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INTERDISCPLINARY SCIENCES PROGRAMATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES

Title

By

C. Jane Run

A senior capstone paper submitted to the Interdisciplinary Sciences Program in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN INTERDISCPLINARY SCIENCES

SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES AND TECHNOLOGYRAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA

SPRING 2010

Capstone Committee:

Boris K. BadenovResearch Capstone Advisor, United States Geological Survey, Denver, CO

Rosa I. Klebb Academic Advisor, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, SDSM&T, Rapid City, SD

Ernst S. Blofeld IS Representative, Department of Humanities, SDSM&T, Rapid City, SD

SPRING 2010, MAY 5, 2023 LAST NAME II

ABSTRACT OR PROJECT SUMMARY (SECTION STYLE EXAMPLE)The Abstract (for the final Capstone Paper) or Project Summary (for the Proposal)

represents the executive summary of the entire document. Typically this does not go

beyond 200 words. (Use the Abstract Style in this Template). Save the space beneath the

abstract and the separating line. You will place the same text in the main body. If this is

a proposal, it should be called the “Project Summary.” Do not rehash or cut-and-paste

verbiage from the main body, as it will look and feel awkward. This should be a

summarization of the entire document (capstone or proposal).

SPRING 2010, MAY 5, 2023 LAST NAME III

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract or Project Summary (Section Style Example) ii

1 General Formatting -- Example of First-level Heading (Heading 1 Style) 21.1 Headings and Styles -- Example of a second-level heading (Heading 2 Style) 21.2 The Authorized Style Manual 2

1.2.1 The AGU Style Standard -- Example of a third-level heading (Heading 3 Style) 21.2.2 Professional Writing Tone 2

1.3 Citation Rules and Optional Use of Endnote 21.4 Figures and Tables 21.5 Equations 21.6 Chemical Reactions and Formulae 21.7 Units 21.8 Dates and Times 21.9 Latitude and Longitude 21.10 Bullet Lists 2

2 The ATM Capstone Requirements 22.1 Committee Organization 22.2 The Capstone Proposal 2

2.2.1 Proposal Front Matter 22.2.2 Proposal Section 1: Introduction 22.2.3 Proposal Section 2: Method of Approach 22.2.4 Proposal Section 3: Project Management2

2.3 Capstone Paper Organization 22.3.1 Front Matter 22.3.2 Capstone Section 1: Introduction 22.3.3 Capstone Section 2: Methods 22.3.4 Capstone Section 3: Analysis 22.3.5 Capstone Section 4: Discussion 22.3.6 Capstone Section 5: Conclusions 22.3.7 Capstone Back Material 2

3 Overall Capstone Presentation and Final Product 2

Acknowledgements 2

List of Figures 2

List of Tables 2

References 2

Title

Author

INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES PROGRAM, ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES SPECIALIZATIONSOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES AND TECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT (OR PROJECT SUMMARY)This is same abstract/summary from earlier. Just cut and paste it in. Use the

Abstract Style for this section.

1 General Formatting -- Example of First-level Heading (Heading 1 Style)

This document template should help give your capstone proposal and manuscript a professional

look-and-feel. This design approaches the typical form for a thesis or journal manuscript and is what

Atmospheric Sciences (ATM) faculty and investigators have come to expect. As such, this template

and boilerplate may be useful, in part or in whole, for other ATM assignments that require technical

writing. Your professor of record for any given class, however, will establish the parameters of any

writing you do. ATM specialization students should use this format. If you are not part of our

specialization and would like to use it, please check with your committee for approval.

1.1 Headings and Styles -- Example of a second-level heading (Heading 2 Style)

All text in the main body must be in Times New Roman, 11 pt., Double Spaced. Use the Body

Text Style in this template. We don’t care if the official font for SDSMT is a dark blue Lucida Bright

(see the cover page). We don’t care if you have a prettier font or layout. The Times New Roman font

is requested because it is very likely to transfer between platforms and frequently-used word

processors with little corruption to typesetting and layout. We also request that you save and share

your documents as MS Word 97-2004 *.doc files (do not use the Word *docx file format). Once

again, this is to facilitate file sharing between systems.

SPRING 2010, MAY 5, 2023 LAST NAME 2

The header styles that you see are linked to the outlining system in Word. For numbering of

sections and subsections, use a numbered outline format so the committee can easily navigate your

paper or proposal. This is already set in the template. You have available Heading Styles that go

from Levels 1 through 3. You should not have to have any outline levels beyond Level-3 (for a paper

of your expected length). If you find yourself with one, a little reorganization will resolve this, and

your committee should be able to help here. Do not “drop down” to a new heading level if you only

have a single heading at this newly added level in the section. In other words, For “Section 2” do not

add a “Subsection 2.1” if there is no “Subsection 2.2.”

You may do well to turn off auto-formatting: Word and other word processors often think they

know what’s good for you. Also turn the “view” setting on “page view” or the equivalent and also

select the view option in your software to permit the viewing of paragraph, spaces, indents and other

“invisible” characters. In Word, this is the paragraph glyph (¶) in the formatting bar.

1.2 The Authorized Style Manual

1.2.1 The AGU Style Standard -- Example of a third-level heading (Heading 3 Style)

There are a number of standard “styles” used across the science and technical writing

communities. We are recommending that you adhere to a single style format regardless of your sub-

discipline in Atmospheric Sciences and Earth System Science. Unless otherwise presented here, all

capstones in the ATM specialization should follow the American Geophysical Union (AGU) style

guide used for their publications. For an example, see the Journal of Geophysical Research available

in the Library.

You may be wondering why we are not recommending the American Meteorological Society

(AMS) format. The Institute likes both, and we will actually point you to the AMS style guide for

specific items that the AMS guide explains in greater detail than the AGU guide. But the overall

answer is simple. The AGU guide is more comprehensive and better organized. Also the general

practices in the AGU guide often transfer over to what is expected in the AMS style. Finally, as will


be discussed shortly in the section discussing citation software, some resources available to you here

at SDSM&T simply work better “out-of-the-box” with the AGU configuration. One more thing to

consider is that while the AMS has a wide reach in the atmospheric sciences and adjacent hydrology

community, the AGU community has a much larger reach: from Meteorology and Earth System

Science through Astronomy and Planetary Geology.

The style manuals for the AGU format are available from the AGU web site at

http://www.agu.org/pubs/authors/manuscript_tools/journals/style.shtml. The PDFs in this link

include the grammar and citation rules as well as general guidelines for figures and tables for journal

manuscripts. You should also go to the library and browse through several AGU and AMS journals

to see how a typical journal paper is presented. Students should read through the AGU Grammar and

Style Guide [AGU, 2009] before writing their IS 401 Proposal, let alone their IS 498 capstone.

PLEASE DO NOT BLOW THIS OFF! The guide contains the best practices that we will expect from

your writing as professionals – which is what we expect you to be at this point in your professional

and educational development.

1.2.2 Professional Writing Tone

When writing, don’t use contractions [sic.]. The use of “I” or other active tones is sometimes

discouraged in favor of more passive language. Consult with your committee on this matter. Do not

dangle participles, split infinitives, or commit other grammatical gaffes. The tone of this template

document is occasionally cheeky. In part, this is to entice you continuing to read it, but your writing

style should be very dry and sober. One good tool in reviewing your own writing is to shut yourself

off in a room, and read the entire paper from start to finish slowly, carefully and out loud. This will

help highlight any common errors that emerge when writing or editing. It also will help prevent the

paper from sounding like a classic episode of Speed Racer by bringing redundant or repeated phrases

into sharp relief. (You may laugh at the reference but this syndrome is common in papers that are

written in more than one sitting, and can be very distracting to the reviewer.) If you become winded,

http://www.agu.org/pubs/authors/manuscript_tools/journals/style.shtml


need to inhale, or simply pass out while reading any particular sentence, splitting it into multiple

sentences is a good idea. Having a colleague read it is also not a bad idea. In many cases as you

continue writing and editing, a document will begin to appear as it is supposed to look in the writers’

eyes, and not how it actually does. A new set of eyes will also highlight material that you have

internalized as something everyone knows, but a fresh reader may request more background on a

given area of your paper or proposal.

1.3 Citation Rules and Optional Use of Endnote

You should use the AGU style for references. If you wish to use citation management

software, Endnote, available at F:\install\endnote is available for Windows (Word) and Mac (Word or

Pages) for faculty, students and staff. Tutorials are available at the Endnote website:

http://endnote.com/support/ensupport.asp. For an AGU-compliant citation style, the “Journal of

Geophysical Research” or “AGU Style Guide” settings in Endnote work fairly well. (We have

noticed that those settings for the AMS Journals that come with Endnote are not always correct. This

has been the case for years.)

When citing references, do not use full direct quotes or a body indent (used for large direct

quotes) unless the phrase is “iconic.” Here, “iconic” refers to classic sayings, professional idioms,

mission statements and similar phrases that are frequently directly quoted by your community. In

most cases, you should paraphrase. Avoid discussing “papers,” and instead use authors’ names and

paper year following the example in the paragraph below:

Berbery et al. [1999] said something about the NOAA Forecast

System Lab (FSL) Mesoscale Analysis and Prediction System (MAPS)

[Benjamin et al., 1998]. However, those who developed MAPS also had

something to say about it [T.G. Smirnova, NOAA-FSL, Personal

Communication].

http://endnote.com/support/ensupport.asp


In the above quote, the personal communication reference is typed in manually if you are using

Endnote. To make the above “Berbery” reference example in Endnote, drop the entire raw Endnote

citation into the text and then edit it to remove the index name (the first author) but not the year! In

other words, take the reference field code from Endnote (e.g., [Berbery et al., 1999]), and then

remove the “Berbery” from inside of the field code. Finally, manually type the “Berbery et al.” so

that the whole block resembles this (which also illustrates using a large block quote for those rare

occasions where a direct quote is appropriate):

Berbery et al., <, 1999 #1343> said something about the NOAA

Forecast System Lab (FSL) Mesoscale Analysis and Prediction System

(MAPS) [Benjamin et al., 1998]. Those who developed MAPS also had

something to say about it [T.G. Smirnova, NOAA-FSL, Personal

Communication].

Endnote should do the rest when it processes the document. The personal communication

example shown above was typed in manually and should not use an Endnote data record. Personal

communications should be retained for documentation but are not cited in the References section.

We very strongly discourage web pages as references. They may not always be there. They

may also not be refereed or reliable. Also, there is often a better source out there somewhere. Find it!

If you get data from the web, normally this is cited in the acknowledgement section. Also, never cite

a paper that you don’t have in your possession. Trust the original source, and only the original source.

Citing a paper as it is cited in another paper is unacceptable.

1.4 Figures and Tables

You have more important things to do than fight with a word processor to get your figures and

tables embedded into the main body of your paper. This will especially be true as you begin to collate

multiple suggestions from three demanding committee members. This may also be a typesetting and


compatibility disaster when you send your document to a committee member even if they have the

same operating system and/or word processor that you are using.

ATM does not recommend that you embed figures and tables in the main body of your capstone

paper. Other IS specializations may differ on this. Comply with your committee. If you are ATM,

place tables and figures in the back, before the References section. Follow the examples in the back

of this document. Cite all figures and tables in the main body of your capstone. None should stand-

alone all by themselves without any reference in the paper’s narrative. To reference a figure or table

cite them as Table 1, or Figure 1 in the text. You may implicitly do this by placing them in

parenthesis just as you would a reference (but use parenthesis). You can use the same resource to

make a Table of Figures and a Table of Tables as you can with the Table of Contents.

Graphs should be simple and easy to read. While color may look nice, it can be expensive to

print. Consider being very conservative with color graphics. If you can make a good message with

grayscale or black-and-white, choose that course. Tables should also be simple, neat, and easy to

read. Use lines to separate regions of the table, but not necessarily to isolate every cell in the table.

1.5 Equations

Equations should use the equation editor native to your word processor (most of you will use

Word which has a nice equation tool) to produce professional looking equations. An example of an

equation and its proper integration is shown here with the equation of state (Eq. 1), where,

(1)

p is the pressure; the air density; T is the temperature and Rd is the gas constant for dry air. Use

(control-Enter) to create a manual break in the paragraph. The Body Text Style in the template will

put the first tab in the center for the equation, and the second tab will place text flush with the right-

hand-side for the equation number that you must add.


1.6 Chemical Reactions and Formulae

Consult with your committee as to the best way to include chemical formulae, reactions, and

molecular graphics and visual models.

1.7 Units

Unless otherwise directed, all units should be in SI. Do not spell out units; use the correct

abbreviation. You may include Imperial units in parenthesis where appropriate but do not go

overboard. Do not use “slashes” when abbreviating units (see the wind speed examples below).

When discussing meteorological temperatures, degrees Celsius (ºC) are preferred over Kelvins (K,

which does not use the degree character) or degrees Fahrenheit (ºF). When discussing large-scale

distances, meters are preferable to kilometers. For very small distances, millimeters are preferable to

meters. The SI unit for wind speed is m s-1, while its imperial unit is the knot (kt), not miles per hour.

An acceptable SI unit for precipitation is mm (not cm or hundredths or tenths of an inch). Do not

separate the units from the value (e.g., when you are at the end of a line). To make sure this doesn’t

happen in Word, go to the “InsertSymbols” menu or ribbon and click on the tab for “Special

Characters” to get the “non-breaking space” and “non-breaking hyphen.” This will keep your values

and units together. Notice that there is a non-breaking space between the component units, and there

should also be one between the value and the units. As mentioned previously, these hidden characters

will be viewable by clicking the appropriate viewing setting (e.g., the “¶” button in Word).

1.8 Dates and Times

One of the more distracting things reviewers encounter are poorly written dates and times. The

AGU Grammar and Style guide provides a few pointers. For this component, we recommend the

AMS Style Manual recommendations [AMS, 2008] and we are including them here in total in this

document.


Day, month, and year are written in the form "29

March 1993" in AMS publications. Do not abbreviate

the names of months. The recommended time zone

annotation system is coordinated universal time,

abbreviated UTC, which should be used in nearly all

circumstances. Time, time zone, day, month, and

year are written in the form "1409 UTC 29 March

1993." The use of other time zones [e.g., EST, EDT,

PST, LST (local standard time), or LT (local time)] is

permissible if it significantly adds to the interpretation

of the material, but they should be defined on first

use. Do not use Z or GMT in place of UTC.

Astronomical or military time (i.e., a 24- hour clock) is

required. No colon is used between hours and

minutes; a colon is included to separate minutes from

seconds (e. g., 0537:15 UTC).

The month is always spelled out completely when

dates are included in regular text. In figure captions

and tables, however, the month is abbreviated to its

first three letters to conserve space when it appears

in a date (e.g., "23 Jan" or "17 Mar 2008") but is

spelled out in narrative uses in captions (e.g., “data

cover January and February 2008”). Authors may


want to use a similar convention in figures for

consistency.

For year ranges, do not include the century in the

second year unless a transition of centuries is

spanned (e.g., "1988–92" but "1887–1932"). A solidus

is appropriate for indicating the calendar year

transition for a period of less than two full years, and

the century of the second year should be omitted

unless the century changes (e.g., "the 1988/89

winter," "the 1974/75 experiment period," but

"1899/1900 winter"). [AMS, 2008]

1.9 Latitude and Longitude

We also recommend the AMS [2008] Guidelines for Latitude and Longitude:

Latitude and longitude pairs should be expressed in that order, for

example, 41°N, 136°W. For locations on the globe at the equator, the

Greenwich meridian, or 180° longitude, omit the hemisphere letter (e.g.,

0°, 154°E; 33°S, 0°; or 57°N, 180°). [AMS, 2008]

1.10 Bullet Lists

The AGU style guide recommends numbered lists over bullet lists. Bullet lists should smoothly

fit into the narrative and fit these general rules of thumb.

1. In most cases, you should just use one level of numbering. Don’t indent or outline.

Events that call for an outline may occur but should be rare.


2. Don’t make any list item too long. Bullet lists are for summaries. If they are more than

two lines, then reconsider using standard text and paragraphs.

2 The ATM Capstone Requirements

2.1 Committee Organization

The IS ATM specialization is slightly different than other specializations. Your expert member

of the committee is more likely to be a member of the SDSMT faculty or research staff. Therefore,

the Academic Advisor serves as a secondary reader and program manager in contrast to the other

specializations. As reflected on the cover page, there are three committee members:

1. Capstone Research Advisor: Advises the candidate’s research

2. Academic Advisor (or Secondary Committee Member if the Academic Advisor and

Capstone Advisor are one in the same): Provides additional support

3. IS Representative: Audits the process as an external reviewer

The candidate’s academic advisor must approve any committee members not affiliated with

SDSMT in advance. Before exiting IS 401 and signing up for IS 498, the candidate must be cleared

by all three committee members. This requires the following entry-level requirements:

1. A viable research topic

2. A proposal that includes a literature review, and data and management plan

For this, you must begin the process early in the IS 401 semester. If you have not met with

faculty in the Institute, you should start this immediately. Not all faculty members will be willing to

take more than one senior capstone candidate while others may not be able to support any candidate in

a given semester. As such, you do not want to procrastinate.


2.2 The Capstone Proposal

While the template and style guide provided to you here mostly focuses on the Capstone Paper,

much of this support material also can be applied to your Proposal. The proposal format discussed

here mirrors what we in IAS often have to do. Just as the capstone paper reflects the look-and-feel of

a journal manuscript, the capstone proposal will mirror a professional science proposal that would go

to a funding agency.

2.2.1 Proposal Front Matter

This document template is built for the Capstone Paper. A few small cosmetic changes will be

required to apply this template’s front matter for a proposal. Change “Capstone Paper” to “Capstone

Proposal” on the cover page. Also refrain from including graphics on the cover page. Keep it clean,

crisp and professional. Similarly, your “Abstract” will be called a “Project Summary.” Otherwise the

format and expectations for the front matter will be the same as for the capstone paper. In turn, the

Table of Contents follows the Project Summary (or the Abstract in the capstone paper). The template

should just need to be “updated” with a right-click with the mouse over the table.

2.2.2 Proposal Section 1: Introduction

You must lay out your proposal intent and literature review in a smooth fashion. The literature

review should follow the same model as the capstone. Indeed, while you cannot just pass off your

proposal introduction as the introduction of your capstone paper, a well-written proposal introduction

will be the stepping off point for your capstone paper. A reasonable conceptual model for this is as

follows: There is a science problem. People have worked on or near this problem in the past. This

work must be documented as a smooth progression of research wherever possible. As you do your

literature review, you will recognize that there are “gaps” in the knowledge where your thesis concept

fits. You must carefully guide the reader through this process.

Another key point about the proposal and capstone paper literature reviews is that this is a

scientific review of the state of your chosen problem. It is not a “book report” in a set of papers that


you read. The objective is to lay out the scientific background of the subject of interest and how your

proposed study fits in to “advance the science.”

When you complete the literature review and are left with the “gap,” you must now propose to

close this gap. Here enters your “thesis question.” Pose it very clearly and do a brief summary of

how this will be done. A paragraph will do for the summary since you are about to walk the reader

through your plan in detail. If you have done this part correctly, the reader now understands what you

want to do and the scientific reasons why.

Another thing you may want here, and we often do this our own proposals, is to include what

Dr. Sundareshwar informally calls the “So What” section. Professionally this is called the “Broader

Impacts” section. In proposals we write in IAS, we must demonstrate not only the relatively trivial

aspects of how this proposal meets with any particular program call, but also that the scientific and

broader communities will value this work. For the introductory section, this will be a short summary.

This convinces the reader that it is not just a personal scientific curiosity, but that it may have some

value to broader science, operations, or society (i.e. that the reviewer should care about this). You

may be expected to go into greater detail later in the proposal when you write formal proposals.

2.2.3 Proposal Section 2: Method of Approach

Do not call it “Methodology.” Once again, this will be the setup for the “Methods” section of

your capstone paper. However, rather than just reporting on how you did it (since it hasn’t been done

yet), you must “sell” the reviewer the idea that this can be done. A “proof-of-concept” or a test case

can work wonders here. When done, you should have conveyed the message that the problem that

you proposed to solve in the Introduction is solvable.

One thing we often see is the use of “free advertizing” for commercial software where free or

open source software will do the trick. Some of us frown on this.


2.2.4 Proposal Section 3: Project Management

When putting together a large proposal with a large team, this component is a critical part of

your proposal. Since this will be you and you alone doing the work, you may think that this is a

trivial section. It is not! You must now sell the reviewers (that would be us) that you are the one to

solve the problem. You must also convince us that you can do this in the upcoming semester. Recall

that the proposal is an entry-level requirement for IS 498. If you don’t have a proposal, we will not

admit you to IS 498, period. This also means that you will not be released from IS 401 without a

committee-approved proposal. In short, we have you by the cajones on this (foreign words and

phrases should be italicized). This may be divided into two sections depending on your capstone

concept: an overall management plan and a data plan.

The management plan should show, once again, that the ideas presented in the previous section

can be done in the time allotted. This will involve a timetable of deliverables and if needed you

should identify any antecedent requirements. For example, to do Step C, you must have started Step A

and completed Step B (for which you needed to also start Step A before B could start). This may

need to go into a table or figure. (While there are specific figures to show this process for project

management called “Gantt charts,” they will likely not be required here and we discourage you from

expending time in producing one unless you have had experience in making one.)

As you assemble this plan you may notice that you have intermediate results and outcomes

along the way. For example, at one point, you will have assembled data. At another point, you create

a data product, then compare data to observations, and so on. In other words, you have a progressive

management plan with a set of “way points” on your journey to a completed project. When you

present these waypoints in the management plan, these should be identified as subtasks to the larger

project. Not only do such subtasks map out your progress and help keep you on track, they create a

“Victory Map.” With this, point by point you have not only your sights fixed on the end of your

senior capstone, but an incremental perspective of the project’s component requirements that must be


achieved along the way. When you cross each intermediate finish line (or water stops), you have an

increasingly completed project. This is good for morale. More importantly, if things do not go as you

expected, you have a progressive set of fallback points. In other word, you have a Plan B and maybe

Plans C or D (we’d rather not talk about a Plan F or for that matter, a Plan 9). While this is not an

ideal scenario, it is more common than capstone candidates would like to believe. Having such a plan

may make the difference between a recoverable capstone experience and a masochistic race at the

end. This latter project “mismanagement plan” has too often resulted in a poor capstone performance

and a less-than-stellar evaluation.

You may also need a Data Management Plan in your Management section. Identify the source

of your data that will be used in the project. This is especially important for IAS/ATM committee

members. We need to know if we will be required to provide support in this area. If that is the case,

it must be negotiated and agreed upon at this phase of your capstone experience, and not during the

IS 498 component.

As both of these subsections will likely require the assistance of your committee, you should

meet us during this phase of proposal development. Indeed, if we are part of this process, we will be

more likely to steer you towards making a solid proposal. In turn, this will bolster our confidence in

wanting to work with you in the coming semester. We want to make this experience a success for

you, but you must take the lead in the process. This is your capstone, and your grade.

2.3 Capstone Paper Organization

One of the major issues we have noticed in past capstone papers is that the organization

requires work and guidance from the committee. For example, we will often find that the

Introduction or Conclusions are incomplete or weak, lacking punch, relevance or correctly describing

to the material in the middle of the paper. Also, when students have a large amount of data, or data

from many sources, the organization of the material between the opening and conclusions will need


work and structure. We recommend the following approach that should serve as reasonable first-

guess at a boilerplate.

2.3.1 Front Matter

As with the proposal, the cover page should be unadorned with pictures, art or “watermarks.”

This template’s cover page is designed to resemble a typical university graduate level thesis following

SDSMT’s model. The abstract, your executive summary, should follow on the next page (it will be

duplicated on the front page of your actual capstone paper’s body).

2.3.2 Capstone Section 1: Introduction

You should start writing this as soon as you can. As previously mentioned, a good introduction

in the proposal will help with the subsequent capstone paper but don’t just cut and paste. If you do

this, the tone may seem “off” to the reader. (The same rule applies to the Methods section.) The

Introduction should begin with a statement and discussion of the general problem. This should be

followed by a detailed literature review. The literature review should highlight the evolution of how

your topic has been explored in the past and a thematic narrative, not a list of papers acting as

disjointed “episodes.” At the end of this review, just as with the proposal, you will have a body of

knowledge and a gap. Close this section by formally and clearly declaring your topic (your thesis

question), and very briefly describe how you will attack the problem.

2.3.3 Capstone Section 2: Methods

This section summarizes your research and management plan as pursued in the project. Once

again, this is not a pure rehash of the proposal. Here you begin with your study area (where

appropriate) and a discussion of the data that you will use. If you are using a model (conceptual or

otherwise) it also goes here. It needs to be described and referenced, not just mentioned. Then

discuss your method of analysis. Avoid mention of commercial software (e.g., Excel, or any specific

programming compiler) unless there was no way you could have done it with anything else or a

similar product. There are specific meteorological packages that often do what cannot be done on an


open-source manner without considerable work (e.g., commercial or community sounding packages).

Also be sure to discuss what data sources are required. Analysis techniques such as statistical

methods or sounding indices, etc need to be defined (here or in the next section). This final need for

documentation of formulae and the like are important even if these are calculated within a software

package. Never trust a “black box.”

2.3.4 Capstone Section 3: Analysis

Now actually discuss the integration of your data and your analysis method. This is the “meat”

of your capstone. Careful organization is key to your success here, especially if you have a lot of data

to go through. You must walk the reader through your maze of information as you begin to turn your

piles of data into nodes of knowledge. If you had any false starts (e.g., if you are on “Plan B”) discuss

this. This may help others in the future so that those who follow you do not waste time reinventing

the square wheel.

2.3.5 Capstone Section 4: Discussion

This is the synthesis section. This is where you take your data and analysis and with them,

answer your thesis question. Some may want to integrate this into their Analysis section. You will

want to consult with your committee on how to do this. But this section is key in your capstone. The

bottom line of this section is the answer to your thesis question(s) or hypotheses. If you do not do

this, your capstone will be incomplete at a fundamental level!

2.3.6 Capstone Section 5: Conclusions

You may be tempted to drop a summary of your work and be done with it. This is a very bad

idea and the paper will be rejected as incomplete if you do this. We will want not only a summary of

your work, but also the broader implications as discussed in the proposal section. The dirty secret is

that nobody, outside of your advisor, will read your work because of you. There must be something in

it for them. As such we recommend at least two major sections to your conclusions: the summary,

and also the broader implications, Dr. Sundareshwar’s “So What?” section. This is where you place


your work into the context of the broader community. What did you find, and how can it be applied?

You may also wish to include a way forward if you feel that there is more science to be done.

Hypothetically, this could be the start of your master’s degree experience.

2.3.7 Capstone Back Material

In addition to figures and tables, you may also need to include data that was not part of the

capstone’s main narrative. This can be included in an Appendix section. Consult with your

committee if this is needed and how to best do this.

3 Overall Capstone Presentation and Final Product

In the early phases of your writing (which we recommend that you start as soon as possible),

you can submit drafts to your committee, as per your agreements with them. They do not need to be

bound at this point, but they should be stapled. (Note that we may tear off and separate the figures

and tables – which is why we don’t ask them to be included in the main text.) If you submit several

drafts to your advisor/committee during the semester, please make sure we know how recent it is.

The headers at the top of the pages have a date on them. That will help us considerably.

Please do not submit drafts to your committee between submitting your defense draft and your

defense. Freeze your writing at this point until after the defense.

After your defense, you will be expected to do revisions. This is often the rule. This is also

where any “senioritis” you may be exhibiting may move from a nuisance to a terminal case. If you

have been on your game during your capstone experience, this will be the final polish on the capstone.

If you have not been diligent during this final semester, you will very likely have significant work to

be done. In either scenario, you may feel that this is an homage to the “Knights of Ni” segment from

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but please take this final phase of your academic development at

SDSMT very seriously and comply with reasonable requirements. As this often involves point-

editing, this is where the silly and embarrassing mistakes can sneak in. Finally, remember to give


every revision a thorough “out-loud” reading and make sure that the spell and grammar checks did not

give you any nasty surprises. Check consistency with references, figures and tables and how they are

cited in the text.

In the end when all is complete, manually enter the semester and year, e.g., Fall 2010, in the top

left margin of the page headers and on your title page and other finishing touches. We also

recommend getting it copied onto 25% Cotton Bond (or “Dakota Bond”) and bound in the Business

Office on campus or a commercial provider in town (most office stores will do this for you). For this,

get a black plastic backing and a clear plastic front with a spiral binding. Deb East in the

IS/Humanities/Social Studies Office has some examples for you (Figure 2). One copy goes to IS. A

second copy goes to us in ATM. Keep a good copy for yourself since a good senior capstone can be

part of your personal marketing package for graduate school or employment.

In the event that you are in negotiation for an “incomplete” grade, PLEASE make sure that

your capstone is resolved before the date given by the Academic Enrollment Services office. If your

Capstone is not resolved by the date by which degrees are conferred, you will be delayed an

additional semester. If it is not resolve by an agreed-upon date, the capstone will be automatically

awarded an “F” by the regential computer system. We can fix it, but it may take time.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

While cited references go into the reference section, other sources and areas of support are

acknowledged here. Typically, you should credit people and organizations who gave you data. Some

software providers, likewise, request that you “acknowledge” the source. In most cases, commercial

software does not qualify for special thanks. Consult your advisor and committee as to what is

appropriate here. Tradition will have you thanking your committee here as well. If this work was

supported under a grant, it also goes here and your supporting supervisor should provide you with the

grant number and proper verbiage.


LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Area of CRP-type grass buffer strips required for different levels of sediment yield reduction relative to the base-line management practice specific to the particular zone. The areas are based on the agricultural land use existing in the state during 1990. Shown are (a) reduction values and areal coverages for select specific zones, and (b) a statewide estimate of all agricultural lands based on the 1990 base line. From Das et al. [2004]. (Figure captions are below the figure. This also shows an example of attributing a figure taken from a previous work. The font in the figure need not be Times New Roman so long as it is neat and clean. But the caption font should be Times New Roman. You should also make sure that the point size is not too small. For example, some thesis offices will reject any thesis with print under 9 pt. Unexpected “fine print” often happens when directly embedding a graph from a spreadsheet.) 2

Figure 2: IS secretary, Deb East, showing an example of a bound senior capstone. (Note that the picture is in black and white, still conveying the message at a reduced printing cost.)

2


Figure 1: Area of CRP-type grass buffer strips required for different levels of sediment yield reduction relative to the base-line management practice specific to the particular zone. The areas are based on the agricultural land use existing in the state during 1990. Shown are (a) reduction values and areal coverages for select specific zones, and (b) a statewide estimate of all agricultural lands based on the 1990 base line. From Das et al. [2004]. (Figure captions are below the figure. This also shows an example of attributing a figure taken from a previous work. The font in the figure need not be Times New Roman so long as it is neat and clean. But the caption font should be Times New Roman. You should also make sure that the point size is not too small. For example, some thesis offices will reject any thesis with print under 9 pt. Unexpected “fine print” often happens when directly embedding a graph from a spreadsheet.)


Figure 2: IS secretary, Deb East, showing an example of a bound senior capstone. (Note that the picture is in black and white, still conveying the message at a reduced printing cost.)


LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Observed and simulated flow rates, and associated errors valid at gage Rapid Creek above Rapid City (USGS Gage 06412500) for the 1972 Rapid City Flood. Time extent is from 2300 UTC 09 June 1972 – 2300 UTC 10 June 1972. (Note that the table caption is above the table). 2


Table 1: Observed and simulated flow rates, and associated errors valid at gage Rapid Creek above Rapid City (USGS Gage 06412500) for the 1972 Rapid City Flood. Time extent is from 2300 UTC 09 June 1972 – 2300 UTC 10 June 1972. (Note that the table caption is above the table).

Observed Simulated Obs. – Sim.

Total Flow Volume (106 m3) 10.279 11.206 -0.927 (-9.032%)Peak flow rate (m3 s-1) 883 724 159 (18%)

Peak flow time (ref., 10 June) 0515 UTC 0400 UTC 75 min


REFERENCES

AGU (2009), AGU Grammar and Style Guide, edited, American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC.

AMS (2008), Authors' Guide, Fourth Editon, Version 20081103, edited, American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA.

Benjamin, S. G., J. M. Brown, K. J. Brundage, B. E. Schwartz, T. G. Smirnova, and T. L. Smith (1998), The operational RUC-2, paper presented at 16th Conference on Weather Analysis and Forecasting, American Meteorological Society, Phoenix, AZ, 11-16 January.

Berbery, E. H., K. E. Mitchell, S. Benjamin, T. Smirnova, H. Ritchie, R. Houge, and E. Radeva (1999), Assessment of land-energy budgets from regional and global models, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 104(D16), 19329-19348.

Das, C., W. J. Capehart, H. V. Mott, P. R. Zimmerman, and T. E. Schumacher (2004), Assessing regional impacts of CRP-type grass buffer strips sediment load reduction from cultivated lands, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 59(4), 134-142.

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