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The GSSA: You will get occasional small
writing assignments based in part upon the following premise: you are
employed as sedimentologist with the GSSA, the
Geological Survey of South Alabama. Every report that you produce (even
boring lab reports) will be considered a company document. As such, it
should have an appropriate “cover” (either on letterhead or memo paper), be
well written without spelling mistakes/grammatical errors, contain, where
necessary, a bibliography of refereed references, and contain adequate
reference citations. Your signature and company position should also appear
in the appropriate location on the cover letter. Ultimately, in your role
with the GSSA, you will be responsible for
completing 3 major projects: 1) a group report dealing with sediment grain
size on a site somewhere on Dauphin Island; 2) a group project involving
production of a composite sedimentary section of Pliocene Citronelle
Formation near Perdido Alabama and, 3) a project
involving the mapping and interpretation of K/T boundary chalk beds near
Moscow Landing Alabama. The first and last projects will be broken up into
a number of components each due at a specific date, and each revisable for
re-marking after I or your peers review it for you.
The following will comprise the bulk of the small writing assignments
in GY 402:
Write 1: Breakdown of a term paper (Week 1)
Write 2: Grain size hypothesis and methods (Week 2; group grade)
Write 3: Grain size introduction and results write up (Week 4;
group grade)
Write 4: Provenance Paper critical review Assignment (Week 7; Peer
reviewed)
Write 5: Moscow Landing Library Lit Review Assignment (Week 8/9)
Write 6: Moscow Landing Background/Stratigraphy (Week 11)
In addition, there are in-class activities that we will usually do
on an assigned group basis. They are designed to be completable
within the assigned lecture/lab period, but I may give you a bit of extra
time (e.g., until the next day) to polish off any write ups that might be
part of the activity. Most are discussions about assigned reading or
previous lections. Those that will be assessed
are:
Activity 1: Plotting ternary data (requires a calculator) (Week 1;
group grade)
Activity 2: Examination of sedimentary rocks with a hand lens (Week 2; group grade)
Activity 3: James sedimentary section exercise (Week 4; group
grade)
Activity 4: Class critical review of Beaches paper (Week 5;
individual grade)
Activity 5: Flume experimentation (Week 6; group grade)
Activity 6: Class critical review of provenance paper (Week 7;
individual grade)
Activity 7: Library exercise, Moscow Landing literature review
(Week 8; individual grade)
Activity 8: 3 minute student presentations (Moscow Landing
Research) (Week 13; individual grade)
From week 6 until the end of the course, the weekly writing component
will largely consist of a short thin section discussion that will be
handwritten in your lab note books. Use pencil as these discussions are re-doable (however, the thin
section descriptions are not).
All writing assignments (1st drafts and revised versions) are due by 11:00 AM on the assigned due
dates unless otherwise stated. I will not accept late assignments
(you will get an F). When I mark them and return them to you with
comments, you will be permitted to resubmit them once for revised
assessment. I will accept revisions up to the re-submission deadlines
posted on the web page (usually 1
week later than the original due date).
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