Belgium Study Abroad Program

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department

Texas A&M University

Field Trip Reports

A report is required for each field trip that addresses how the field trip relates to the subject

matter in both classes. Each report must contain,

a) a section related to hydrology (for AGSM 335/BAEN 460) and

b) a section related to environmental technology (for AGSM 337/BAEN 465)

Note: Each section being at least 1 page (double spaced) in length.

General Guidelines

1. Each report must be accurate, clear, concise, and objective. It should summarize what you

learned on the field trip.

2. Visuals, such as photographs, sketches, drawings, etc., are required in the field trip reports to

help make the information clearer, more easily understood, and more interesting. You may

use pictures obtained via the web or your own photos. Remember to cite the source for

anything taken from the web or pictures provided by a classmate.

a) Number each figure (visual) in the order mentioned in the text and include a caption

located below each one. The caption should be a complete sentence that fully describes

what is in the visual. A good caption allows the reader to fully understand what is in the

visual without referring to the text, e.g.,

“Figure 1. A clarifier used to separate activated sludge from purified water at the

Aquafin treatment plant in Leuven.”

b) Each visual must be referenced in the text, e.g.

“Purified water was separated from the sludge using clarifiers as shown in Figure 1.”

3. All field trip reports must include headings to indicate the major sections of the report.

a) Major headings should follow the required components outlined below.

b) Add subheadings as necessary, e.g., for two different sited visited on a field trip.

4. At least one reference should be cited in each report.

5. Field trip reports should be at least 4 pages in length, double spaced, 12 point font.

Material Needed for the Field Trip Report

The field trip report should include information from

a) background material related to the field trip obtained from

1) an internet search

2) material provided by tour guides

b) accurate notes taken during the field trip

c) observations made during the field trip

d) questions and answers during the field trip

Take pictures of relevant

items and record accurate

notes during the tours }

Required Components of a Field Trip Report

Purpose:

a) What was the purpose of the field trip?

Introduction:

a) Background information related to the field trip

b) The places that were visited

c) Why we visited each site

Observations:

a) Discuss general observations for each site visited. Do not include information that is

included in the Hydrology and Environmental Technology sections described below.

Hydrology Section:

a) This section should discuss the various components of the hydrologic cycle that were

observed on the field trip.

1) Describe the negative/positive effects of the field trip projects on water quality

and the movement of water.

2) What components of the hydrologic cycle were affected by the projects viewed on

the field trip?

Environmental Technology Section:

a) This section should discuss the technology or engineering that has been applied to

address issues relating to the environment and water quality as observed on the field trip.

1) For treatment plants, provide a description of the unit operations used in the

treatment and their purpose. This should follow the flow through the process

from beginning to end.

2) This section should not address engineering and construction except as they may

relate to the environmental problems to which they are applied, e.g., we are not

looking for a detailed description of how the storm barrier was constructed in this

section (but you could include interesting details in the general observations

section).

Conclusions:

a) What did you learn on this field trip?

b) Why was this field trip important?

c) What was the significance of the field trip?

References:

a) At least one reference is required. Format the reference in the style used by Transactions

of ASABE.

1) http://www.asabe.org/media/59251/asabe_guide_for_authors.pdf

Spelling and Grammar

All reports should be free of spelling and grammatical mistakes. Use a word processor to check

the spelling and grammar. Points will be deducted if reports contain spelling and grammar

mistakes.

Grading

You will be graded on format, clarity of presentation, spelling, grammar and organization in

addition to the content of the report.

Format / organization 20%

Content 50%

Clarity 15%

Spelling / grammar 15%