For the paper: (8+ pages double spaced not including images or bibliography, Calibri or
Times New Roman 12 point font).
The project can be broken down into several areas:
(1) Problem formulation (20 points)
You should have an introduction that gives a brief overview of the project and describes the PROBLEM and the GOAL(S) of the project. If there is a hypothesis to be tested by your project this should be stated at the end of the GOAL(S) section. Any background material which is pertinent to understanding the problem, the region of the problem, or similarly important
information should be given in a BACKGROUND section.
(2) Data collection and processing (25 points)
For this part, you should answer questions like: did you appropriately convert GIS data into an ArcGIS-readable format? Did you appropriately process and import point data? The preprocessing step can involve considerable time and effort, and this needs to be recognized in grading. Did you develop an ArcGIS processing scheme appropriate to the study? ArcGIS steps should be fully documented in the write-up. This should include where the data came from source), what type of file it was (shapefile, geodatabase, point data, excel data, raster, vector). Any manipulations of these data should be described in your METHODOLOGY section. This would include things like changing values, reprojecting data, creating data from other data, other
GIS procedures like clipping, masking, creating buffers, reclassifying data, etc. Images or screenshots of these procedures are helpful but are not necessary.
(3) Results and Conclusion (25 points)
Your RESULTS section will house a description and the images associated with your GIS output. Images should be titled and labeled sequentially (e.g. Figure/Image/Table 123Map of Land Use in Toledo, OH 2010) in this part of the document. You should only describe the outputs in this section DO NOT offer explanations for why things look/did the way they do. You can make educated suppositions in your next section, your CONCLUSIONS. This section describes any additional important information that you deem necessary to explain the outputs from your project. You can offer possible explanations for the outputs in this section. A section titled RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY should be included which details any changes or modifications that you would make if you were going to do this again. This could include things like changing the order of the steps in which you processed your data, adding/eliminating data from the analysis, using a different methodology, etc. The last thing in your document should be a list of any sources that you used to compile your study i.e. a bibliography or a citation
