Requirements your paper should have, in this order:

• Title page
• Table of contents page
• Abstract page
• Body
• Acknowledgments (if appropriate)
• Section of references
• Appendices (if appropriate)

The style of the paper should be in accordance with the Geological Society of America Bulletin guidelines, including headings, subheadings, figures and tables. We strongly encourage you to read the guidelines, and refer to recent articles in GSA-Bulletin to see how to construct your paper including figures and tables.

Title page should include the title, author, and date. This is an example:

Trace Metal Levels of Recent Lake Sediments in Selected Lakes of the
Eastern Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota

Steven O. Helgen
Senior Integrative Exercise
March 10, 1990

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a
Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota.

Table of contents should be on an unnumbered page directly following the title page. Include the headings that you use in the body of the paper such as Introduction, Field Work, Conclusions, and so on.

The abstract should summarize the results of your project in not more than 300 words. It should be typed single--spaced and placed just before the body of the paper on a separate unnumbered page. It should also include the title, author, date, and adviser.

Keywords (five or six) Finding GeoRef Keywords using the GeoRef Thesaurus. (see instructions on top of this page).

Body of the report should have page numbers. It should be organized into sections such as Introduction, laboratory Work, Discussion, Conclusions and so on. Your adviser can give you help with this.

Acknowledgments should include your comps adviser(s) and the source for funds you used, such as Keck and College funding agencies.

References cited should include all references mentioned in text and figures. Do not include any references unless you cited them somewhere. It is best to follow the format of the Geological society of America for citations.

An Appendix is the place for large amounts of raw data. You might ask your advisor about the appropriateness of an appendix for your report. Be sure to include the appendix in the table of contents.

Format details:

• Use double spaced Times 12 point font.
• Double sided printing is preferred, although single sided may be used if there is a particular need for it.
  • Printing Double sided:
    Set the margins at 1 inch with a 0.5 inch gutter. (In the WORD Format Document menu, check the box "mirror margins." The gutter provides space for the book binding).
  • Printing Single sided
    The left margin should be 1.5 inches and the remaining 3 margins should be 1 inch.
  • Margins for figures
    Figure margins must be 1.5 inches on the binding side, but the remaining 3 margins can be 0.5 inches. See below for more detail on figures.
    
• Number the pages in the upper right hand corner with at least 0.5 inches from the top and right sides of the paper.
• Ordinarily, measurements should be in metric units. There may be some cases in which dual units make more sense. Check with your advisor.
• You must check spelling and proofread!
• Use the format of the Geological Society of America Bulletins for figure captions, table headings, citations, and references. All illustrations must be referred to in the text. Captions should thoroughly explain the illustrations.
• If you turn a table or illustration so that it fits on the paper lengthwise, then put the top of the illustration or table on the side where the binding will occur. Be sure to allow enough margin.
• Photomicrographs and other photos must have a scale, preferably a bar scale.
• Maps should be page size (watch the margins). Try to avoid larger maps, but if they are essential they should be folded to 6 inches by 9 inches for insertion in a map pocket when the comps are bound.

Integrating Figures and Tables

Most figures and perhaps most tables are easier to create and manage as separate documents. Therefore, a recommended strategy for putting your comps paper together is to keep your figures and tables separate from the main body (text portion) of your comps.

• Once you have the final version of your text ready to go (after many edits and polishing), choose Setup from the File menu and be sure that the margins are set properly and that a laser printer (8.5" x 11" paper) is selected.
• Scroll through your document and insert pages where you think figures and tables should go (usually just after they have been referred to in the text). This reserves an entire page for one or more figures that will be placed in this position when you merge your document at the very end of the process in Adobe Acrobat. (Note: Be sure that the figure numbers match the order in which they are referred to in the text!)
• Of course this strategy requires knowledge of how large your final figures/tables are, and what will fit together. Therefore, at this point, your figures must be complete with figure captions and laid out as single pages. Adobe Illustrator is a good program to use to do this.
• Now that you have the pages reserved for your figures and tables, scroll through your document in page layout mode and note the page numbers of the blank pages that correspond to your figure/table pages. Be sure to place these page numbers in the appropriate location on your figure/table page in what ever program you are using to layout your figures. Try to match font and type size.
• Now that you have your paper properly paginated and all of your figures set to go with appropriate page numbers and figure captions, you are ready to create PDF documents from your various Word documents and figure files.

Saving Word Docs as PDF Files

1. Make sure that a laser printer is selected as the current printer of the computer you are using.
2. Select "Page Setup" from the File menu. Check the margins of your document. The left margin should be 1.5" and the rest 1".
3. Be sure you have the correct page number in the upper right hand side of the page.
4. Once you are sure your document is exactly how you want it, select "Print" from the File menu. Click the "Save as PDF" button in the dialog box. If this is the main body of your comps, use the following format for naming your document: username_gradyear.pdf (e.g. studenta_2010.pdf)

Saving Adobe Illustrator Docs as PDF Files

1. Make sure that a laser printer is selected as the current printer of the computer you are using.
2. Select Page Setup from the File menu. Check the margins of your document. The left margin should be 1.5" and the rest 1".
3. Be sure you have the correct page number in the upper right hand side of the page.
4. Once you are sure your document is exactly how you want it, select Save As from the File menu. Click on the Format popup menu item in the dialog box and select "Adobe PDF". Name your doc and click "Save". A dialog box appears that should look something like the one below left. Make sure the settings are the same. Note that the "Preserve Illustrator Editing" box is unchecked. (This helps make your pdf document smaller.) Select "Compression" from the second pop-up menu, and make sure the settings are the same as shown in the dialog box below right. Click OK.

Merging PDF Files into one Grand Document

1. Start Adobe Acrobat (Full Version, not Reader), and open one of your PDF files to merge (e.g. the PDF version of a multi page word document).
2. Click on the Thumbnails tab to the left of the document. This allows you to quickly scroll through the pages of your document. Locate the pages in your document you want to replace with one or more pages from a previously saved PDF document (e.g. a figure).
3. Select "Replace Pages" from the Document menu, and choose the file you want to insert.
4. A dialog box appears asking where you want to insert the pdf file. Make the appropriate selections and click OK.
5. Save your newly created document, and continue with steps 3 and 4 until your masterpiece is finished (saving often).

File Size

If your comps file is more than about 5 MB, are there ways to reduce the size? Prime objects of suspicion would be graphics and photos. Can the resolution be reduced without causing harm? If so, it would be a good idea to slim them down. A photograph in a paper usually doesn't need to be more than 500K to 1 MB to reproduce well, and graphs usually can be less than that.

EndNote Library Files

If you used EndNote and have a library file (the filename will end in .enl), we need to have you submit that along with your paper so we can track the usage of the library resources by our geology majors. Name the .enl file similarly to your .pdf file. Continuing the example above, a library file belonging to Albert Student would be named studenta_2010.enl.

Submitting the Paper

• Submit a .pdf copy of your comps (pdf instructions) by the last day of classes during winter term. We’ll distribute directions during winter term.
• Submit two final, archival paper copies of your comps to Ellen Haberoth two weeks after your talk. They will be bound and put in the Gould Library and the College Archives.
• The archival paper copies have a few special requirements:
  • pages of text and line drawings need to be printed using the above guidelines on good quality, acid-free bond paper, which the Geology Department wll supply.
  • Images or figures with color must be laser printed (not inkjet printed). They may need to be printed onto special image-quality paper because image-quality paper is usually smoother or glossier and makes the images more legible.
  • Pages with pictures must be printed so that the picture is clear and has good color; either color laser printing or color Xeroxing is acceptable for the pages with color. Some images may need to be laser-printed or Xeroxed onto glossy or special photo-quality paper to make them legible. Ink jet printing fades after a few years and is not to be used for final copies under any conditions!