Students may bring in specimens that they, their parents, their siblings, their friends, or someone else have collected and gain valuable equal-credit.  To get this credit, they must provide collection data in the correct format and they must record their effort in the equal credit log on the clipboard hanging near the doorway.

The amount of equal credit they receive depends on how valuable and interesting their specimen is for classroom use.  The student can be assured credit if:  1. the specimen was asked for during class, 2. it is mentioned in one of the "Poems of the Month" used in class, 3. it gets used during class.

Collection data should be printed neatly on a small rectangular piece of paper and first tells the reader where the specimen was collected, then when it was collected and finally who collected it. In a real collection, the paper used is often very small so it is good to abbreviate when you can.

When you write down where a specimen was collected, start with the general location and get more specific.  Use colons between items.  For dates, abbreviate the month using letters, not numbers, and write the year out fully.  After the date, write "Coll.:" meaning "collector" and the name of the person who actually collected the specimen.

The following is an example of good collection data in the format we will use.

        Ill.: McLean Co.: Bloomington: 1201 Airport Rd.,

        near SW corner of school on blue spruce tree.

        Sept 18, 2008. Coll.: James Taber.

Notice there is a period at the end of when, where and who.  Notice that what was collected is not part of the collection data.  A specimen is often misidentified when it is first collected and to place the incorrect name on the collection data may cause confusion at a later time.