1. When writing an abstract, a discussion, a method section etc. DO NOT
be informal or "flowery". (do not use contractions or slang)
2. Always put a 0 before a decimal place as needed. For example 0.5 m
not .5 m.
3. Do not give non-human objects human abilities or pronouns. For
example: ...the vegetation spoke... and do not call a river" she". Try
to avoid pronouns (even the pronoun "it") altogether. Many times this
makes readings difficult to follow.
4. Edit your work. This includes using the spell check.
5. Think about what supporting material would be useful in your lab. If
you made calculations include a table of values so I can check your
process if something seems wrong. This is to help you!!! When trying to
describe something and you are having a difficult time, refer to a sketch
or diagram. These are very useful and can say more than you can in words.
6. Make sure all sketches or diagrams have a direction, scale (even
approximate), title and a caption to tell me what I am looking at. If
this is omitted, I do not know what I am looking at and your time was
wasted.
7. Make sure that the lab is fairly neat and orderly.
8. Make sure you have answered all of the questions. This includes
making sure you get all of the handouts during the lab and checking on the
back of the handouts.
9. Get a head start on completing your lab. If you, ask me questions by
Tuesday afternoon, I will be more than willing to help. Wednesday morning
is kind of late to ask me what the gist of lab was.
10. Most importantly get your labs to me on time. I know that sometimes
things come up but that should not be more than once a semester and that
is why I will let you drop one lab. Remember you have a week to complete
these labs.