| Scientific Tone | Grammar, punctuation, and spelling | Report Formatting | Word Choice and sentence structure | General knowledge |
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What is dramatic language that is not appropriate to use in scientific writing?
Words such as "incredibly", "very", "awesome", etc.
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What are contractions?
This type of writing is not appropriate in a scientific report; can't, isn't, don't, won't, etc.
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Goes above the table; goes below the figure.
Where do titles go for tables and figures?
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What is an app and how should this be written in a report? (Application)
A casual word for any program found on the internet or downloaded to your phone, such as the iNaturalist software, which should not be used in a scientific report.
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It depends on the entity you are submitting your report to. In this class, it is your choice but it must be professional and 12 point. Double-spaced.
What font should you use in a scientific report?
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What is introducing a novel research or new discovery?
Times that are appropriate to use "I" and "we" language.
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What is the correct way to write numbers in a scientific report?
Spell out 0-9. 10 to infinity should be written as a number. This rule does not apply to data (i.e., 1 m) or figures or tables (i.e., Figure 1, Table 2).
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Landscape; reduce font and column width.
What are two ways that you can fit a large table onto a page?
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Too vague; be specific about who and the research conducted; why is it important; no citations to back up claim.
Why is the following not a high-quality sentence?
This field trip was important to conduct. |
Who, what, when, where, and why (county); it may be okay to leave out who or when or why depending on the circumstance.
What kind of information goes in a good report title?
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What is scientific tone?
Past tense and active voice. Present tense is used when you are stating facts about an existing item (for instance: Students went on a field trip. The Blackjack Trail is forested).
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What is the rule about using acronyms in scientific reports?
Write the acronym out in full the first instance you use it, followed by the acronym in parentheses. From then on, you can use the acronym.
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After the title page; after the TOC; to improve the visual aesthetics; to allow for figures and the figure title to be on the same page; to allow headers to be on the same page as the first sentence in a section.
When should you insert a page break?
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Genus should be written out if it starts the sentence; temperature should be in celsius, and the degree symbol should be used.
What is wrong with this sentence?
P. taeda trees have optimal growth at 75 degrees Fahrenheit. |
Objective: specific tasks to be completed (students will learn how to conduct a point-quarter assessment); goal or purpose: big picture or broad generalization (students will learn about forest ecology); hypothesis: statement about a scientific experiment that states an educated prediction
What is the difference between an objective, a goal, and hypothesis?
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What is never or in certain circumstances? In science, we don't prove anything; we reject, or fail to accept a null hypothesis, or support a hypothesis. Significant is only used when describing statistical testing results. Belief is for super-natural phenomena.
Times that are appropriate to use the words 'prove', 'belief', or significant'.
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Scientific names; genus and species
What should be in italics?
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Border, compass, sampling points, other items of interest; county, GPS coordinates, descriptive enough to explain the map.
What goes on a map and in the map title?
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Your choice but be consistent. Common Sunflower and the Red Oak or common sunflower and a red oak; but never canada goose.
Do you capitalize common names or not?
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Experiment: control, modified variables, replications, testing hypotheses and follow up with statistical testing in order to reject or accept a null hypothesis.
Assessment: gathering observational data, either qualitative or quantitative, but not like an experiment with a control and modified variables.
What is the difference between an experiment and an assessment?
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What is rarely? Direct quotes should be used sparingly and is only appropriate for impact.
Times that are appropriate to state an author's well-known quote.
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Proper nouns, the first word in a sentence, all taxonomic names except for species, acronyms...
What are items that should have the first letter in the word capitalized?
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Delete redundant taxa info; headers and title are repeated if the table breaks across a page; no word wrapping; units of measurement should be in the header.
What are some rules regarding table format?
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Eastern Cottontail (Lagomorpha: Sylvilagus floridanus)
What is the correct way to mention the commonly found rabbit species in Texas?
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When stating anything that is not common knowledge; to provide backup to statements; when citing use of a software; a good source is a peer-reviewed journal article or government website, or reputable non-profit website for example.
When do you need an in-text citation? And what makes a good source?
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