Tips on Writing Field Reports???

“Anyone out there got tips on how to write a field report? I've never done one before and feel a bit lost at it.

Thanks”

“What field? I'm familiar with field reports where an engineer visits a construction site. Field reports probably means drastically different things in different occupations.”

“Geology.”

“I think you'll find the advice you get proportional to the amount of info you offer. That seems to be what's happening now.”

“I'm writing my first field report for a class I'm taking.

To be covered:

Intro (minor background on the area)
Methodology
Results (present what I found, describe the variuos outcrops etc)
Discussion (what I think was going on in the area)
Conclusions”

“Twinkle Toes,

I had to do this sort of thing for forestry...

Intro (minor background on the area)- Where your area is, any history that applies to your project (is it a mining area, for example) What the area is currently being used for... who manages it? amount of land, type of rocks/soil/vegetation, general weather patterns... Also a general statement of what you intend to study.

Methodology how did you do what you did? Tools used? procedures? any problems during the data collection

Results (present what I found, describe the variuos outcrops etc)
Discussion (what I think was going on in the area) Yup. What you said. Also any discrepencies in data. Don't go into analyzing the data, just present it. Any graphs or charts you have will go here.

Conclusions here is where you get to make comments on your data. Discuss what your findings mean. Do they conflict or agree with any current research?

Don't forget to quote your sources and include a bibliography. Photos/charts/graphs are nice references too, but you have to be sure to label and quote those correctly as well.


Good luck!
~Di
last edited: 5/26/05 5:02:47 PM”

“thanks dicentra

i'm putting my strat columns together at the moment”

“ooohhh!!! fun! :)

I loved doing statigraphy”

“dicentra is right on.

As a social scientist, I would emphasize detail. Detail to the background/intro. Why this place/setting? What's the history and why is it important for what you want to do?

You want the background to be solid and a natural flow to your research.

I disagree with 'di' about not puting data analysis in the Results section. (But then that may be a matter of different practices within/between disciplines.) Data analysis is the foundation for the conclusions/findings. If you don't report your analysis in the results section, how can you make (solid) conclusions?”

“ChicagoMark... that is a discipline thing... Scientific papers seperate the raw data from the analysis of it. I should have clarified... In the conclusion section, you first analyze the data, then draw your conclusions.


Twinkle Toes... I highly suggest reading other published scientific papers. That helped me A LOT to see how things were supposed to go together. :)”