1.1.3 Drafting Statement of Objective

Drafting: All writing and communication is created by a process of thinking and re-visioning, a process of overcoming false-starts, deadends, and sometimes brilliant ideas. You have to scale down your objective to something you can do in the given time frame. Your early drafts are places to explore just how much you can do within your limitations and interests. All written and oral reports go through a drafting phase. You may have a strict procedure for these early stages of preparation, such as brainstorming, outlining, first draft, second, third draft...final draft. You may start with the introduction and move to the conclusion, or you may start with a figure and discuss that. NEVER turn in a first draft.

Brainstorming: basically write to yourself. Write quickly. Don't edit yourself for style or grammar. Just get all your ideas down. Set a time limit (say 20 minutes) and just write what comes into your head. After twenty minutes review what you have jotted down.

Outlining: jot down the suggested structure of the report (written or oral). If there is no suggested structure, remember your audience is not necessarily intimate with the details of your project, so you cannot throw reams of information at them without shaping it to suit their limitations. Draft a Table of Contents.

Objective Statement: States simply, concisely and with precision your experimental aim. Objective MUST be stated in un-biased language. Objective must be feasible, something that can be done given time, budgetary, and personnel constraints.

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