Exe 4 – Geoprocessing – Part I

Geospatial Lab report format

Title: The title should be less than ten words and should reflect the factual content of the paper. Scientific titles are not designed to catch the reader’s fancy. A good title is straightforward and uses keywords that researchers in a particular field will recognize.

Introduction: The introduction defines the subject of the report. It must outline the scientific purpose(s) or objective(s) for the research performed and give the reader sufficient background to understand the rest of the report. Care should be taken to limit the background to whatever is pertinent to the exercise.

Objectives: The objective is the last part of the introduction. The specific goals of the exercise must be clearly described in this section.

Data and Methods: As the name implies, the data and methods used in the exercises should be reported in this section. The difficulty in writing this section is to provide enough detail for the reader to understand the exercise without overwhelming him or her. This can usually be done in a short paragraph, possibly along with a drawing of the experimental apparatus.
Generally, this section attempts to answer the following questions:
What data were used? How were they used?

Data Analysis: This section must describe the type of data and analysis that was used in the exercise. A brief description of the type of analysis must be included.

Results: The results section should summarize the data from the exercises without discussing their implications. The data should be organized into tables, figures, graphs, photographs, and so on. But data included in a table should not be duplicated in a figure or graph. All figures and tables should have descriptive titles and should include a legend explaining any symbols, abbreviations, or special methods used. Figures and tables should be numbered separately and should be referred to in the text by number.

Discussion: This section should not just be a restatement of the results but should emphasize interpretation of the data, relating them to existing theory and knowledge. Speculation is appropriate, if it is so identified. Suggestions for the improvement of analysis methods, techniques or exercise design may also be included here.

Literature Cited: This section lists all articles or books cited in your report. It is not the same as a bibliography, which simply lists references regardless of whether they were cited in the paper. The listing should be alphabetized by the last names of the authors. Different journals require different formats for citing literature. The format that includes the most information is given in the following examples:

For articles: Fox, J.W. 1988. Nest-building behavior of the catbird, Dumetella carolinensis. Journal of Ecology 47: 113-17.

For Books: Bird, W.Z. 1990. Ecological aspects of fox reproduction. Berlin: Guttenberg Press.