(Effective Fall 2009)

 

All graduate students enrolled in the GIS Certificate must write their Final Report for their GIS Application following the Basic Guidelines described below. 

 

The student's advisor (member of the Faculty Pool) is responsible for ensuring that his/her advisee follows these Basic Guidelines.  The advisor is also responsible for grading the Final Report (A, B, C, etc).  

 

A color-printed and covered copy and electronic copy (pdf) of the Final Report must be submitted to the Director of Certificate Studies for the ISU GIS Certificate (Dr. Monica A. Haddad).

 

Students should include each of the following content in their reports:

 

Component	Description
Front Matter	Title page Abstract including objectives, methods, and results Table of contents Lists of figures and tables
Problem Definition	Statement of the research problem Project purpose, background, and context Main objectives and contributions of the study Spatial questions and hypotheses
Research Design	Relevant theories and/or literature on the problem Conceptual framework and definition of key terms Description of concepts and variables
Methodology	Study area description, location, and context Operationalization and measurement of variables Database and data sources Data analysis and modeling
Results	Results of data analyses Presentation of results in text, figures, and tables
Discussion	Review of results in relation to spatial hypotheses and research problem Discussion of results in the context of the project background Conclusions and recommendations based on results Recommendations for future studies
Back Matter	Bibliography Appendices

A minimum of 25 written pages (not counting the front and back matter) is generally expected.  Students should follow the specific guidelines given below when preparing their report: