Final paper information¶
The project paper description below is subject to change, but should give you a general idea of what is needed.
The final task for the course is to write a formal scientific paper about the results of Exercises 6 and 7. Please use 12 pt Times New Roman (or similar font) for your report with single spacing between lines. The report should not be longer than 6-8 pages including text and figures (references and the appendix can be on additional pages, if needed).
The final paper is tentatively due by 17.00 on 21.12.
The research paper should include the following:
Abstract¶
- A summary of the exercise and your results not longer than 250 words.
Introduction (2-4 paragraphs)¶
- Clearly state the problem you are addressing (or hypothesis being tested) and it’s significance. This should be at least 1 paragraph long.
- Provide background information on the topic (e.g., from lecture notes and other sources including the reference papers below). This should be at least 1 paragraph long.
- Provide 1 short paragraph about how this exercise contributes to understanding the stated problem.
Geological background (1-3 paragraphs)¶
- Include a general overview of the main features of the study region, such as the major faults, rock units, variations in rainfall, etc.
- The goal here is to provide enough information to understand the main “drivers” of uplift and erosion of the thermochronometer data you’re studying.
Methods (at least 1 paragraph)¶
- Clearly state the different methods used for each part of the exercise.
- For example, what equations are you solving in each part of the report, what are the variables or free parameters in each equation, how did you calculate the solution. Most probably you will want to have one paragraph to describe the thermal model and another to describe how thermochronometer ages are calculated.
Results (at least 1 paragraph)¶
This part describes the results from your experiments (such as the exhumation rate that provide a minimum goodness-of-fit to the data). Include selected figures from Exercises 6 and 7. You should provide figure captions and at least 1 paragraph of text that describes each figure.
Note
The results section should only contain observations that resulted from your experiment. No interpretations of the results should be included in this section.
Discussion (several paragraphs)¶
This part of the report discusses your results. It can have multiple subsections if you desire. Any interpretation you make from your plots/calculations should be presented here.
Example discussion section topics include:
- How do the exhumation rates that provide a minimum misfit to the different thermochronometer age systems vary?
- How well do the model predictions compare to the measured ages?
- What are the limitations of the modeling approach and how do they affect the results?
- What are the implications of your results for the problem/hypothesis you stated in the introduction?
- Have you sufficiently tested your hypothesis or are more experiments needed?
- Any other topics you feel should be discussed about the implications of the model results.
Conclusions/Summary (1-2 paragraphs)¶
- This should summarize the main findings of your exercise.
References¶
- Include a list of cited references from your report. This list should include at least 5 primary sources.
Appendices¶
- Include a copy (copy/paste) of the Python code Exercise 7 here. This can be in 8 point Courier font.