Georgia
Botanical Society
Guidelines for Writing Field Trip Reports
1. CONCISE: For regular trips, reports should be between 500 and 700 words in length, shorter preferred as it allows for graphics. For pilgrimage trips, 300 to 500 words.
2. DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS are encouraged. Drawings should be black ink or dark pencil on white paper. Photographs should be simple in composition and with lots of contrast (tonal range from very dark to very light).
3. COMMON NAMES are variable and may be edited. When you write plant names, we follow the CBE Style Guide as used by Castanea, where common names are not capitalized unless a proper noun: lily-leaved twayblade, Michigan lily, red oak, etc. Common names go first, with scientific names following in parentheses: fire pink (Silene virginica).
4. SCIENTIFIC NAMES will be provided by the editor if you are unsure as long as it is clear which species is being discussed. For unsure species, use Genus sp., for example, Acer sp. for an unknown species of maple. The genus should be capitalized, the species is all lower case: Acer rubrum. Both should be italicized. In general, the editors use Kartesz, J. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada and Greenland, 2nd ed. or its updated information through the USDA's PLANTS Database on-line for species names.
5. GROUPS OF SPECIES. For a number of species within a group, name the group at the beginning, then only the individual name afterwards. In a single paragraph, the second citation of a genus name should be abbreviated to its first letter followed by a period. Ex. Quercus rubra, Q. velutina and Q. phellos
6. GENERAL TIPS: Reports should include the location, date, and the reporters name, address and telephone and/or email address. You might also include weather, number of people present and names. Members like to see their names in print, so include some other than the trip leader if you can. Include an interesting story, observation, or interesting fact. We DON'T want a list of plants you saw! Write about what you liked. Write about what other people did. Write about relationships: between the plants, between plants and their habitat, between plants and people. Have a friend take notes too if you need help with botanical names.
7. SUBMIT TO:
Carol Howel Gomez
1107 New Town Church Road
Calhoun, GA 30701
CHowel@aol.com
Preferred format is either email or on 3 1/4 inch floppy disk. If yours is a word processing file, format as Times New Roman, 11 point.
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