Draft: Methods Introduction

The Methods Project has three goals: to practice writing the Methods section of a research paper, which is used by scientists to replicate the research described, to differentiate observations from inferences by writing the Results and Discussion sections, and to identify controls needed for an experiment. For my figure, I will depict the interspecific interaction between a tree and a lichen, an example of commensalism that is often overlooked in everyday life. The specific tree and lichen I will portray are on a busy street in Amherst Center, one that is walked past by students frequently.

In order to maintain strict consistency between the photos in both the original and replicated figures, I will have to set several controls described in the methods. I will control the time at which the photos are taken, in order to keep the lighting uniform, and the relative distance at which the photos are taken. I will also control the instructions for combining and labeling the photos to create the final multi-panel figure, specifying dimensions and coordinates.