Drawing Materials.  All drawings should be done with a sharp pencil line on white, unlined paper.  Diagrams in pen are unacceptable because they cannot be corrected.  Lines are clear and not smudged. There are almost no erasures or stray marks on the paper. Color is used carefully to enhance the drawing. Stippling is used instead of shading.

Positioning.  Center your drawing on the page.  Do not draw in a corner.  This will leave plenty of room for the addition of labels. 

Size.  Make a large, clear drawing; it should occupy at least half a page. 

Labels.  Use a ruler to draw straight, horizontal lines to the right of the side of the drawing.  The labels should form a vertical list.  All labels should be printed (not cursive).

Accuracy.  Draw what you see; as you see it, not what you imagine should be there.  Avoid making “idealized” drawings.  You are not necessarily drawing everything that is seen in the field of view.  Draw only what is asked for.  Show only as much as necessary for an understanding of the structure – a small section shown in detail will often suffice.  It is time consuming and unnecessary, for example, to reproduce accurately the entire contents of a microscopic field.

Technique.  Keep looking back at your specimen whilst you are drawing.   If using a microscope, while you are observing increase the magnification to observe more details and reduce the magnification to get a more general view. Use the focusing controls on the microscope to observe at different depths of the specimen.  Move the specimen around; do not just concentrate on one part. Observe the general appearance first.

Title.  The title should state what has been drawn and what lens power it was drawn under (for example, phrased as:  drawn as seen through 400X magnification).  Title is informative, centered, and larger than other text.

Scale.  Include how many times larger the drawing is compared to life size and a scale line that indicates relative size.  To determine magnification, use the equation: