SERP Lesson 6

Critique of Introduction First Drafts

(Lots of red pen)

Experiment Design

• Common errors

– Poor organization

– No synthesis of information

– Lack of detailed explanations

– Including information irrelevant to your project, e.g., anhedral/dihedral

– In-text citation format; vague citations

Introduction First Drafts: General thoughts or difficulties encountered?

• Common errors– Grammar, e.g., fragments, run-ons, subject-verb

agreement, adjectives vs. adverbs (fly “slower”), affect/effect

– Personification & informal language, e.g., a lot, etc., contractions, “real” airplanes

– Tenses: Avoid conditional and future tense; present for background, past for experiment

– Empty sentences/words, e.g., first, second– Transitions: make connections between sentences and

paragraphs but still be informative

Introduction First Drafts: General thoughts or difficulties encountered?

Recommendations (by paragraph)1. Aerodynamics is (define); sentence tying in airplane flight;

forces impact ability of an object to maintain flight.2. Thrust and drag; how they interact; how they impact flight

(commercial and paper planes)3. Gravity and lift; how they interact and how they impact

flight (commercial and paper)4. Bernoulli’s principle; importance in explaining lift; airfoil

design5. Newton’s third law (also can incorporate at beginning of

paragraph 2); more complete explanation of lift6. Gap in the knowledge (may or may not require separate

paragraph)7. Purpose (1 sentence); methods (2 sentences); hypothesis and

explanation (1-2)

Recommendations (continued)

• Add to these paragraphs as necessary for YOUR project.

• E.g., a project on wing design– Anhedral/dihedral, chord length– Airfoil design in commercial airplanes

Critique of Experimental Protocols: Common Errors

• Plagiarism (cite your sources!)

• Too many variables

• No clear experiment

• No clear measurement

• Wordiness – “Take a piece of paper…”

Review of Lab Notebook Procedures

• Introduction• Materials list• Description of folding protocol with diagrams

(dimensions)• Description of experimental conditions• Description of launch procedure• Data collection

– Qualitative and quantitative

• Past Tense• Detailed description of procedures• Locations if field studies done• Type of statistical analysis used

– NO RESULTS IN THIS SECTION!!

• Organize logically and CHRONOLOGICALLY!!!

• Avoid irrelevant information

Materials and Methods

Data Collection

• Quantitative data– Consistent units of measurement

• Qualitative (Categorical) data– Coding with numbers– DETAILED descriptions of categories

• Columns for data categories• Data analysis discussed next meeting

Now what?• Discuss with me to get approval.

– My ‘gap in the knowledge’ is …– My independent variable is …

• How are you varying it?

– My dependant variable is …• How are you measuring it?

– I am controlling for everything else by …

• Experiment with at least 100 throws per condition– WORK TOGETHER (groups for next project)

Now what?• Convert Procedure into a Materials and

Methods• Written in the past tense

– Organize material logically– Use specific informative language– Omit unnecessary information

Homework for 3/29 • Get approval for your experiment• Edit introduction• Type materials and methods section from

protocol

• Class on March 22nd

• NO class on March 29th or April 5th – But I will be available to meet individually by

appointment

Homework for 4/19 • Edit introduction and materials and methods• Create a lab notebook entry for each

experiment. Record procedure as it is done and data as it is collected.

• Follow instructions on syllabus for recording data in notebook. Record both qualitative and quantitative data!!

• Both the notebook and a typed draft of the paper will be collected