BOT/GEOG 4111/5111
Instructions for Lab Reports
You are required to write a lab report this semester on one of the lab exercises. The
report is worth 15% of your 4111 grade or 10% of your 5111 grade. It is due on October
29 by 5 p.m. E-mail to Ken as an MS Word document. The report can be on any of the
labs that we have done or will do before the due date. The purpose of this assignment
is to gain technical writing experience and to delve more deeply into a lab topic. READ
THE PLAGIARISM DEFINITION AT THE END OF THESE INSTRUCTIONS! PLAGIARISM WILL
NOT BE TOLERATED!
Grading: The draft of your lab report will be graded based on content and the inclusion
and quality of all of the sections described below.
Writing: If you have trouble with your writing, consider using the resources at the
Writing Center to help. In general, use a formal scientific writing style. See the
following as a writing reference:
Hacker, Diana. 2008. A pocket style manual. Fifth Edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Boston. (dianahacker.com/pocket).
Lab reports should be no more than 8 double-spaced pages. Note that the questions I
pose below are guidelines. Don’t just answer them one by one in your report. Model
this lab report after typical peer review journal articles. Read some to get a sense of the
style! Write formally as if you are reporting to your scientific peers.
Your report must include the following sections.
Title: A brief, descriptive title for your report.
Abstract: A brief, one-paragraph overview of the lab exercise that includes the
objective, general methods, important results, and importance/relevance of the lab to
bigger issues in the world. (Read some abstracts in peer-reviewed journals as
examples!).
The body of the paper will use these headings:
I.
Background/Introduction
Background material on the subject of the lab that you are reporting on (e.g.
atmospheric corrections; vegetation indices). Present info on the topic from
outside sources (peer-reviewed scientific journals, books, the web, etc.) that add
more depth to the discussion than what was presented in class or in the lab
instructions. Use at least 3 peer-reviewed journal articles as references in this
section. The purpose of this section is to give the reader (assume that the reader
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is not an expert on the subject) an overview of the topic explored in the lab
exercise. Many remote sensing journals are found in the Geology Library or can
be accessed online through the UW Libraries.
II. Objectives
Why did you do this lab exercise? What were you trying to find out or
accomplish? What were the hypotheses, if any?
III. Methods
A brief overview of what you did. Don’t go into exhaustive detail since the
methods are already outlined in the lab handout. I don’t need step-by-step
Erdas instructions here. Include description of any data used (e.g., Landsat 8 OLI
path 35/row 31 acquired 8/16/2014) and software version (e.g., Erdas Imagine
2015, Intergraph Inc.)
IV. Results
What did you find out specifically? Graphs, tables, images, etc. are often useful;
if they are, include them here. The results section is for posting the information
you gathered in the lab, not for interpreting them. Save that for the Discussion
section. Remember that figure captions go beneath figures and table headings
go above tables. Number figures as Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc., and tables as Table 1,
Table 2, etc. In your text, refer to the figure or table by number. Don’t write out
figure captions in your text. Instead, just refer to figures and tables as (Fig. 1) or
(Table 1).
V. Discussion
The main purpose of this section is to interpret your results. You can also discuss
what you learned in the context of the background material and objectives from
parts I and II above. Did the lab exercise accomplish the objectives? Did your
results match your expectations? Was your hypothesis (if any) supported or
not? What problems, if any, did you encounter? How might the exercise have
been improved? What did you learn? Interpret your results in this section.
[Don’t just answer the preceding questions – they are meant to guide your
thinking]
VI. Conclusions
A few sentences summing up the lab and the experience and putting it into a
larger context. Why is this work important?
VII. Literature Cited
References to any sources of information that you use (e.g. journal articles,
books, the internet). Use citation format shown below.
Journal article citation example:
In the text, cite supporting references as, for example, (Wolter et al. 1995). Then, in the
Literature Cited section, list the corresponding reference as:
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Wolter, P.T., D.J. Mladenoff, G.E. Host, and T.R. Crow. 1995. Improved forest
classification in the northern lake states using multi-temporal Landsat imagery.
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing 61, 1129– 1143.
Or you could say, “Wolter et al. (1995) found that ….” and again use the citation format
above in your literature cited section.
Book example:
In your text, cite the below as (Kudish 2000) at the end of the sentence that refers to the
article (citation goes inside the period).
Kudish, M. 2000. The Catskills: A Forest History. Purple Mountain Press, Fleischmanns,
NY. 217 pp.
Internet: Give full URL, date and authors if available.
Plagiarism
Remember, if you use ANY substantial writing from any source that is not in your own
words, you must put it in quotation marks and give credit to (cite) the original author.
If you paraphrase, you must cite the original author as described above, and you should
strive to reinterpret in your own words wherever possible. Most of your paper should
be YOUR interpretation of what you learned from your sources, not paraphrasing or
direct quotes. If you have any doubts about whether you are plagiarizing, ASK ME!
Plagiarism will result in an F (0 points) on the paper with no opportunity to redeem that
grade. Be careful!
Grading Rubric
Grading will be based on the following distribution of points:
Title (2 pts.):

Brief but descriptive – tells reader what paper is about specifically
Abstract (10 pts.):


Includes objectives/hypotheses, general methods, major findings, conclusion (8
pts.)
Concise; no unnecessary info (2 pts.)
Background/Intro (15 pts.):


Use of at least 3 peer-reviewed sources (6 pts.)
Provides overview of the topic and of previous research in the literature (9 pts.)
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Objectives and Hypotheses(3 pts.):

Clearly stated objectives and/or hypotheses (can be included in
Background/Intro section.
Methods (10 pts.):


Includes general (not overly specific) methods—doesn’t tell reader about
specific software (e.g. Do not be this specific: “I pushed file/open and opened
the image file.” (8 pts.)
Includes information on the data and software version used (e.g., “I used a
Landsat 8 image, path 35/row 31 with 7 spectral bands. (2 pts.)
Results (15 pts.):



Includes brief narrative about your results, but not interpreting them (save for
discussion) (7 pts.)
Figures and tables used where useful and appropriate; Figures and Table
captions in proper format (captions below figures and above tables); Figures
and Tables well-designed (6 pts)
Figures and Tables referenced correctly in text. (2 pts.)
Discussion (20 pts.):



Provides thoughtful interpretation of all of your results (12 pts.)
Addresses objectives and hypotheses (4 pts.)
Discusses problems that you encountered and ways they were resolved (4 pts.)
Conclusions (5 pts.):


Concisely summarize most important result(s) (3 pts.)
Provides broader context for results (e.g, why they are important) (2 pts.)
Literature Cited (10 pts.):



At least 3 peer-reviewed sources (6 pts.)
Proper citation format in text (2 pts.)
Proper citation format in literature cited section (2 pts.)
Writing (10 pts.):



Grammar, spelling, sentence structure correct (4 pts.)
Organized—logical flow in text; use of headings and subheadings (2 pts.)
Concise-removed unnecessary words and sentences (4 pts.)
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