Each student will individually submit a research proposal that charts their path
forward to answering an experimental marine biology question they have
identified. Briefly, the proposal should outline the proposed experimental design, data
to be collected, anticipated methods of data analysis, and hypothetical conclusions
necessary to address their question. Your written report should include the following
major components written in the style of a scientific project proposal:
1. A solid introduction that explains what your proposal is about and what
biological question your proposed experiment will answer. Your introduction
should also contextualize the experiment you are proposing by providing
necessary background information from scholarly literature on the topic of your
proposal. It is also important to clearly articulate why the collective We should be
interested in answering the biological question you have decided to focus upon.
This is a great opportunity to point out other work that has been done on your
topic (hint: use scholarly sources for this part!).
2. An experimental design/proposal section that explains the experiment that you
will carry out to answer your biological question. Clearly lay out, using full
sentences, the experiment you propose to run (aka – design a robust experiment
to answer the biological question you proposed in your introduction!). The detail
should be sufficient enough that I could easily replicate your experiment in the
future. Be sure that you identify a control, explore sample size and replications,
and explain the type of data you plan to collect.
3. A discussion section where you contextualize and explain the application of the
results of your proposed experiment. This is another place where you need to
clarify how your proposed experiment is novel, impactful, and vital to bettering
our collective understanding of marine biology in some way (its ok to extrapolate
a bit).
If you consulted any scholarly literature to complete your written report (hint: you
SHOULD be consulting the literature to write up your final report!), be sure to include a
Literature Cited page with your written report (after the body of your report and before
your appendix). Please provide full citations in CSE-format:
https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/documentation/doccse/nameyear/

Guidelines:
3 – 5 pages, double-spaced, 12 pt. font, 1-inch margins
NO header information (please do NOT include your name, the date, this class,
etc in the header/top of your written report…if youd like to include a title, thats
fine, but otherwise please get right into your narrative!).
Your paper should be clearly organized using paragraphs and have a clear
introduction, body of experimental proposal, and conclusion with smooth
transitions between sections
A literature cited section on a separate page (the last page of your report)
Properly-formatted CSE-style in-line and bibliographic citatio