In any scientific project one of the most important parts of the process is the writing of a report. If you carry out experiments and you do not write about them the knowledge that you have gained is not shared and it will be lost. The following should serve as a scaffold for your report.
Title Page
- On this page you should state the name of your project, the date and your name. A photograph or drawing can be added to this page.
Abstract.
- This is a short summary that states what you did and what you found out. Reading the abstract should be a good indication of what is in the rest of the report.
Contents
- As your report may be long a page of contents will enable your reader to find the section they are interested in.
Introduction
- Literature Review. When you study an ecosystem there will be previous writers to consult. Your report should start off with a review of what has already been written. A literature review is not required for this report but it is important to mention this part of writing a report.
- Aims and Objectives of the study. This should be a short account of what you were setting out to do in your study.
- A map of the location of the study site.
Methods
- General observations of the study site
- Describe how you measured the abiotic features of your site
- Describe how you estimated the size of your plant and animal population
- Describe how you looked at the interactions between the species
Results
- Present the tables of results here (Salinity Oxygen Temperature). Include a mean and range for your results
- Present information in the form of graphs
- Write up the interactions that you found in your local ecosystem
- Note any human interactions you observed
- Show the flow of energy and matter through the ecosystem using food chains and food webs.
- Record examples of allelopathy, mutualism, parasitism and commensalism
- Outline the role of decomposers
- Record producers and consumers
- Record the distribution of an animal and a plant
- Record any predator/prey interaction.
Discussion
- Discuss your findings.
- Describe any difficulties that you had
Conclusions and Recommendations
- A short statement that relates directly to the aim of the report.
- Any recommendations to come out of your report including suggestions for further research.
Acknowledgements
- Record here any help that you had to complete your report
References
- Give the title , author, year and publisher for any reference material you used.
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