Goals:

• Expand awareness of interconnectedness in ecology
• Foster analytical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Enhance understanding of how human actions affect the entire ecosphere
• Consider the complexity of untangling environmental problems
• Emphasize utilization of ecological research findings

• Identify and describe the team's research project ("Statement of Purpose")
• Design a hands-on experiment to gather information about your team's topic ("Experimental Protocols")
• Conduct a literature search to discover what is known about your research topic.  Include research journal articles, books, and Internet sources (you can use the Library's electronic resources to obtain research journal articles, but you must have the full text version of the articles, not just an abstract).  Create a Bibliography to document all sources of information used, and use proper bibliographic format.
• Assemble the findings ("data") gathered from your experimental observations ("Findings of Fact" or "Results")
• Prepare a scientific report based on your literature search, your experimental findings, and your own interpretation of the problem and solutions associated with your team's topic; use a standard scientific format for your paper.  Prepare an initial draft of the paper and edit for spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, style and content ("Draft Report")
• Submit Final Report for grade evaluation. ("Team Report")
• Prepare a Web site to document the most interesting findings of your research; present your web site to the entire class. ("Draft Web Site" and "Website Presentation")

Your team's project will be graded after the report and web site presentations are completed; however, each step of the project will be considered.  A team cannot receive an "A" for the project unless each "Milestone" has been met, i.e., all sections submitted by the due dates.

Teams can make an appointment with the professor, at any time during the semester, to discuss any facet of the project.

The following criteria will be included in the grade evaluation: originality, diligent effort, consistent quality, scientific accuracy, documentation, and effective presentation.

Guidelines for the web site will be provided, and a checklist will be distributed for assessment of the presentations.