raw meter readings. Your working spreadsheet you print from can have several more columns so that each column is a simple, one-step, calculation - my experience is that a large number of simple calculations results in fewer and easier to catch errors than a spreadsheet that calculates everything in one column; columns and parentheses are cheap.

Use the proper number of significant figures in your data and calculations and include an estimate of uncertainty. For magnetics, instrument uncertainty is +/- 1 nT. In detailed surveys you may need to make multiple observations at each site.

• Write your reports so that your experiments and processing are reproducible.
• Figures and figure captions should tell the same story as the text.
• Use referencing style and reference lists like the Journal of Geophysical Research, or Geological Society of America Bulletin
• Your goal is to get the reader's attention, hold it, and convince them of your interpretation and conclusion

Example Outline - not restrictive or limiting

Introduction/Problem

Describe the goal of your study and its location. In a thesis or professional paper this section would also include results from previous researchers and a development on the importance of the project. Basically, as a writer, it is in this section that you need to catch and keep the interest of the reader. Write directly and clearly, avoid passive prose - that manual of style you bought for your English composition class might need to be dusted off.

Experimental design

For a field study this section should include an index map showing where you collected data, what equipment you used, references (e.g. standard textbook) to standard techniques if that is what you employed. Include a comment on why this experimental design is the appropriate one for the objective.

Results

This is where you include the printout of pertinent columns from your spreadsheet or copies of the printouts form the Smartseis. Other workers need to see enough of your calculations and intermediate results to verify your work. Describe the steps, programs used, additional data, etc, that were important in the development of your results.

Interpretation/Conclusion

Now, having caught the reader's attention in the introduction and having held it through the intervening sections, you get to interpret your results. If the experiment was successful say so. Develop your ideas and conclusions as much as you can within the reasonable constraints of your experiment; speculate a little. Generally this is where readers look for your contribution and ideas on the topic. If the experiment was unsuccessful explain what went wrong and how subsequent workers might improve on your approach.

On Writing:

• Avoid passive prose, for example "the data were collected..." in favor of active prose "we collected data..."
• Each paragraph has an introduction, main body, conclusion and/or transition to the subsequent paragraph.
• In the beginning of your paper or report, your job is to get the reader's attention and then keep it throughout your document.
• Use clear figures and graphs with explanatory captions. As a general guide, one should be able to look at your figures/graphs and read the captions and then have a pretty good idea of what you paper is about.
• The Elements of Style, by W. Strunk Jr. is the classic manual of style - it is just as relevant for scientific writing as it is for literature.