Entry Statuses
Incomplete
When you first create or duplicate an entry, it may be added to the Discovery Database with only blank information and a yellow "Incomplete" status tag. Incomplete entries may be missing required information, yet could still be referenced by other entries. Before the end of your semester, it is good practice to either fill in these Incomplete entries or delete them as appropriate.
Save
Once an entry's required information has been filled in and its "Save" button clicked, it gets the green "Saved" status tag. This marks it as potentially ready for instructor review.
Finalized
Once an instructor has reviewed an entry for completeness and accuracy, they may finalize it, a process described in the "Instructor Guide" section of this guide. These entries get a blue "Finalized" status tag, which marks them as ready for Tiny Earth to export their information into the Tiny Earth Public Database.
Entries that have been given the blue "Finalized" status tag cannot be edited further by students or instructors.
When will my Entries be Finalized?
Depending on how your instructor has structured their course, your entries may be finalized in steps throughout the semester or all at once at the end.
Click to See Example 1: Dr. X
Dr. X has their students enter information into the Discovery Database throughout the semester. And four times throughout the semester, Dr. X reviews student work:
- Environmental Samples and Serial Dilutions
- Library Screens and Isolates
- Streak Plates and Isolate Screens
- 16S rRNA Gene Analyses
And at each step, Dr. X finalizes the entries that meet their bar for good quality scientific record-keeping.
Click to See Example 2: Dr. P
In constrast, Dr. P has his students enter data at their own pace throughout the semester, using lab time to walk the room and chat with students one-on-one.
Dr. P uses these in-the-moment conversations to steer the quality of students' scientific record-keeping less formally yet more frequently.
Then, toward the end of the semester, while students are working on their term papers, Dr. P reviews his students' database entries more carefully and finalizes them all at once.
Now that you know how to enter data and what their statuses mean, let's learn how to conduct a more advanced search with your "My Data" page!