Ornithology ECOL484/584 FORMAT FOR ORNITHOLOGY PAPERS I. TITLE PAGEYour title page contains only the followingA running head, which is the short version of your title that appears as a header on all printed page of the ms. Should be italicized and be no longer than 36 characters long. AN INFORMATIVE AND SUCCINCT TITLE, ALL CAPITALIZED Author name, academic address, and email address. Do not put anything else on the title page. Insert a page break before the abstract. In first draft, all text should be double-spaced and pages should have both page numbers at the bottom and line numbers in the left margin. Word can doboth of these things for you automatically. For final draft, single-space and omit line numbers, keep page numbers.II. ABSTRACTAn abstract should be an informative summary of the whole paper, not just one section. It should present the highlights of your results and capture the reader's attention. Try allocating one (or at most two) sentences to each of the other main sections of your paper. There should be two (and only two) spaces after every period throughout the text. Always use spell-checking and grammar-checking on your work before turning it in. Ask a friend with superior English skills to proof-read your paper. Key words: no more than 8, in alphabetical order, separated by commas, italicize scientific names here and throughout text. There is no heading called “Introduction’. Leave a space after key words and indent all paragraphs. Begin your introduction with the big-picture question of interest to any ecologist that your paper informs. Your introduction should guide the reader logically from big picture to the specific data you collected. Before the beginning of the methods, the reader should know a) why they should continue reading your paper, b) what questions you address in your project (both broad and specific), and c) roughly how you went about addressing those questions. Aim for ~3-6 paragraphs in this section. All statements of fact should be accompanied by a citation. If possible, avoid direct quotes ofother authors. Instead, paraphrase their ideas in your own words, always acknowledging the source when you do so. Avoid making authors the topic of a sentence. For instance, instead of “Collias (1997) proposed that nest-building behaviors played a role in the diversification of Passeriformes” say “Nest-building behavior has been hypothesize to play a role in the diversification of Passeriformes (Collias 1997)”. Do not leave a space between paragraphs. Put a space between sections. When you cite references in the text, don't use a comma between the name and the date but use commas between citations. Birds have played a major role in our understanding of life history evolution (Martin 2004).Approximately 80 species of birds are commonly found in urban Tucson (W. Turner, pers. comm.). Researchers have addressed this question in Old World systems but never in the Nearctic region (Pattanavibool and Edge 1996). Ornithology ECOL484/584, spring 2007III. METHODSFormat.–Methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, and literature cited all get small caps, center-justified headings and a space before and after the heading. Sub-headings are italicized, indented, and are followed by a period and an en-dash. Include the date(s) of the project and where it occurred, including the state and country (e.g., city of Tucson, Arizona, USA). Times should be listedusing a 24 hour clock (0800 hrs rather than 8:00 a.m.). Use European order for dates and spell out themonth (29 January 1999). Use SI (metric units) and use leading zeros for decimals (0.25 m2 ). Use standard abbreviations for measurements in the text rather than spelling them out (l, ml, mm, m, km, ha, hr, min, sec, g, kg, dbh, SD, SD). Numbers should be written out if they are ten or less but put in numerals if they are greater than ten. The exception to this is if the number represents a measurement. We counted the hummingbirds every 2 hr. I eliminated measurements lower than 5 ºC from analysis. IV. RESULTS Your results should follow the same sequence of tests as outlined in your results section. You should report all results here and refrain from discussing their implications until the discussion section. Do not use the word significant unless you mean biological significance. For instance, never start a sentence like this: “The relationship between House Sparrow density and chicken coops was not significant”. Instead, say “I found no relationship between House Sparrow density and the number of chicken coops.” Test statistics. Most test statistic symbols/abbreviations should be italicized. An exception is degrees of freedom (df). Values less than one should have leading zeros. A few statistical symbols arecapitalized (F, P) and the rest should be lower-case. Use a space before and after an = sign but not before and after a < or > sign. Examples of statistical symbols are: t in t-test/value, F in F-test, P value, n for sample population. When writing out test results, follow this order (t, df, P value). Always include the effect size (magnitude of difference between means, for example). Use one significant digit for test statistics and three for P–values. Use the same number of significant digits when reporting means and their associated standard errors. Chicks in north-facing nests experienced on average double the temperatures during incubation than chicks in south-facing nests (29.0ºC ± 2.5ºC, vs. 14.3ºC ± 1.8ºC, t = 2.2, df = 28, P = 0.033). V. DISCUSSION Effect of alternative food source on foraging rate.–If you use subheadings, indent, italicize, add a period and an en-dash, and continue text on the same line. Use subheadings sparingly. Instead, try to structure your paragraph such that the first sentence reveals the major content to the reader. VI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There is always someone to thank! In general, anyone who has helped with the design or writing of the project, or played a major role in collecting data or editing the ms ought to be acknowledged. Also in acknowledge anyone who gave you permission to do work on their land or funded any element of the project. Keep brief and do not acknowledge your pets. Ornithology ECOL484/584, spring 2007VII. LITERATURE CITED Make sure you have complete and accurate citations for all work you’ve drawn information from in your text. References are listed alphabetically. Follow all details of the format below, and refer