Post by Jinsei on Jan 18, 2008 17:06:54 GMT -5
How to Write a Field Guide When You Are a Young Naturalist
You can successfully write a field book as a young person provided that you believe you can. You don't need to be uniquely smart or determined to do this; any kid can do this. This article details the steps by which you can succeed in writing your own field guide as a kid or teenager.
Steps
1. Decide you can do it. A lot of people think that a kid cannot write a real book but do not let that discourage you. As long as you can write and you set your mind to it, you can write a credible resource; age does not matter. In order to write the book, however, you do have to become somewhat of a field expert, so do not think this will be an easy project. Just know that it is possible.
2. Find a passion. Your passion should be something you have an interest in and something that you have lots of access to (for example, the original book that inspired this article was about snakes). Choose something nearby where you live. Commit to success. That means, choose a subject that you know you will be able to find around you, something that is plausible to research and to find outdoors. The ancient Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu said that the wise general never fights a battle unless he is already sure of his victory. Do not enter a project that you do not think you can complete.
3. Write a list of objectives. The list should be composed of what you want your book to accomplish and what you want it to consist of. It helps to look at other books that are similar to what you will write; look at books of comparable size and depth, but about a different subject matter (like frogs instead of butterflies that you might like to write about). Some of them should be much bigger than your book and some of them should be just pamphlets. While looking at these books, you can agree and disagree with different aspects of them:
* Look for (and write down about each one) the strengths and weaknesses of those you examine.
* Try to figure out what each book is supposed to be used for. Some are for quickly identifying species, while others are meant to be used for research papers and the like. The different books probably have different target audiences too.
* Choose your target audience/market and put that on the top of your list, right under the topic that you are writing about.
* Think about if you want it to be big, small, pocket size, table size, expandable or complete.
* Write down all the qualities that your want your book to have and write down those qualities in the list. Here is an example list, which you can use if you want:
o small, accurate, easy to use, fun to read/use, help save the wildlife
* Make a list of resources also. For example:
o nature centers, zoos, books, internet, education centers near me, and teachers.
* Go through each one of your qualities and resources and fill in with the names of those that might help you to learn what you need to learn.
4. Spend time getting to know whatever you chose. Spend time outdoors. Learn to love the outdoors. Get to know your home environment. Then focus on your topic (say, butterflies) and spend time outside with them (in a safe way). Look for them. Get books and read about them and you can also research online a little bit but make sure that the sites you use are credible. Keep track of every source that you use and what information you get from each source. Talk to experts if you can. Professional biologists and ecologists love it when kids show interest in their field and will go to great lengths to help you succeed. Be confident and show your interest and knowledge (without showing off) and they will really want to help you. Remember to stay organized throughout this process. Organization is absolutely vital to successfully completing any big project, especially like writing a book. Make sure everything is in neat, accurately labeled computer files so that you never have to search for anything you have done and everything is always at your command.
5. Write the book. Make sure you have an outline before you start. Write an introduction, table of contents with the chapters or sections, and whatever other tables or charts you want. Write the book in sections, one by one. Before you write the actual paragraphs in the document, have each chapter and section labeled so that then you can just fill in the content. To take the snake as an example, you might have a chapter for each snake and in each chapter have sections called: Caution: Approaching and Handling, Abundance, Description, Lifestyle and Death etc. If you like this chapter format, you can use it, although there will be differences depending on the book subject. For example, if you do birds, you might want a section on the song that it sings. The order that you write the chapters does not matter, but write a section all at once, or over a brief period of days. Try to do all the sections for one species before moving on, or do all of one section in a row (like all of the descriptions). Keep your pattern but you can take breaks if you want between sections. Have patience (do not burn out) and try to be disciplined with yourself. Do not expect the book to write itself. It is normal to take almost two years to complete a book, even though it could have been written in a couple of months, because it is better to pace yourself and just do a section or two and then break for a month before doing another one. Writing a book does not, and should not, be a full time occupation. Write when you have free time, but make sure you are getting it done, do not put it off forever because then it will never happen.
6. Take or find pictures. Field guides need to have pictures. As it is said, a picture is worth a thousand words. You can use illustrations, or photographs. Illustrations are much harder to use and not always as accurate, so unless you are very confident with your drawing or your illustrator, use a camera! Where a computer has a camera (such as XO's, new Macs), this can make it very easy. In most cases, color is better than black and white but not absolutely necessary. Some of the species you are looking for may be almost impossible to find. If this is the case, you can search for pictures online. Email the photographer who took the picture or group of pictures you are interested in using and ask if you can use it. Also ask your teacher in your school for help in getting you in contact with the photographer in question.
7. Cite your sources, write your acknowledgements, write the introduction, give credit where credit is due and write a short biography of yourself. Cite all of your sources, both of information and photographers. Make sure that each photograph that you use is labeled with the photographer's name (this might be you in some cases).
* Write an acknowledgement section in order to thank everyone who helped you along the way (if your family was a big supporter, thank them all in the introduction to the book). Write your bibliography using proper format. One place to start is the US MLA format found at palomar.edu/dsps/actc/mla/ but any good format that your teachers recommend or that you used during your research will work.
* Write an introduction that explains the purpose of your book and what you intend for it to accomplish.
* Lastly, write a brief biography about yourself and your project.
8. Put the whole book together into a file in the correct format. This step is pretty self-explanatory. Put the book together into a file that is neat and in a nice format and labeled, ready for production.
9. Submit the book to a publisher. You need to use a publisher to get your book printed. You can find out about publishing companies by talking to various experts, talking to your teachers, and if you are part of the OLPC project, talking to any OLPC people that you may meet. Once the layout and design people and the publishers have your book, it could take up to a couple of years for them to get around to publishing it. This is because they have so many books to get through. Do not be discouraged. Your work is over. During this time you do not have to do anything at all except wait to see your book get published. If they decide not to publish it, then take their reasons; maybe you need to change something. Do whatever changes you deem necessary and then submit it again to the same, or a different publishing company. The bulk of your work will already be in the past by then.
10. Enjoy the aftermath, forever. Years after publishing, you will still get pleasure from your book. Good things come from writing and publishing a book. You will learn about an interesting subject. You will have learned all about how to write a book. You will have the respect of your peers, family and teachers alike. You may be able to sell your book for money. You will have helped educate people about nature, so that maybe they will be more careful about wrecking our precious and fragile environment. If you want to go to a university, they will be impressed by your hard work, because it shows that you are able to achieve long term projects. If there is an interesting, beautiful or rare species in your areas, tourists, especially scientists, will come to see it. All of these good things might come true for you too if you write a book on some kind of plant or animal where you live. You get to meet a lot of new people from the international science community that you would not have met otherwise and they might want your help, advice, and involvement in other awesome projects. These things can easily happen for you, even years after publication.
Tips
* You can also search for photos and illustrations that are in the "public domain". These are pictures that do not have any copyright and can be used freely.
* Even though this article is about biology, you might decide to do something else, take on another project. For example, you might decide that the city you live in has a special, unique way that it makes paper, or pottery, or jewelry. Sometimes, it might be possible to create a book that highlights your city, and what is unique about it. This helps to save the history of your community, and may help it economically. With your writing, it might be possible that the rest of the world might see your city, and all because of the project that you began.
* The environment and the species in this world can be helped by us. But for that to happen, we have to know where they are. Toward that help, you can play an important role. There are many ways that your work might help your city and the species around you. For example, there are many areas in the world where the people began to protect the environment and the species and now those places are economically supported by the tourists and scientists coming to see that phenomenon. It is also possible that your work may lead to an economic discovery that could help the species and the community. For example, a particular plant may contain medicinal properties.
Warnings
* Remember, never take someone else's work and claim that it is your own. If you research in a book, then use the information but change the words, say it in your own language, and combine it with different books all into one. In your bibliography in the end you will give those other authors credit. This is called developing a secondary source, with those other books being primary sources. Taking another person's work is plagiarism, which is not thought too highly of in any sectors and in fact it is an offense.
Things You'll Need
* Reference books
* Laptop / computer to keep track of everything and to write your book
* Camera (in computer or separate); or access to an illustrator
www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Field-Guide-When-You-Are-a-Young-Naturalist
You can successfully write a field book as a young person provided that you believe you can. You don't need to be uniquely smart or determined to do this; any kid can do this. This article details the steps by which you can succeed in writing your own field guide as a kid or teenager.
Steps
1. Decide you can do it. A lot of people think that a kid cannot write a real book but do not let that discourage you. As long as you can write and you set your mind to it, you can write a credible resource; age does not matter. In order to write the book, however, you do have to become somewhat of a field expert, so do not think this will be an easy project. Just know that it is possible.
2. Find a passion. Your passion should be something you have an interest in and something that you have lots of access to (for example, the original book that inspired this article was about snakes). Choose something nearby where you live. Commit to success. That means, choose a subject that you know you will be able to find around you, something that is plausible to research and to find outdoors. The ancient Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu said that the wise general never fights a battle unless he is already sure of his victory. Do not enter a project that you do not think you can complete.
3. Write a list of objectives. The list should be composed of what you want your book to accomplish and what you want it to consist of. It helps to look at other books that are similar to what you will write; look at books of comparable size and depth, but about a different subject matter (like frogs instead of butterflies that you might like to write about). Some of them should be much bigger than your book and some of them should be just pamphlets. While looking at these books, you can agree and disagree with different aspects of them:
* Look for (and write down about each one) the strengths and weaknesses of those you examine.
* Try to figure out what each book is supposed to be used for. Some are for quickly identifying species, while others are meant to be used for research papers and the like. The different books probably have different target audiences too.
* Choose your target audience/market and put that on the top of your list, right under the topic that you are writing about.
* Think about if you want it to be big, small, pocket size, table size, expandable or complete.
* Write down all the qualities that your want your book to have and write down those qualities in the list. Here is an example list, which you can use if you want:
o small, accurate, easy to use, fun to read/use, help save the wildlife
* Make a list of resources also. For example:
o nature centers, zoos, books, internet, education centers near me, and teachers.
* Go through each one of your qualities and resources and fill in with the names of those that might help you to learn what you need to learn.
4. Spend time getting to know whatever you chose. Spend time outdoors. Learn to love the outdoors. Get to know your home environment. Then focus on your topic (say, butterflies) and spend time outside with them (in a safe way). Look for them. Get books and read about them and you can also research online a little bit but make sure that the sites you use are credible. Keep track of every source that you use and what information you get from each source. Talk to experts if you can. Professional biologists and ecologists love it when kids show interest in their field and will go to great lengths to help you succeed. Be confident and show your interest and knowledge (without showing off) and they will really want to help you. Remember to stay organized throughout this process. Organization is absolutely vital to successfully completing any big project, especially like writing a book. Make sure everything is in neat, accurately labeled computer files so that you never have to search for anything you have done and everything is always at your command.
5. Write the book. Make sure you have an outline before you start. Write an introduction, table of contents with the chapters or sections, and whatever other tables or charts you want. Write the book in sections, one by one. Before you write the actual paragraphs in the document, have each chapter and section labeled so that then you can just fill in the content. To take the snake as an example, you might have a chapter for each snake and in each chapter have sections called: Caution: Approaching and Handling, Abundance, Description, Lifestyle and Death etc. If you like this chapter format, you can use it, although there will be differences depending on the book subject. For example, if you do birds, you might want a section on the song that it sings. The order that you write the chapters does not matter, but write a section all at once, or over a brief period of days. Try to do all the sections for one species before moving on, or do all of one section in a row (like all of the descriptions). Keep your pattern but you can take breaks if you want between sections. Have patience (do not burn out) and try to be disciplined with yourself. Do not expect the book to write itself. It is normal to take almost two years to complete a book, even though it could have been written in a couple of months, because it is better to pace yourself and just do a section or two and then break for a month before doing another one. Writing a book does not, and should not, be a full time occupation. Write when you have free time, but make sure you are getting it done, do not put it off forever because then it will never happen.
6. Take or find pictures. Field guides need to have pictures. As it is said, a picture is worth a thousand words. You can use illustrations, or photographs. Illustrations are much harder to use and not always as accurate, so unless you are very confident with your drawing or your illustrator, use a camera! Where a computer has a camera (such as XO's, new Macs), this can make it very easy. In most cases, color is better than black and white but not absolutely necessary. Some of the species you are looking for may be almost impossible to find. If this is the case, you can search for pictures online. Email the photographer who took the picture or group of pictures you are interested in using and ask if you can use it. Also ask your teacher in your school for help in getting you in contact with the photographer in question.
7. Cite your sources, write your acknowledgements, write the introduction, give credit where credit is due and write a short biography of yourself. Cite all of your sources, both of information and photographers. Make sure that each photograph that you use is labeled with the photographer's name (this might be you in some cases).
* Write an acknowledgement section in order to thank everyone who helped you along the way (if your family was a big supporter, thank them all in the introduction to the book). Write your bibliography using proper format. One place to start is the US MLA format found at palomar.edu/dsps/actc/mla/ but any good format that your teachers recommend or that you used during your research will work.
* Write an introduction that explains the purpose of your book and what you intend for it to accomplish.
* Lastly, write a brief biography about yourself and your project.
8. Put the whole book together into a file in the correct format. This step is pretty self-explanatory. Put the book together into a file that is neat and in a nice format and labeled, ready for production.
9. Submit the book to a publisher. You need to use a publisher to get your book printed. You can find out about publishing companies by talking to various experts, talking to your teachers, and if you are part of the OLPC project, talking to any OLPC people that you may meet. Once the layout and design people and the publishers have your book, it could take up to a couple of years for them to get around to publishing it. This is because they have so many books to get through. Do not be discouraged. Your work is over. During this time you do not have to do anything at all except wait to see your book get published. If they decide not to publish it, then take their reasons; maybe you need to change something. Do whatever changes you deem necessary and then submit it again to the same, or a different publishing company. The bulk of your work will already be in the past by then.
10. Enjoy the aftermath, forever. Years after publishing, you will still get pleasure from your book. Good things come from writing and publishing a book. You will learn about an interesting subject. You will have learned all about how to write a book. You will have the respect of your peers, family and teachers alike. You may be able to sell your book for money. You will have helped educate people about nature, so that maybe they will be more careful about wrecking our precious and fragile environment. If you want to go to a university, they will be impressed by your hard work, because it shows that you are able to achieve long term projects. If there is an interesting, beautiful or rare species in your areas, tourists, especially scientists, will come to see it. All of these good things might come true for you too if you write a book on some kind of plant or animal where you live. You get to meet a lot of new people from the international science community that you would not have met otherwise and they might want your help, advice, and involvement in other awesome projects. These things can easily happen for you, even years after publication.
Tips
* You can also search for photos and illustrations that are in the "public domain". These are pictures that do not have any copyright and can be used freely.
* Even though this article is about biology, you might decide to do something else, take on another project. For example, you might decide that the city you live in has a special, unique way that it makes paper, or pottery, or jewelry. Sometimes, it might be possible to create a book that highlights your city, and what is unique about it. This helps to save the history of your community, and may help it economically. With your writing, it might be possible that the rest of the world might see your city, and all because of the project that you began.
* The environment and the species in this world can be helped by us. But for that to happen, we have to know where they are. Toward that help, you can play an important role. There are many ways that your work might help your city and the species around you. For example, there are many areas in the world where the people began to protect the environment and the species and now those places are economically supported by the tourists and scientists coming to see that phenomenon. It is also possible that your work may lead to an economic discovery that could help the species and the community. For example, a particular plant may contain medicinal properties.
Warnings
* Remember, never take someone else's work and claim that it is your own. If you research in a book, then use the information but change the words, say it in your own language, and combine it with different books all into one. In your bibliography in the end you will give those other authors credit. This is called developing a secondary source, with those other books being primary sources. Taking another person's work is plagiarism, which is not thought too highly of in any sectors and in fact it is an offense.
Things You'll Need
* Reference books
* Laptop / computer to keep track of everything and to write your book
* Camera (in computer or separate); or access to an illustrator
www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Field-Guide-When-You-Are-a-Young-Naturalist