2013 Instructions for Document Preparation

Research paper for Alaska Region NOSB

The research project is optional. Teams can compete in the quiz bowl portion of the Tsunami Bowl without doing a project, but since the project is responsible for half of a team's total score, a team not doing the project has no chance of being the overall winner and progressing to the national competition in April 2013.

The project is made up of two equally weighted parts: a 20-page paper due to the Tsunami Bowl coordinator, Phyllis Shoemaker, in Seward by November 30, 2012, and a 20-minute oral presentation given by the team at the Tsunami Bowl in Seward in February. The paper and the oral presentation are each worth 25 points. Missing the deadline for the paper will result in a 5-point penalty, with an additional one-point reduction for each week the paper is late. Contact project coordinator Dean Stockwell or Phyllis Shoemaker if there are extenuating circumstances they should take into account.

The paper turned in to Phyllis on November 30 should be considered the final product.

Electronic manuscripts must be double-spaced throughout. Manuscripts including all graphics and "References Cited" must be 20 pages or less. There should be two title pages. The first should identify the title, the authors, and the primary contact for the manuscript. The second should include only the manuscript title and the abstract. The title pages and abstract do not count as part of the 20-page limit. Text should be in 12-point font with 2.5 cm (1 inch) margins on top, bottom, and both sides. Number all pages.

Deadlines

Late manuscripts will be penalized as described above.

Manuscript structure

The sequence of material in the manuscript should be as follows:

  1. Title page #1: Should include the title, authors' names, name of school and team, school's address, and e-mail address of coach or contact person. Also indicate which author will be the primary contact for the paper in case of questions.
  2. Title Page #2: Should include the title and abstract.
  3. Manuscript: The organization of the material is up to each team. Each figure and table must be referred to in the text. Text references are by author, followed by the year of publication. For example: "Previous research showed the effect of advection on uptake is strongly size dependent (Munk and Riley, 1952)." "Batchelor (1979) proved that the fractional increase in transport due to advection is independent of the shape."

    Personal communications should be cited with the person's complete name, followed by pers. comm. For example: "Mike LaSota (pers. comm.) stated that black cod were found in deeper water during El Niño years."

    Information taken from the Web should reference the specific Web site address. For example: "Permits to take fur seals are issued under the MMPA and the FSA (http://www.nmfs.gov/tmcintyr/permits/appl_ins.html)."

  4. References cited: List all published materials referred to in the manuscript alphabetically by first author. Each citation should be complete, according to the following examples:

    Article: Day, R.H., and D.G. Shaw. 1987. Patterns in the abundance of pelagic plastic and tar in the North Pacific Ocean, 1976-1985. Marine Pollution Bulletin 18:311-310.

    Book: National Research Council. 1990. The Bering Sea Ecosystem. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. 307 pages.

    Chapter: Wooster, W. 1992. King crab dethroned. Pp. 15-30 in Climate Variability, Climate Change, and Fisheries, M.H. Glanz, editor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    List all interviewed sources referred to in the manuscript alphabetically by last name. Give last and first names, any affiliation, addresses and telephone numbers. For example: LaSota, Mike. F/V Defiance, PO Box 626, Seward, AK 99664, 907-224-5009.

    For references to electronic publications, alphabetically list agency, application, website, and date accessed. For example: National Marine Fisheries Service; marine mammal permits. http://ww.nmfs.gov/tmcintyr/permits/appl_ins.html. 6/18/98.

    Any published document downloaded from a website must cite the original published source; do not use a website address citation for published materials (e.g., a scientific journal paper) obtained on the Web.

  5. Figures and tables: Each table and figure should be accompanied by a legend or caption. Plan tables and figures with care. Each table and figure legend or caption should be on the same page as the table or figure.

A few helpful links

Basic steps in the research process

General writing concerns (planning/writing/revising)

Hints for giving oral presentations using PowerPoint [PDF; 2.7 MB]

Finding information on the Internet (Univ. of California Berkeley)

Search the Internet and find Websites (UC Berkeley)

Getting it published

Project reports will be published on the Alaska Tsunami Ocean Sciences Bowl website after the regional competition. If you have made corrections after submitting the paper for review, please bring an electronic version on CD to the regional competition and turn it in to Phyllis Shoemaker. This will have no effect on the final score given the paper, but will allow the paper posted on the website to be as correct as possible.

Web publishing guidelines

PDF is the preferred format for electronic documents. If that is not possible, electronic documents should be saved in Microsoft Word, RTF (rich text format), or text-only.