Data Coding

Research I did for a paper in my English class.

Transcript

1. Nic Lindgren Research Question: How do different field guides for wild plants use structure, language/vocabulary, iconography, and rhetorical devices to help identify plants and their uses? Data Point 1: Observation of if the guide contains the most commonly shared elements of a field guide. Title/Author Common & latin name Image(s) Family Height or size Habitat and/or range Additional facts Lee Allen Peterson. A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Peter Del Tredici and Steward T. A Pickett. Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
2. James Stubbendieck, et al. North American Wildland Plants: A Field Guide Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Roland Keller. A Field Guide to Tropical Plant Families Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Stan Tekiela. Trees of the Carolinas Field Guide Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Data Point 2: Observation of text vs. image placement across five field guide books. Title/Author Placement Color? Lee Allen Peterson. A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants Information/text for multiple plants on the left pages, corresponding illustrations/photos on the right Mainly no Peter Del Tredici and Steward T. A Pickett. Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide Information/text on left pages, corresponding photos on the right. Most images are captioned. One plant per spread. Yes
3. James Stubbendieck, et al. North American Wildland Plants: A Field Guide Information/text on right pages, corresponding illustrations on the left. One plant per spread, contains text on the illustration pages as well. No Roland Keller. A Field Guide to Tropical Plant Families Images and information are mixed together irregularly. The images are captioned separate from the bulk of the text. Mainly yes Stan Tekiela. Trees of the Carolinas Field Guide Information/text on right pages, corresponding illustrations on the left. One plant per spread. Yes Data Point 3: Observation of types of images and iconography used between five field guide books. Note: I’m defining icons here as small, repeated graphic elements that are used to convey the same thing throughout the guide (ie. skull and crossbones for toxicity). Title/Author Image type Color? Icons? Lee Allen Peterson. A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants Mainly line illustrations, but contains a section of color photographs. Mainly no Yes Peter Del Tredici and Steward T. A Pickett. Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide Photographs Yes No
4. James Stubbendieck, et al. North American Wildland Plants: A Field Guide Detailed illustrations No Yes Roland Keller. A Field Guide to Tropical Plant Families Mainly photographs, some illustrations Mainly yes No Stan Tekiela. Trees of the Carolinas Field Guide Photographs Yes Yes Data Point 4: Observation of additional educational material (keys, glossaries, etc.) between five field guide books. Title/Author Key(s)? Glossary? Other Lee Allen Peterson. A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants Yes; One in front and one in back, plus a symbol guide Yes, in the front Contains section for when/where to find plants, plus a section for food uses Peter Del Tredici and Steward T. A Pickett. Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide No Yes, in the back Several informational appendix sections, most key-like being a list of “Key Characteristics of Important Plant Families”
5. James Stubbendieck, et al. North American Wildland Plants: A Field Guide Yes, in the front Yes, in the back Contains a species checklist for personal use. Roland Keller. A Field Guide to Tropical Plant Families Yes, about 6, all in the front No Contains a section about evolutionary trends at the end. Stan Tekiela. Trees of the Carolinas Field Guide Yes, in the front Yes, in the back Contains a species checklist for personal use.