Email - Fri Nov 18th
PROPOSALS - each of you should have recently received 2 automated emails from Google stating that a doc has been shared with you. One of those docs is your own proposal draft and the other is the proposal draft that you are going to peer edit. (A) Peer Eval - each of you will evaluate your assigned classmate's proposal draft. You are NOT giving them a grade - just merely doing the best you can to help them improve their draft for the final proposal. Instructions on the peer eval are linked on the website, I will also link them here. In fact YOU are being graded on how good of a peer eval you can provide them. Your eval should include (i) comments using the "comments box" function in Google Docs, (ii) "Track Changes" that address direct in-line editing (convert to "Suggesting" mode to get these, and (iii) a paragraph to the author with prioritized suggestions. ALL of these should be reflected on the Google Doc that I emailed you - DO NOT make another Google Doc - use the one that I sent you. No need to hand anything in since I already have access to this draft document. Peer Evals are to be done by Monday November 21st, (B) Response to Peer Eval - once you have received your comments from the classmate evaluating your draft - you can set out addressing them. Feel free to incorporate the changes you agree with but do not feel like you must incorporate everything from the peer eval - use your own judgement. Have your 2nd full draft done by Monday November 28th. Again - no need to turn these in because I already have access to your document. Once you are done with your edits I will provide my final comments before your final draft is due (Friday Dec 2nd)
PRESENTATIONS - presentations will happen over a period of 3 days. Please sign up for your spot ASAP via this spreadsheet. The rubric for your presentation is on the website - but I will also include it here for your reference. You are merely presenting your proposal so hopefully much of your research work is done. PLEASE hand in your slides using the online portal before giving your presentation. If you want my comments on your slides before you give your talk please send them to me ahead of time and we can chat. You should be working on your presentations NOW - even as you are working on your proposals - to ensure that your slides are ready for when you present your proposal
Email - Sun Nov 6th
Believe it or not we are starting to approach the end of the semester. I wanted to send out an email to make sure we are all organized and ready to go for the next couple of weeks:
R Quiz------------------------------------
I want everyone to get an "A" on this quiz. This is meant to just be a very brief check-in on the R skills that you have already cultivated earlier. When completing the following Quiz - please use the data attached to this email.
**Note - Your R Quiz is OPEN EVERYTHING. Use the R manual, use the internet, use books, use your old code, you can even confer with your classmates. The only thing I ask is that your work is your own. The whole point of this exercise is to make sure YOU can do these things. The only resource you can't use is me. Notice that this is not due until Weds evening....start it Monday!!!
R Quiz Questions:
Load the prairie soil data (attached to this email) into R so that it is useable and able to be manipulated by you. Tell me what to watch out for format-wise regarding file names and variable names when it comes to bringing things into R.
What is the mean and standard deviation of Percent Nitrogen (perN) for each treatment in total (regardless of sample number)? The 4 treatments are.....ungrazed/unburned = UU....ungrazed/burned = UB.....grazed/burned = GB.....grazed/unburned = GU. What do these means and standard deviations tell you when you compare them to each other - informally?
Now - I want you to formally test (using frequentist statistics) whether or not the mean percent Nitrogen of the UU treatment is significantly different than the mean percent Nitrogen in the UB treatment. Make sure you report the relevant statistics and properly interpret them. Include an appropriate figure.
Finally - I want you to formally test (using frequentist statistics) whether or not percent Soil Organic Matter (percentSOM) is a good predictor of percent Soil Carbon (perC) using ALL data (regardless of treatment). Make sure you report the relevant statistics and properly interpret them. Include an appropriate figure.
Put all of your answers, screenshots, and figures in ONE Google Doc and hand it in using the online portal as usual
Draft Methods sections-----------------------------------
You should have your draft methods sections handed in. Remember - these are just drafts for me to make sure you are on the right track and give you some feedback. I have carved out some time to have a personal Google chat with each of you (just like we did with your intros) on either Thurs or Friday of this week. Here is the link to choose your time slot:
https://calendar.app.google/kBfnJ4Jd291JiU1WA
Full Proposal Draft for Peer Edit---------------------------------
In the meantime this week we DO NOT have class on Weds. This is time set aside for you to continue to work on your proposal. This is very pertinent because the FULL proposal first draft (intro and methods) is due Monday Nov 14th by the the time we start class at 2PM. This is because each of you will be assigned a peer eval of someone else's proposal from class DURING class on Monday Nov 14th. You will get my feedback on your methods draft either Thurs or Friday which means you cannot take action on those edits until the end of this week. This means at the beginning of this week you should be reworking your Intro so that it is ready for the Peer Eval. We will all show up to class on Monday Nov 14th having already handed in our Full Proposal draft using the online portal (as usual).
I will be hard to reach M,T,W and will be checking email sporadically.
Thanks
John