• if you go to someplace like a local cemetery, make sure to get permission, that's true for any private land
• lay out grids of lines close enough together that you have plenty of coverge (calculate the footprint)
• be extremely careful with the equipment
• always put the batteries you used back on the chargers - take extra batteries into the field

Although it is most efficient to do the field work in small groups, each individual must analyze thier own data and turn in their own report (up to four pages not including figures and maps) to be graded. Check out the web page on reports and field notes but in general you'll want this sort of outline:

• Introduction/Problem
• Experimental Design and why you chose it given local observations
• Results
• Interpretation & Conclusion
• Include:
  • a map showing your field setup
  • plots of your results
  • explanatory captions on your figures (e.g., Figure 1 - photo looking northeast across the 120 meter wide study area)
  • caption by caption, the figures in your report should tell the whole story
  • write/format the report like a professional paper for a professional journal (use journal-style references, etc.)
  • you must present your experiment, data and results with sufficient detail that a successor could reproduce your results with no questions asked.

You will have to self-organize into groups. Designate a leader and set a time for your field work; if necessary we'll sort out the times in class to make sure there is no overlap in desired use times. You can check out a key to the lab from Loreene or make arrangements with me. Be extremely careful and responsible with the equipment.

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, introduction you 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