Week
Four: July15-July 19
CE/NR 797: Final Project
[Prepared by R.
Fortner for NSF’s Digital and Field Techniques for Coastal
Environment Studies, 7/02]
There is a great deal of flexibility in the subject
matter of the project, but certain characteristics of the
work will be required. The project must
1) be interdisciplinary, using aspects of at least
- physical characteristics of the
lake or coastal area, and
- biological relationships, either
to the physical environment or among organisms.
2) utilize some field
data or observations (your own or those of other
researchers) and some digital techniques
3) have a marine counterpart that is documented in the
literature of the field.
Students may work alone or with 1-2 classmates.
Assembling a team that is interdisciplinary by training
may help you find the resources you need, reduce the data
collection demands on your time, and use the strengths of
other people’s backgrounds.
The project will be presented on the last day of class,
both orally (30-45 minutes, with visual aids) and in
writing. You may wish to consider development of a web
page with your materials on it. Server space can be
provided and a CD-ROM created when the project is
completed.
Because the demands and available resources for different
topics will be very diverse, a single list of project
requirements will not be given. However, you should
expect to include in your final report the following
components at a minimum:
- A significant interdisciplinary
question to be answered
- Why the question is an important
one (who needs the answer, how serious is it,
etc.)
- What information already exists on
the topic (brief review of literature)
- Method by which you investigated
answers to the question
- Datasets used and how they were
obtained
- Results of your combinations and
manipulations of data
- Conclusions and implications of
your findings.
The projects will be
scored on the basis of a rubric that will be discussed in
advance. Team members should be able to document their
individual contributions to the team effort.
Project Guideline
Project
Ideas
Project
Format