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In this paper you will answer the question, “What is the economic and
environmental value of the Westminster School’s campus forest”? In doing
so, you will use a scientific paper model to report your results.
Scientific research papers are somewhat different from papers presenting original
research in other fields such are history or economics. You’ll find an excellent style
guide for scientific writing on the CSU website,
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/processes/science/pop2a.cfm.
The scientific paper has developed over the past three centuries into a
tool to communicate the results of scientific inquiry. The main
audience for scientific papers is extremely specialized. The purpose of
these papers is twofold: to present information so that it is easy to
retrieve, and to present enough information that the reader can
duplicate the scientific study. A standard format with six main part
helps readers to find expected information and analysis:
There are many ways to approach the writing of a scientific paper, and
no one way is right. Many people, however, find that drafting
1
chunks in this order works best: Results, Discussion,
Introduction, Materials & Methods, Abstract, and, finally, Title.
(1) GIS: Used Google images to determine the total campus forest
coverage (%, acres, and hectares)
(2) GIS: Used Google images to determine the size (acres) of two forest
sections: (a) Robinson and (b) Fritz Ohr.
(3) As a class, we determine the type (species), the number of each
species, and each specimen’s diameter at 4 ft from the ground by field
census.
(4) These data were entered into Excel spreadsheets (data base format).
(5) The economic and environmental value of each forest section was
determined using the national tree benefit calculator and certain
assumptions.
(6) These valuations were then combined to determine the annual
economic and environmental value of the Westminster School’s
campus forest.