Research Paper

A research project will be undertaken in which you will design a study that investigates
some aspect of wildlife or ecosystem interactions. Research may involve the study of
a local plant or animal population (endemic or native species) to better understand
their ecological requirements or the investigation of a habitat and the interactions of
plant and animal populations in that habitat or ecosystem.

You will be required to research about the ecology of plants or animals that occurs in
the Bicol Region or in the Philippines (i.e. in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems
and focusing on plant/animal communities, populations or individuals, as well as
studies of the interactions between plants/animals and their environment or
plants/animals and other organisms).

To fulfill this objective you will:

1) collect information from scientific publications, scientific collections, local agencies
reports, on topics related to your subject;
2) analyze the data;
3) write a report, and
4) prepare an oral presentation.
Your reports should be written in scientific style following the format below.

Submissions should be divided into the following sections:

Title page should include:

 A concise and informative title. Do not include the authorities for taxonomic names.
 The name, address and e-mail address of the correspondence author.

Abstract
The Abstract should be written to be understood in isolation from the rest of the paper
and must not exceed 350 words. Using typically four simple, factual, numbered
statements, it should:

 give the conceptual context

 state the methodological approach
 report the main results and conclusions
 include a final point headed ‘Synthesis’, which sums up the paper’s key message
in generic terms that can be understood by non-specialists, indicating clearly how
this study has advanced ecological understanding.

Keywords

A list in alphabetical order not exceeding eight words or short phrases.

Introduction
This should state the reason for doing the work, the nature of the hypothesis or
hypotheses under consideration, and should outline the essential background.

Materials and methods

Include sufficient details for the work to be repeated. Literature review

Results
State the results and draw attention in the text to important details shown in tables
and figures.

Discussion
This should point out the significance of the results in relation to the reasons for
doing the work, and place them in the context of other work.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The Conclusions and Recommendations may be combined or, in long reports,

presented in separate sections. If there are no recommendations to be made as a
result of the project, just call this section Conclusions.

The Conclusions section sums up the key points of your discussion, the essential
features of your design, or the significant outcomes of your investigation.

Recommendations should address limitations of the research and suggest how they
might be overcome in future work.

Acknowledgements (optional)
A brief statement acknowledging collaborators and research assistants or
acknowledging funding sources, providing relevant permits, or giving recognition to
nature reserves or other organizations that made your work possible.