These are papers we will be reading and reviewing.

Week 1, September 5
NO CLASS, Paul at doing fieldwork in Greenland
Week 2, September 12
Discussion of the publication and peer-review process and "how to" for reviewing papers. Read and be prepared to discuss these letters about the peer review process and come to class ready to argue for or against anonimity! (download PDF)
Week 3, September 21 FRIDAY
Abstracts - for papers and for professional meetings
A. Read these two views of how what an abstract should contain and be ready to dicuss whether you agree or disagree with the authors.
The Abstract by Dr. Margaret Procter. download PDF
Down to Earth" Research Advice by Dr J. Mark Tippett. download PDF

B. Read the two abstracts below, one of which I prepared for the small meeting I attended in London and the other of which Lee Corbett (a UVM MS student) prepared for the 2010 GSA meeting in Denver. Come to class with a series of notes ready to discuss how these two abstracts differ and what information they were designed to communicate.
Using in situ cosmogenic 10Be to understand deglaciation timing and glacial erosion efficiency near Jakobshavn Icefjord, Western Greenland by Corbett et al. download .doc
Three decades tracing erosion and sediment with cosmogenic nuclides - where do we go next? by Bierman et al.. download PDF

C. Write an abstract (200 words or less!) about either the project you are working on now or a project you have done in the past. Bring 10 copies to class. We will read, compare and discuss these abstracts in class.
Week 4, September 26
Kirsten Brewer's proposal: download PDF

Kristen provides some instructions: I'd love more feedback primarily on my methods section (starts on pg 16). Don't worry about the lit review, unless you feel the need to get some more context on the whole thing. Likewise, the appendices are there, but no need to focus on that for the purposes of this class. Thank you everyone, and if you have any questions feel free to be in touch or bring them to class next week.
Week 5, October 3
NO CLASS, Paul at Ice Core conference in France
Week 6, October 10
Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez's paper download PDF

Please read, edit, and prepare a one page summary for submission to the lead author (Veronica) at class time. This is an intermediate draft of a paper that was derived from a thesis so your efforts to remove "thesis speak" and to make sure the paper is consistent with the guide for authors will be much appreciated.

Instructions to authors for the journal Geomorphology to which Veronica is submitting this paper can be found by clicking here
Week 7, October 17
Steven Gohlke, progress report and Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez, EPA proposal and reviews

Please read, edit and prepare a short summary for submission to the Steve at class time. This is a first, rough and incomplete draft and he would like comments on both the writing and the figures. download PDF

We will also be reading Veronica's proposal that was not funded by the EPA Star program and looking at the reviews. For this, you do NOT have to do a written review but I would like you to evaluate the reviewer's assessments. Do you agree with their assessments? What do you think the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal were?
download PDF of reviews
download PDF of grant proposal
Week 8, October 24
Ana Vang - banners for public display.
We will be reviewing, discussing, and marking up rough drafts of banners that Ana has been preparing for public exhibition next year.

Before class, please download and read the proposal, funded by NEH, that is supporting this work by clicking here

Also please visit the Interstate page of the Landscape Change Program and have a look at some of the images. You can do that by clicking here
Week 9, October 31
Thomas Neilson, NSF Grad Fellowship proposal.
We will be reading an early draft of Thomas' proposal to to NSF including three mandated sections. Please start by reading the NSF guidelines which you can link to here. Then, please read the proposal at two levels. First, is the document convincing overall? Second, please line edit for Thomas making specific suggestions to help him going page by page.
Download the draft proposal by clicking here.
Week 10, November 9
NO CLASS, Paul at GSA
Week 11, November 14
Ellen Rovelstad and Ashliegh Kollmer, thesis proposals

Ellen asks that everyone read through the introduction and focus their attention on the methods section, referring to the literature review as needed. She's interested in learning if she provides enough justification for the research to take place and if her plan to address the research questions is clear. Download the Ellen's proposal by clicking here.

Ashliegh has provided us an early draft of her proposal to review. Please read and make suggestions for both content and readability. Download the Ashliegh's proposal by clicking here.

Week 12, November 21
NO CLASS, Thanksgiving
Week 13, November 28
Ryan Melnichuk - paper and Alejandro del Peral - AGU poster and the all important, COOKIE SWAP; remember to BRING COOKIES FOR FINAL CELEBRATION SWAP!

Alejandro asked that you consider the following questions when looking over the draft of his poster, which you can download by clicking here.
1) Does the overall format work? Alejandro made the poster without putting any captions on the figures and instead wrote small paragraphs at the top of each panel where he cite each figure in a series of sentences. Not sure if this format works or not.
2) Any suggestions on how to better present the sensitivity analysis (bottom of the panel on model development) would be greatly appreciated.

Ryan suggest that his objective is for everyone to indicate what parts are not clear and where he needs to add meat and clarity. This is a skeleton copy that only has some of the figures and none of the references. Grammar and spelling help would be nice, but not really a focus at this point. Download the draft of Ryan's paper by clicking here.