Global Change 2 
  Presenting and Turning in Your Project
DUE DATE: PowerPoints are due to your GSI by noon the day
before you present.  Presentations will be 4/13-4/17 in Lab. 

The following recommendations have been put together by the GSIs and faculty to give students guidance on the minimum requirements for the term project.

1. Class Presentation
   DUE DATE: 4/13-4/17 NOON the day before your Lab

-During the last lab section of the term, your group will present its research to students in your lab, your GSI, and faculty members.

-The time limit will be determined by your GSI, based on how many groups must present, but it will be roughly 12 minutes with 3 minutes for questions.

-Groups should prepare a PowerPoint presentation which summarizes their project in bullets and figures. Since your lab classroom might not have an Internet connection, all presentations are due to our GSI by noon the day before you present. Submit your PowerPoint presentations onto CTools as an assignment.

What to address in your presentation
-What is your main research question? Make specific predictions about the expected answer to your research question, based on background research.

-Include any background information that is necessary to understand your research but not part of the research itself. Don’t assume that the grader is your GSI who already knows about your research, since it will be graded by several people, and your GSI might not be one of them.

Evidence
-Present the data which supports your thesis or answers your research question. This is the main part of the project.

-It is strongly recommended that you include some quantitative analysis, such as an ArcView map layout or Excel graphs which you made yourself. Reference all data!

-Most important: discuss sources and analyze them. This requires your own, critical thought, and graders will be looking for evidence of it.

-Figures are helpful; don't just use words

You will submit a 2-5 (single spaced) page paper including 1) a detailed explanation of your
methodology and analysis and 2) your final conclusions/findings.

Conclusions
-What are your predictions for the future, if applicable?

-What indications for future research follow from your conclusions?  What gaps are present in the data available to answer your research question?

-What is the take-home message of your research?

References
-Have a minimum of 10 references including at least 5 articles from peer-reviewed journals. These journals should include original studies, not just reviews of other work. The other 5 references should be from high quality literature sources (if you have questions about your references' quality it is a good idea to double check them with your GSI). Show these to your GSI or a professor if you have questions about this. For help with your research, use the Global Change Digital Library:

  http://www.umich.edu/~scilib/courses/globalchange/index.html

-Any evidence of plagiarism, as always, will result in a zero on the assignment and will possibly be referred to LS&A for disciplinary action. The LS&A standards regarding plagiarism are also in the project resource folder; these include penalties for turning in the same paper for more than one class without permission from both instructors. Please consult your GSI if you are not sure how to quote a source appropriately; the GSIs do not enjoy finding plagiarism but will systematically check any suspicious text that they see.

3. General Points on Scoring

-Read the grading rubric that will be handed out in lab; it will give you an idea of what grading standards are used to assign points.

-Heavy weight is given to your discovery process, scientific examination, and take-home message. These show that you put effort into research and critical thought about your topic. The most common comment on the proposals was, “Make this more specific.” Keep this advice in mind, as your project should be more of a critical examination of a specific topic than a broad survey or book report of a research area.

-Organization is also important.

-All members of a group get the same grade. If you have difficulty with dividing up the labor of your project, ask your GSI for help very soon.