Topics, Tools and Techniques in Paleoclimate Research
Proposal Assignment
[written 4/14/04; revised 4/28/04]
Goals of this assignment:
- Employing at least two of the tools and techniques we have
discussed over the semester, develop a multidisciplinary
research effort
designed to resolve an outstanding paleoclimate question of
interest to
you.
- Learn to effectively incorporate constructive criticism on
your
work via peer evaluation.
- Improve oral and written communication skills by presenting
your
proposal in short oral and written formats.
Products:
- A draft proposal, to contain at least an outline of the
components described below. You may also include notes
from the
literature, key figures and references.
- A written proposal, not to exceed 10 pages plus references and
figures, with the following components:
- Title: a
concise, specific representation of what you intend to
propose.
Suggested length: no more than 25 words.
- Abstract: a
concise summary of the complete proposal, including a
statement of the
scientific question of interest; why the work is important;
basic
principles of the chosen approach, and expected experimental
outcomes
and results. Suggested length: 250 words (1 page).
- Introduction:
A statement of the scientific question; why the work is
important; basic
principles of the chosen approach; what, if anything, has been
done
along these lines previously. Suggested length: 750
words
(3pp).
- Proposed research:
A complete description of the approach, including expected
experimental
outcomes and results. This should also include the major
uncertainties of the approach you describe, and how you have
designed
your experiment to minimize the effects of these
uncertainties.
Suggested length: 1500 words (6pp).
- Figures and Tables:
You will
probably want to make key points using figures and tables.
These
may be obtained from the literature (e.g. someone shows a
result which
supports your idea) or designed originally. In any case,
be sure
that all figures and tables have captions which explain
exactly what is
plotted or listed, and data units. If the figure or
table is
obtained from another scientist's work, or contains data
provided by
another scientist, be sure to cite and reference the source
material
(see below). Include only as many figures ajnd tables as
are
necessary to make your points.
- References:
A
complete list keyed to citations in your proposal.
Please use
parenthetical referencing in your proposal, and please use a
consistent
bibliographical format which permits anyone to find the source
of the
information. For example, in the proposal text you might
write:
The zonally averaged solsticial
surface divergences from the International Comprehensive
Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (I-COADS; Woodruff et al., 1998)
climatology
for the Pacific marine sector are illustrated in Fig. 1.
In the References section, the cited reference may appear as
Woodruff, S.D., Diaz, H.F., Elms, J.D., Worley, S.J., 1998. COADS
Release 2 data and Metadata Enhancements for Improvements of
Marine
Surface Flux Fields. Phys.
Chem. Earth
23, 517-526, accessed via Internet, 1 May 2003:
http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/coads/egs_paper.html.
- An oral presentation, 15 minutes in length, of the primary
features of your proposal. Additional suggestions for
developing
an effective oral presentation are here.
Schedule:
- Draft proposals to be brought to class Wednesday, April 28th.
Keep an original copy of your draft. We will pair up
and
take 45 minute turns providing constructive written criticism on
each
others' proposals, and 15 minute turns communicating that
feedback
orally. We will use the peer
evaluation form (I'll bring copies to class). Mike
will also
evaluate all drafts and return comments by Friday, April 30th.
- Oral proposals to be presented in class Wednesday, May 5th.
Each talk slot will be 15 minutes: 10 minutes to describe
your
proposal, 4 minutes for questions, and 1 minute for evaluation
and
changeover to the next speaker. Since these are short
presentations, you will want to hit the high points of the
argument in
your written proposal with simply and clearly designed visual
aids.
We will evaluate each others' presentations according to
the presentation
grading rubric using the presentation
evaluation form.
- Please email your Powerpoint presentation to Mike no later than 12pm,
Wednesday May 5th, or bring it to class on a CD-ROM,
no later than 1pm, Wednesday
May 5th.
Name your presentation [lastname].ppt; for instance,
mine would be evans.ppt.
I will load these
all onto the classroom computer in time for class. If
you cannot
or do not wish to use Powerpoint, please talk to Mike about
alternative
arrangements.
- Finalized written proposals, to be submitted as paper copy, no
later than 4pm, Friday, May 7th to Mike at his office in the
West
Stadium. Submitted package to include:
- Proposal draft
- Peer critique
- Instructor critique
- Final written proposal
- I will evaluate the results and compile and submit grades by
May
14th to Anne Chase. Grades to also be distributed
electronically
and individually to students by instructor.
Expectations:
- A grading plan for the following assignments is here.
- A grading rubric, explaining expected outcomes for the draft
written proposal, is here.
- The peer evaluation form for draft proposals is here;
a grading rubric, explaining expected outcomes for peer
evaluation of
the draft written proposals, is here.
- A grading rubric, explaining expected outcomes for the oral
presentation, is here.
- A grading rubric, explaining expected outcomes for the final
written proposal, is here.
General remarks:
- In my opinion, the best paleoclimate research proposals ask
simple questions which are clearly linked to "big picture"
questions.
The proposed work is designed to as unambiguously as
possible
answer the question.
- Try to explain things in a clear manner such that a general
interest paleoclimatologist (e.g. not a specialist in the topics
or
tools you discuss) can understand your rationale and
argument.
- While developing your ideas, you are encouraged to seek advice
from semester speakers with expertise in the tools and/or topics
you
wish to study.
Results:
- A table listing the titles of the proposal projects is here.
Back
to TTT04 syllabus.