Overview

The purpose of this assignment is to give you experience doing a water resources project, and then writing up the project for presentation at an ASCE conference, i.e., as a paper that would be published in the conference proceedings. Most companies and institutions strongly encourage their employees to be active in professional societies. Attendance at professional conferences is a good way to gain new ideas, publicize your work and your firm's capabilities, and meet people. This is part of what ABET and ASCE term "life-long learning".

You and one or two co-authors (most conference papers have multiple authors) will write a paper on a water resources project that you complete this semester. Your paper should be focused on a real project (such as a research project or extra-curricular project you might already be involved with), and it should include a quantitative component – data analysis, design, computer work, etc. However, I will also allow papers that summarize or review the literature on a water resources topic if there is a particular topic that interests you. In either case you must demonstrate through appropriate references and citations in your paper that you reviewed relevant literature for your project.

In writing your paper, you must follow the actual formatting guidelines of the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute 2009 Annual Meeting - except that you will produce both a single-spaced and a double-spaced version (so that I can write comments on it). The paper must be at least 5 pages of single-spaced text (not including ref list). The intended audience is engineers like you at the conference. More information on how to write such a paper can be found in Chapter 12 of Professional Communications A Handbook for Civil Engineers.

Go to this link to purchase a copy of Professional Communications A Handbook for Civil Engineers
Writing a good abstract from Professional Communications A Handbook for Civil Engineers.
Sample ASCE reference format
Sample format of citations in text of paper
Sample paper from recent ASCE conference

Suggested List of Projects
Other topics:
*Note, be as specific as possible with your topic and your paper title - vague broad titles ("The Tocks Island Dam") invariably make for bad papers!

Due Dates

Paper topic, reference list (minimum of five good refs), and progress report memo due at Exam 1
Detailed outline of paper, with completed background and objectives section, drafts of figs/tables, and progress report memo due at Exam 2
Final version of paper due at Final Exam

Grading, etc

For the best two papers submitted, I will help the first author obtain a Lafayette Student Travel Grant to present your paper at next year's ASCE EWRI conference or NCUR conference.

In reviewing your final papers, I will be focusing on the following:
- paper formatted with headings as per ASCE guidelines
- abstract that concisely summarizes the paper
- a background section that explains why your topic is relevant and has explicit objectives
- a conclusion that summarizes findings and briefly discusses implications of the paper
- effective, professional-looking Figs and Tables
- high quality references and proper use of citations in text

Although not the focus of the assignment, I will also look at:
- organization and logical flow
- clarity of writing (use definite, specific, concrete language and "eschew obfuscation")
- proper English/grammar

The progress memos and outline will not be graded per se, however I will provide review comments and assign either a check (satisfactory), check + (good effort), check - (poor effort). The progress reports must specify the tasks of each individual group member.