Informative Reports - McGraw-Hill

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8 Informative Reports

Imagine what the world would be like if eachperson had to learn everything from scratch,by trial and error, with no recipes, no encyclo-pedias, no textbooks, no newspapers—noth-ing that records what others have learned.Fortunately, we have many sources of in-formation to draw on, including informativereports.

8a Understand the assignment.

An informative report passes on what someone has learned about atopic or issue; it teaches. Because a good way for students to reinforcelearning is by teaching it to others, college instructors often assign informative reports. When your instructor assigns an informative re-port, he or she expects you to find out what is currently known aboutsome specific topic and to present what you discover in a clear and un-biased way.

An informative report gives you a chance to do the following:

■ Read more about an issue that interests you.■ Make sense of what you have read, heard, and seen.■ Teach others what you have learned.

8b Approach writing an informative report as a process.

1. Selecting a topic that interests youAn informative report should be clear and accurate but not dull. Themajor challenge of writing informative reports is engaging the reader’sinterest. Selecting a topic that interests you makes it more likely thatyour report will interest your readers.

Consider connecting what you are learning in one course with atopic you are studying in another course or with your personal expe-rience. For example, one student, Joe Smulowitz, worked part-time fora stockbroker and aspired to a career in that field, a field significantly

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affected by the Internet. For his topic, he decided to investigate whatonline stock traders were doing and saying. (Smulowitz’s paper beginson p. 166.)

2. Considering what your readers know about the topicUnless the assignment designates a different group, consider yourclassmates and your instructor as the audience for your report. Inother words, assume that your readers have some familiarity with thetopic area but that most of them do not have clear, specific knowledgeof your particular topic.

3. Developing an objective stanceWhen writers have an objective stance, they do not take sides. In-stead, they present differing views fairly, without indicating a preferencefor one view over another. This commitment to objectivity gives an in-formative report its authority. Ideas and facts are presented methodi-cally, and the emphasis is on the topic, not the writer. By contrast, when

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WRITING beyond COLLEGE

Informative Reports

By writing reports in college, you prepare yourself for future professional and public occasions that will require you to pass oninformation to others. In many professions, writing informativeannouncements, manuals, and reports is part of the job. Informa-tive writing is also part of professional writing in the disciplines:

■ In a published article, an anthropologist surveys and summa-rizes a large body of information from archeological, historical,and ethnographic sources relating to warfare among the indige-nous peoples of the American Southwest before the arrival ofthe Spanish conquerors.

■ In a report for their colleagues, three physical therapists definewhat a critical pathway is, trace its development, and summa-rize the arguments for and against its use in patient care.

■ For an encyclopedia of British women writers, a professor ofliterature briefly recounts the life and works of Eliza Fenwick, a recently rediscovered eighteenth-century author.

■ In a journal for research biologists, two biochemists summarizethe findings of more than two hundred recently published ar-ticles on defense mechanisms in plants.

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writers are subjective, they let readers know their views. Although asubjective stance is appropriate for other types of writing, an informativereport should come across as objective rather than subjective.

4. Composing a thesis that summarizes your knowledge of the topicThe thesis of an informative report is usually not controversial, evenwhen the report is about a dispute. Because transmitting knowledge isthe primary goal of an informative report, the thesis typically statesan accepted generalization or reports the results of the writer’s study.

Your thesis should also state the goal of your paper and forecast itscontent. Before you decide on a thesis, review the information you havecollected and divide it into categories, or subtopics. Compose a thesisstatement that summarizes—either generally or by category—whatthe information in your paper shows. (For more on thesis statements,see Chapter 3: Planning and Shaping the Whole Essay, pp. 45–49.)

In his paper about online stock trading, Smulowitz’s thesis is ageneralization that he supports in the body of his paper with informa-tion he groups into categories:

Besides honest investors with various levels of expertise, theInternet grants access to numerous investors who post false information in hopes of making a quick and sometimes largeprofit. . . . The one hundred or so postings that I read can be divided into four categories.

Notice how Smulowitz forecasts the body of his report in the italicizedsentence. We expect to learn something about each of the four cate-gories, and the report is structured to give us that information categoryby category.

5. Providing context in your introductionInformative reports usually begin with a relatively simple introductionto the topic and a straightforward statement of the thesis. To orient read-ers, the introduction may provide some relevant context or background,but writers of informative reports generally get to their topic as quicklyas possible and keep it in the foreground. (For more on introductions,see Chapter 4: Drafting Paragraphs and Visuals, pp. 85–86.)

6. Organizing your paper for clarity by classifying and dividing informationBecause you are explaining something in an informative report, clar-ity matters. Informative writers develop their ideas in an organized

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way, often by classifying and dividing information into categories,subtopics, or the stages of a process. (For more on developing yourideas, see Chapter 4: Drafting Paragraphs and Visuals, pp. 71–83.)

7. Illustrating key ideas with examplesBecause clarity is so important to the success of an informative report,writers of these kinds of papers usually use specific examples to helpreaders understand their most important ideas. In his paper on onlinestock trading, Smulowitz devotes a lot of space to examples, includ-ing messages posted by various investors and an instance of gender-bending for profit. Examples make his report interesting as well aseducational. (For more on using examples, see Chapter 4: DraftingParagraphs and Visuals, pp. 76–78.)

8. Defining specialized terms and spelling out unfamiliar abbreviationsMost informative reports include specialized terms that will probablynot be familiar to most readers, or familiar terms that are being used ina specialized or an unfamiliar way. Writers of informative reports usu-ally explain these terms with a synonym or a brief definition. For ex-ample, Smulowitz gives a brief definition of the term online traders inthe first paragraph of his informative report on online stock trading.(For more on definition, see Chapter 4: Drafting Paragraphs and Visu-als, pp. 74–76.) Unfamiliar abbreviations like CMC (computer-medi-ated communication) and GDP (gross domestic product) are spelled outthe first time they are used, with the abbreviation in parentheses.

9. Concluding by answering “So what?”Because informative writers want readers to remember what theyhave learned, they often conclude their reports with an image thatsuggests the information’s value or a saying that sums it all up. Theconclusion reminds readers of the topic and thesis that were firststated in the introduction. It then answers the “So what?” question.

At the end of his report on online stock trading, Smulowitz an-swers the “So what?” question with a warning:

Before buying any stock, investors should investigate itthoroughly. When they read what others say about a company,they should remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.

(Also see information on conclusions in Chapter 4: Drafting Paragraphsand Visuals, pp. 87–89.)

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8c Write informative reports on social science research.

Informative papers are commonly used in the social sciences to report onresearch—either the writer’s own research or the research of other schol-ars. In this section, we look at an informative report that would be ap-propriate for a first- or second-level course. Section 8d considers a morespecialized type of informative paper in the social sciences: the reviewof the literature on a topic. (For a discussion of the use of case studies inthe social sciences, see Chapter 9: Interpretive Reports, pp. 202–6.)

In the informative paper that follows, Joe Smulowitz reports whathe has learned about the people who are talking online about stocks.As you read his report, notice how Smulowitz provides a context forhis topic, cites various sources (using the APA documentation style),categorizes the information, and illustrates his ideas with examples,all hallmarks of a clear, carefully developed paper. The annotationsin the margin of this paper point out specific aspects of the informativereport. (For details on the proper formatting of a paper in APA style, seeChapter 25 and the sample paper that begins on p. 457.)

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8cCOMMON ASSIGNMENTS ■ Informative reports in the social sciences

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LEARNING in COLLEGE

Informative Reports in the Social Sciences

Informative reports in the social sciences examine a wide range of behavioral and social phenomena, such as consumer spending,courtship rituals, political campaign tactics, and job stress.

Some Types of Informative Reports in the Social Sciences

■ Research reports describe the process and results of researchconducted by the author(s).

■ Reviews of the literature synthesize the published work on aparticular topic.

Documentation Styles

■ APA (see Chapter 25) and Chicago (see Chapter 26)

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Sample student informative report

Chatting Online about Stocks

Joe Smulowitz

Sociology of Business

Professor Lanahan

November 14, 2005

—————————————————[new page]—————————————————

Chatting Online about Stocks

The Internet has produced a new kind of investor: the online stock

market investor. Until a few years ago, a person who wanted to invest

in the stock market had to hire a professional broker, who might charge

$300 per trade as well as a substantial commission. Nowadays, an

investor can buy and sell stocks over the Internet at costs ranging from

only $7.95 to $25 per trade. As a result, more and more lay people have

become online traders—investors who use the Internet to buy and sell

stocks. Of the 143 million Americans who are currently using the Internet,

39% use it to trade stocks online (National Telecommunications and

Information Administration, 2002, chap. 3). Silicon Investor, a popular

site for chatting about stocks, receives over 12,000 posts a day from

online traders (Lucchetti, 1998).

Who are these online traders, and what are they talking about in

investment-related chats? Besides honest investors with various levels

of expertise, the Internet grants access to numerous investors who post

false information in hopes of making a quick and sometimes large

profit. The Internet is rife with “hundreds of fraudulent and abusive

investment schemes, including stock manipulations, pyramid scams,

and Ponzi schemes” (Connecticut Department of Banking, 1998, p. 2).

State securities agencies and other investment regulators are now

looking into cases in which the price of shares in little-known stocks

appears to have been manipulated through messages posted on

Internet bulletin boards.

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Following APA style,Smulowitzincludes aseparate titlepage. He doesnot include anabstract, how-ever, becausehis instructordid not requireone for thisassignment.

Topic introduced.

Important term defined.

Source infor-mation sum-marized ratherthan quoted directly.

Thesis stated.

Direct quota-tion: pagenumber in-cluded in citation.

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Many investors find out about online fraud the hard way. Consider

the case of Interlock Consolidated Enterprises, Inc. This Canadian

company was reported to have landed a major contract to construct

housing in the former USSR. When the company became the topic of

online hype in early 1994, its stock jumped from 42 cents a share to

$1.30 before falling back to 60 cents (Gardner & Gardner, 1994, “The

Fairy Tale” section, para. 4). In this type of scam, known as “pump

and dump,” investors spread unusually positive news about a stock,

then sell it when the price gets unrealistically high. This scam is nothing

new to the investment world. In fact, pump-and-dump schemes began

in the 1700s (Lucchetti, 1998). But now the schemers can reach

hundreds of thousands of people with a single posting, and that kind

of reach clearly makes a difference.

An example of what is going on in investment-related chats is the

online talk about Chico’s, a women’s clothing company. Silicon Investor

includes a chat room called “Miscellaneous,” where in 1999 one could

read a tip about Chico’s: the company was about to release good

news, which would raise the price of its stock (Vanier, 1999). A savvy

investor would have found out more about Chico’s from sources such

as Yahoo! Finance or Hoover’s Online, Internet-based business information

databases. There investors would have found a history of Chico’s; a

summary of what Chico’s produces; the company’s location, phone

number, number of employees, names of top management; a list of the

company’s recent press releases; and most importantly, financial data,

including stock price and performance over the past year (Yahoo!

Finance, 2004, Chico’s FAS; Hoover’s Online, 2004, Chico’s FAS).

Having read some facts about Chico’s, investors would have been

better prepared to understand e-mail messages about the company’s

stock posted on the Silicon Investor bulletin board, messages that fell

into four categories. In the first category belonged postings with only

positive things to say about Chico’s, such as, “CHS [Chico’s ticker

name] is expected to add 30 stores this year. . . . They are expecting

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Unfamiliarterm defined.

Objectivestance: firstperson (I)avoidedwith APAstyle.

Informationabout Smulowitz’sclassifications.

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to grow to over 700 stores in the near future” (mfpcpa, 1999). About

75% of the approximately 100 messages belonged to this positive-only

category and appeared to be posted by stockholders trying to spread

hype about Chico’s so that the stock’s price would rise. The few replies

to these messages expressed agreement.

In the second category belonged messages that came from

investors called “shorts” and “longs.” When they think a security’s price

is going to decrease, shorts borrow the security from a broker or dealer

and sell it on the market. The short investor profits if the price goes

down because he or she can replace the borrowed security at a lower

cost. Longs, on the other hand, purchase a security because they think

its price will increase. The long investor profits if the price goes up

because he or she can sell the security for more than it cost originally.

Because the shorts want the price to decrease and the longs want the

price to increase, these two kinds of stock traders often feud in online

discussions. For example, in the following exchange about Chico’s

stock, a short’s message entitled “Out of Steam” provoked a reaction

entitled “Stay LONG” from cag174, a long:

She can’t take it Captain. The stock can’t hold its new highs. It

keeps closing at the bottom of the range. Shorts will live. We will

see 28 again. (Startrader 1975, 1999)

$38 will come before $28. $43 at year end. (cag174, 1999)

There seemed to be more long investors than short investors on the

Chico’s bulletin board. Whenever a short posted a negative message

aimed at lowering the stock price, several longs retaliated, warning that

the short was misleading investors.

In the third category were posts from sneaky investors. For

example, the following post appeared to be written by a woman:

“Don’t know much about stocks, just love the clothes and so do my

daughters—31, 35, and 43. Talked hubby into buying in when I read

Streisand was buying lots of sweaters . . .” (Katy10121, 1999). Since

Chico’s is a woman’s clothing store, investors are likely to be interested

in what women think about the store. But the person who posted this

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E-mail messages are central to the paperand, thus, are quoteddirectly, notsummarized.

Categories illustrated withexamples andunfamiliarterms defined.

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message might not have been female. The poster’s online profile listed

the poster’s sex as “male.” This investor could be trying to take

advantage of other investors by engaging in gender-bending.

The last category of messages comprised posts from owners of

little-known and lightly traded stocks called “penny stocks.” Here is an

example of such messages:

CHS has given us a great ride, but now would be a good time to

get off, while we’re on top, and reinvest profits in a little soon-to-

be-rediscovered gem, SNKI (Swank). Low volume right now, but

check out the P/E and other stats. . . . (gravytrain2030, 1998)

The price of penny stocks such as SNKI ranges from $0.01 to $5 a

share. Enthusiasm from seemingly in-the-know observers like

gravytrain2030 can sometimes lead to significant increases in the stock

price. For that reason, Yahoo! does not offer bulletin boards for such

stocks. Nevertheless, people still post their messages on other bulletin

boards, just as gravytrain2030 did on the Chico’s board.

The Internet gives the average person the opportunity to invest in

the stock market without going through a broker. All the information

essential to investing is available to anyone with access to a computer.

But hype, manipulation, and fraud are also on the Internet. Before

buying any stock, investors should investigate it thoroughly. When

they read what others say about a company, they should remember

that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.

—————————————————[new page]—————————————————

References

cag174. (1999, November 9). Stay LONG. Message posted to Chico’s

message board, archived at http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mb?s=CHS

Connecticut Department of Banking. (1998). Investor bulletin: On-line

investment schemes. Hartford: Connecticut Department of Banking.

Gardner, D., & Gardner, T. (1994). Buy Zeigletics! The Fool’s School.

Retrieved from http://www.fool.com/School/Zeigletics/

ZFairyTale.htm

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Point and purpose restated in conclusion.

Referenceslist followsAPA styleand beginson a newpage.

Interpretationprovidedwithoutbiased opinion.

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gravytrain2030. (1998, July 3). Sell CHS, reinvest in SNKI. Message

posted to Chico’s message board, archived at http://finance

.yahoo.com/q/mb?s=CHS

Hoover’s Online. (2004, December 6). Chico’s FAS Inc. Retrieved

December 6, 2004, from http://premium.hoovers.com/subscribe/

co/factsheet.xhtml?ID=16010

Katy10121. (1999, June 24). Just love the clothes. Message posted to

Chico’s message board, archived at http://finance.yahoo.com/

q/mb?s=CHS

Lucchetti, A. (1998, May 28). Some Web sites getting tough on stock

chat. Wall Street Journal, pp. C1, C12.

mfpcpa. (1999, February 23). Response to Mish’s post. Message

posted to Chico’s message board, archived at http://finance.yahoo

.com/q/mb?s=CHS

National Telecommunications and Information Administration. (2002,

February). A nation online: How Americans are expanding their use of the

Internet. (U.S. Department of Commerce Report). Retrieved from

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/dn/html/anationonline2.htm

Startrader 1975. (1999, November 5). Out of steam. Message posted

to Chico’s message board, archived at http://finance.yahoo.com/

q/mb?s=CHS

Vanier, G. (1999, May 1). Time to buy Chico’s. Message posted to

Chico’s message board, archived at http://www.siliconinvestor

.com/stocktalk/subject.gsp?subjectid=20636

Yahoo! Finance. (2004, December 6.) Chico’s FAS Inc. Retrieved

December 6, 2004 from http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=chs

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8d Write reviews of the literature to summarize current knowledge in a specific area.

In upper-division courses, instructors sometimes assign a special kindof informative report called a review of the literature. Here the

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term literature refers to published research reports, not to poems andnovels, and the term review means that you need to survey others’ideas, not evaluate them or argue for your opinion. A review presentsan organized account of the current state of knowledge in a specificarea, an account that you and other researchers can use to figure outnew projects and directions for research. A review of the literaturemay also be a subsection within a research report.

The following paragraph is an excerpt from the review of the lit-erature section in an article by psychologists investigating the moti-vations for suicide:

One source of information about suicide motives is suicidenotes. International studies of suicide notes suggest that womenand men do not differ with regard to love versus achievement mo-tives. For example, in a study of German suicide notes, Linn andLester (1997) found that women and men did not differ with re-gard to relationship versus financial or work motives. In a studyof Hong Kong suicide notes, Ho, Yip, Chiu, and Halliday (1998)reported no gender or age differences with regard to interpersonalproblems or financial/job problems. Similarly, in a UK study, McClelland, Reicher, and Booth (2000) found that men’s suicidenotes did not differ from women’s notes in terms of mentioningcareer failures. In fact, in the UK study relationship losses werereported more often in men’s than in women’s suicide notes.

—CANETTO AND LESTER, Journal of Psychology,September 2002

8e Write informative papers in the sciences to share discoveries.

Without writing, science would not be possible. Scientists form hy-potheses and plan new experiments as they observe, read, and write.When they work in the laboratory, they keep well-organized and de-tailed notebooks. They also write and publish research reports, usinga format that reflects the logic of scientific argument. In this way, theyshare their discoveries and enable other scientists to use their work.

8f Write lab reports to demonstrate understanding.

As a college student, you may be asked to demonstrate your scientificunderstanding by showing that you know how to perform and reporton an experiment designed to verify some well-established fact or

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8fCOMMON ASSIGNMENTS ■ Lab reports

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principle. In advanced courses, you may get to design original experi-ments as well. (An example of a student lab report can be found on p. 175.)

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Note: When scientists report the results of original experimentsdesigned to provide new insight into issues on the frontiers ofscientific knowledge, they go beyond informative reporting tointerpretive analysis of the significance of their findings.

LEARNING in COLLEGE

Informative Reports in the Sciences

Informative reports in the sciences examine a wide range of nat-ural and physical phenomena, such as plant growth, weather pat-terns, animal behavior, chemical reactions, and magnetic fields.

Some Types of Informative Reports in the Sciences

■ Lab reports describe experiments, following the steps of the scientific method.

■ Research reports describe the process and results of researchconducted by the author(s). Research reports are more exten-sive than lab reports.

■ Reviews of the literature synthesize the published work on a par-ticular topic. (See 8d, pp. 170–71 for an explanation and example.)


■ CSE name-year, citation-sequence, and citation-name styles (seeChapter 26)

Lab reports usually include seven distinctive sections in the fol-lowing order: Abstract, Introduction, Methods and Materials, Results,Discussion, Acknowledgments, and References. Begin drafting the re-port, section by section, while your time in the lab is still fresh in yourmind.

Follow the scientific conventions for abbreviations, symbols, andnumbers. See if your textbook includes a list of accepted abbreviationsand symbols, or ask your professor where you might find such a list. Usenumerals rather than words for dates, times, pages, figures, tables, andstandard units of measurement (for example, g/ml, percentages).

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1. AbstractAn abstract is a one-paragraph summary of what your lab report cov-ers. Although usually written last, the abstract is the part that oth-ers will read first. Scientists often skim professional journals, readingnothing more than the titles and abstracts of articles. Abstracts gen-erally use about 250 words to answer the following questions: Whatmethods were used in the experiment? What variables were mea-sured? What were the findings? What do the findings imply?

2. IntroductionThe introduction gives readers the information they need to under-stand the focus and point of your lab report. State your topic, summa-rize prior research, and present your hypothesis.

3. Methods and materialsExperiments must be repeatable. The purpose of the methods-and-materials section is to answer the how and what questions in a way thatpermits other scientists to replicate your work. Select the details thatthey will need to know to replicate the experiment. Using the past tense,recount in chronological order what was done with specific materials.

4. ResultsIn this section, your purpose is to tell your reader about the resultsthat are relevant to your hypothesis, especially those that are statis-tically significant. Results may be relevant to your hypothesis even ifthey are different from what you expected. An experiment does notneed to confirm your hypothesis to be interesting.

To report what you have learned, you might provide a summariz-ing table or graph. For example, the graph in Figure 8.1 on page 174,which plots the distance a glider traveled over a period of time, wasused to summarize the results of an engineering assignment. In this in-stance, a paper airplane was launched, and the distance it traveled ina specific period of time was measured. Each point on the graph rep-resents the distance the glider traveled in consecutive tenths of a sec-ond from 0.1 second to 1.0 second. By reading the positions of the glideron the XY plot (X equals time; Y equals position in centimeters), we cansee that the glider traveled just under 100 centimeters in 1.0 second.

Every table and figure you include in a lab report must be men-tioned in the body of your report. Do not repeat all the information inthe table or figure, but do point out the relevant patterns it reveals.If you run statistical tests on your findings, be careful not to make thetests themselves the focus of your writing. In this section, you should

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emphasize the results of the tests, not the statistical procedures usedto analyze the data. Refrain from interpreting why things happenedthe way they did. Interpretation belongs in the discussion section.

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posi

tion

(cm

)

time (s)0.20 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Data Plot for Position Versus Time

110

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

FIGURE 8.1 The distance traveled by a paper airplane plotted in0.1-second intervals.

Note: Choose your words carefully. Refer to an “increase,” forexample, as “marked” rather than as “significant.” Like theterms correlated and random, the term significant has a specificstatistical meaning for scientists and should therefore be used ina lab report only in relation to the appropriate statistical tests.

5. DiscussionIn your discussion section, you need to explain how and why your re-sults do or do not confirm the hypothesis. Lab experiments produce results, not facts or laws. To transform results into accepted facts orlaws, the scientific community depends on debate and consensus. In dis-cussing your results, interpret your major findings by explaining howand why each finding does or does not confirm the original hypothesis.Connect your research with prior scientific research. How and why doyour findings and interpretations agree or disagree with the prior

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research summarized in your introduction? Look ahead to future re-search: where do scientists interested in this area seem to be going?

6. AcknowledgmentsYou may have reason to include an acknowledgments section. In pro-fessional journals, most research papers include a brief statement ac-knowledging those who assisted the author or authors during theresearch and writing process.

7. ReferencesThis final section of your report should include a listing of all manuals,books, and journal articles you used during your research and writ-ing process. Do not wait until the last minute to prepare this section,or you may find that you do not have time to get some missing pieceof information. Use one of the citation formats developed by the Coun-cil of Science Editors (CSE style), unless another citation format is favored by those working in the area of your research. If you are un-certain about which format to use, ask your professor for advice.

Sample student lab report

Orientation by Sight in Schooling and Nonschooling Fish

Josephine Hearn

Biology 103

October 5, 2004

Lab partners:

Tracy Luckow

Bryan Mignone

Darcy Langford

Abstract

This experiment examined the tendency of schooling and of

nonschooling fish to orient by sight toward conspecifics. Schooling

species did orient toward conspecifics by sight and nonschooling

species did not show any preference, indicating that schooling fish

show a positive phototaxis toward conspecifics.

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Experimentsummarized.

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Introduction

Vision has been established as the primary method by which many

schooling fish maintain a close proximity to one another. Olfaction,

sound, and water pressure are secondary factors in schooling.1 This

experiment tested this theory, specifically, to determine whether

schooling fish orient by sight toward conspecifics, whether schooling

fish orient toward conspecifics more readily in the presence of a

nonschooling species than of another schooling species, and whether

schooling fish orient toward conspecifics more readily than

nonschooling fish do. It was predicted that schooling fish would show

a positive phototaxis to conspecifics, and that nonschooling fish would

demonstrate no definite taxis movement toward conspecifics;

furthermore, schooling fish would orient toward conspecifics more

readily in an environment with nonschooling fish than in one with other

schooling fish; finally, strongly schooling fish would more readily orient

to conspecifics than would less strongly schooling fish.

The hypothesis was tested by placing 2 species in an aquarium,

1 species at each end of the tank, with a test fish belonging to 1 of the

2 species in the center of the tank allowed to orient by sight toward

either species.

Methods and materials

Observations were made of 5 species of fish: Brachydanio sp.

(zebra danios), Barbus tetrazona (tiger barbs), Xiphophorus maculatus

(swordtails), Hyphessobrycon sp. (tetras), and Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum

( juvenile convict cichlids). The species were ranked according to the

schooling behavior exhibited, determined by recording the time each

species spent schooling. Criteria for ranking were the proximity of

conspecifics to one another and the tendency to move together. Barbs

were ranked as the species with the strongest schooling tendency,

followed closely by tetras, then danios, swordtails, and cichlids. Cichlids

were considered a nonschooling species. The top 2 ranking species,

barbs and tetras, and the last ranking species, cichlids, were selected for

this experiment.

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Backgroundinformationprovided:earlier study,scope andhypothesis of currentexperiment.

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As illustrated in Figure 1, three cylinders were placed inside a filled

10-gallon aquarium surrounded by a dark curtain to prevent the entry

of light from the sides 2. Plexiglas cylinders were used to keep species

separated and able to orient to each other by sight alone. The 2

outermost cylinders contained 4 each of 2 different species. A test fish,

belonging to either of those species, was placed in the central cylinder.

The water temperature was uniformly 22°C and remained so

throughout the experiment.

When all cylinders were in place, the central cylinder was lifted

out of the tank, allowing the test fish to move freely. Over the course

of 1 minute, the time that the test fish spent on the side with

conspecifics was recorded. The procedure was repeated with all

possible combinations of the 3 species, and 5 replicates of each

combination.

Results

Figure 2 shows the results for each of the three species for all of

the trials. As predicted, the mean time out of 1 minute spent on the177


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Sidecover

Species A Species B

Boundary line

Test fish

Figure 1 Test tank used to study orientation behavior (from Glase JC;

Zimmerman MC, Waldvogel JA2)

Specificsabout howthe experi-ment wasconducted.

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conspecifics side is higher for the barbs and tetras than for the cichlids.

Figure 3 compares the mean times for each of the schooling species

when the test fish were with the other schooling species or with the

nonschooling species. The mean times for the schooling species are

higher when the test fish was with other schooling species than with the

nonschooling species.

Discussion

The hypothesis that schooling fish would orient more readily than

nonschooling fish to conspecifics was supported. It was shown that

barbs and tetras, both schooling fish, spent nearly the entire time on the

side with their own species, whereas the cichlids divided their time

almost equally between the 2 sides. This result supports the theory that

schooling fish orient to each other visually 1. Furthermore, the barbs, the

species with stronger schooling tendencies, showed more orientation

than the tetras, the species with weaker schooling tendencies.

Barbs and tetras did not orient more or less readily to conspecifics

depending on whether it was the other schooling species or the

nonschooling species present in the tank. This indicates that schooling

fish are neither attracted to other species of schooling fish nor repelled

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Mea

n tim

e

Barbs Tetras Cichlids

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Figure 2 Mean time spent with

conspecifics

Mea

n tim

eBarbsTetras

80

60

70

50

40

30

20

10

0

vs. Cichlidsvs. Other schooling species

Figure 3 Comparison of mean

times

Outcome ofthe experimentsummarized.

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8gCOMMON ASSIGNMENTS ■ Writing informative reports in the humanities

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by nonschooling fish; however, because of the limited data, this subject

deserves more investigation. An experiment should be conducted in

which schooling fish are placed in a tank with the choice to orient

either toward another schooling species or toward a nonschooling

species, neither of which are conspecifics to the test fish.

Other sources of error may have affected the results of this

experiment. First, the species of tetra was changed midway through the

trials. Second, when test fish were changed, it was not made certain that

the new test fish had not already been used. Third, occasionally, test fish

were so close to the boundary line dividing the aquarium that it became

a subjective decision as to which side the test fish was on. Fourth, during

the experiment, fish were continually moved in and out of the water,

possibly distressing them and thus affecting their ability to orient.

—————————————————[new page]—————————————————

References

1. Burgess JW, Shaw E. Development and ecology of fish schooling.Oceanus. 1979; 22(2):11-7.

2. Glase JC, Zimmerman MC, Waldvogel JA. Investigations in orientation behavior [Internet]. Association for Biology LaboratoryEducation (US); c1997 [cited 2008 Apr 28] Available from:Association for Biology Laboratory Education at http://www.zoo.utoronto.ca/able/volumes/vol-6/1-glase/1-glase.htm

Results ofthe experi-ment inter-preted andflaws described.

References list follows CSE citation-sequence styleand begins on a newpage.

8g Write informative reports on events or findings in the humanities.

In the humanities, informative papers are used primarily to report onan event or finding in one of the humanities disciplines (for example,art, literature, history, philosophy, music, theater, and film). Unlike in-formative reports in the sciences, informative reports in the humani-ties may sometimes include subjective responses—your reaction to theevent—in addition to specific details that support your points.

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COMMON ASSIGNMENTS ■ Informative reports8g

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LEARNING in COLLEGE

Informative Reports in the Humanities

Informative reports in the humanities describe new and existingknowledge about the ideas, stories, and values of people past andpresent. Report topics could include archeological discoveries, ac-counts of musical and dramatic performances, and historical find-ings about art patronage.

Some Types of Informative Reports in the Humanities

■ Concert, theater, or film reports describe the elements of a singleperformance or series of performances.

■ Book reports describe the plot, characters, setting, and themesof a novel or summarize a nonfiction work.


■ MLA (see Chapter 24), and Chicago (see Chapter 26)

In the following example, a journalist explains the recent work ofan artist who combines music, video, and readings in live performance.

Sample informative piece

The Sample Life

CARLY BERWICK

A young boy danced in the aisle tothe DJ’s pounding beats until hiswell-coiffed mother ushered himback to his seat in Lincoln Center’sAlice Tully Hall. Behind a series of

turntables and computers, Paul D.Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky that Sub-liminal Kid, warmed up his audi-ence for TransMetropolitan, a nightof music, videos, and readings he likened to a 1960s happening.Later that week, Miller performedRebirth of a Nation, his live remix ofD. W. Griffith’s 1915 silent filmBirth of a Nation, which presents the Ku Klux Klan as the saviors of a South overrun by unruly freeblacks. Using the computer to editand project the movie across three

Paul D. Miller, a.k.a. DJ

Spooky that Subliminal Kid,

straddles hip-hop, club

culture, and silent film

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8gCOMMON ASSIGNMENTS ■ Writing informative reports in the humanities

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screens, Miller cut and groupedscenes from the nearly three-hourfilm into repeated gestures, asRobert Johnson’s blues echoed be-neath rhythmic violin chords Millercreated on the computer.

For more than ten years, Miller,a 33-year-old writer, artist, and DJ,has been making the case thatsampling and remixing—takingexisting sounds or images and re-configuring them into new ones,like collage—are the way we experi-ence the world today. Originallyfrom Washington, D.C., Miller sayssampling provides a “seamless con-solidation of cultural patterns.” Hisperformance of TransMetropolitan at Lincoln Center, for example,brought together writers and mu-sicians from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, England, and Brooklyn. Moreover,he says, our invisible networks of

technological communication linkus more powerfully than the visibleones. As examples, he lists standardtime and wireless Internet networks.“Software,” he adds, “has changedall of our cultural patterns.”

Films help people respond tocertain often-repeated cues. Millerthinks Birth of a Nation, one of Hol-lywood’s first blockbusters, “hasconditioned people’s responses” torace, he says. By reframing themovie, Miller allows contemporaryaudiences to examine racist ges-tures established 90 years ago andtheir persistence in contemporaryculture. Miller showed posters andstills from his video, a looped DVDprojection, at New York’s PaulaCooper Gallery earlier this year,where the prints sold for $1,500and the edition of five videos waspriced at around $10,000.

DJ Spooky and Ryuichi Sakamoto during the premiere of TransMetropolitan.

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Miller’s music tends to be ac-cessible, with arcane allusions andprovocative samples supported bya driving beat. He started workingas a DJ to “pay rent,” he says, andhis desire for people to enjoy themusic comes through. “I look at my-

self as straddling hip-hop, club cul-ture, and the metaphysics of text,”says Miller—as he simultaneouslyscans the paper and answers hiscell phone—a relentlessly multi-tasking interpreter of the widewired world.

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Informative Reports - McGraw-Hill