Tips for 2014 Capstone Students
offered from 2010-2012 students (who had Prof Barrett & CAPT Petruncio)
1. Do not procrastinate with research; start research early.
2. Make sure you are able to find an adequate amount of sources before picking a
topic.
3. Don't hesitate to utilize all faculty members in the oceanography department.
4. Analyzing data will get you a better grade.
5. Some data is hard to find, but keep looking and utilize your professor for help
finding data.
6. I'd have to say the biggest help for me was creating my bibliography first. I know it's a
common practice, but I can't stress it enough.
7. Also, making sure my introduction was organized and correlated to my meat of the
paper allows for a smoother transition for the reader.
8. A few intermediate hard page count deadlines would be good I think. It puts a definite
end to last minute writing. Thanks for a great semester.
9. Start research early...you might find that your topic isn't as widely studied as you hoped
...which may change how you go about writing your paper.
10. Even though it may not be required, at every check in portion of class...have something
typed up. This way you are actually monitoring your progress.
11. Pick a topic that you like...as well as your teacher. If you pick something that you are very
interested in, but your teacher is not...it might take more convincing when it comes time
to grading.
12. Ask for help early...if you do not know how to analyze your data ...don't wait until it's too
late to ask.
13. Have fun with it...and make it something you actually enjoy. MIDS tend to wait until the
last second to get something done, so try to finish the paper before it is due the next
morning...it will save you a lot of stress.