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Welcome to the Natural Inquirer Writing Course (Session 8) Identifying An Article and

Learn how to identify suitable scientific articles and secure scientist participation for the Natural Inquirer journal. Criteria, steps, and tips are provided for an engaging writing experience.

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Welcome to the Natural Inquirer Writing Course (Session 8) Identifying An Article and

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  1. Welcome to the Natural Inquirer Writing Course (Session 8) Identifying An Article and Getting Scientist Participation

  2. Before you begin writing, you must have: • A scientific article that meets Natural Inquirer criteria • Scientist(s) willingness to participate

  3. Article Criteria • Forest Service participation (at least one Forest Service scientist listed as an author) • Published scientific article. Peer-reviewed journal articles are preferred; sometimes you may accept a General Technical Report (GTR) or a conference proceedings, but peer-reviewed journal articles have undergone the most rigorous scientific review. • Article follows the standard scientific format; OR you can ascertain the four sections from the written paper • No older than 5 years unless it is a seminal piece of research. More recent articles are best. (5 years is a long time when you are 13 years old!) A seminal piece of research is one that completely changed the field.

  4. Things To Look For In An Article • Diversity of scientists (Age, gender, ethnicity) • Topics relating to science education standards • Interesting methodology • When an Article is a Part of a Journal, the articles overall should represent: • Diversity of scientists • Diversity of Research Stations • Diverse geography • Diverse topics (within the journal’s theme) and scientific methods

  5. Finding Articles • Search Treesearch: http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us or FS INFO: http://fsinfo.fs.fed.us/cgi-bin/gw/chameleon (Note that FS INFO contains more than just FS articles. You will have to search within each record for FS scientist involvement.) I use Treesearch first and almost exclusively. • You may search each Research Station Web site for publications or contact Station Public Affairs or Communication Staff

  6. Contacting Scientists The purpose of this first contact is to ask for the scientist’s (s’) participation in the Natural Inquirer. This is necessary because a few items are needed that can only be acquired from the scientist(s). First, identify either the primary author (the first author listed) or the first author who is a Forest Service scientist. I usually contact the Forest Service scientist first.

  7. Send an email to the scientist with the following information and questions: Dear Dr. Swank: Your article entitled “Long term hydrologic and water quality responses following commercial clearcutting of mixed hardwoods on a southern Appalachian catchment,” published in 2001 in Forest Ecology and Management, has been selected for possible inclusion in the Natural Inquirer. The Natural Inquirer is a science education journal, written directly from Forest Service research, for a middle school audience. It is published and distributed to tens of thousands of students and teachers by the Forest Service. For more information or to view an existing article, visit http://www.naturalinquirer.org. Continued on next slide….

  8. To include your article, we must have your help by agreeing to do the following: • Send a photo of yourself, preferably doing something outside or doing your research (inside or out). The photo must be “7th grade cool,” i.e., no mug shots. The photo, and all photos, must be at least 300 DPI. The Forest Service Office of Communication will not accept photos having lower resolution. • Send a statement giving the Natural Inquirer permission to use your photo and any photos you send. • Complete this statement: My favorite science experience is/was…. Continued on next slide….

  9. 4. Agree to review and comment on the completed draft. This will be relatively easy because the article will be written at a 7th grade level, and the article text should be no longer than 4 pages. We will request a review within approximately 5-10 working days. 5. Provide other photos of your research as requested and available. 6. Provide illustrations/data points as requested and available. 7. Provide email addresses or other contact information for your co-authors. 8. Optionally provide any ideas for hands-on activities that can be used with the article in the classroom. Ask for a reply and give a reply due date.

  10. Once you have at least one scientist’s agreement, you are ready to begin rewriting!

  11. Congratulations! You have finished another session of the Natural Inquirer Writing Course!

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