This handout along with the book Writing Papers in the Biological Sciences describes for you necessary information on how to write a report over a scientific project. This handout gives specific requirements that we are assigning, whereas the book gives a more general overview. If you have any questions, feel free to ASK!
Each lab report will be worth 50 pts. They must be typewritten and double-spaced, and include a certain number of citations, which are cited in the text and listed in the literature cited. The lab write-up will also be graded on grammar, clarity, and freedom from typographical errors.
A lab report is typically divided into separate sections, separated by headings telling what section is following (except the Title Page). The following gives you a general overview of the sections required for each of the lab reports for this class. Your paper should include each section in the order that they are listed on this handout. For more specific information on what should be included in each, and some guidelines for writing a lab report, page numbers from the book Writing paper in the Biological Sciences are given for each section.
1. Title Page: (pp. 52-55)
Included on this page should be a sufficiently descriptive title, your name, course title, lab section, and date. A good title should give the reader a good idea of what the paper is about before reading it. For example, ÒEnzymesÓ or even ÒTemperature effects on enzymesÓ would not be a sufficient title for your lab report on this experiment. This should be a separate page from the rest of the paper and should not have a page number assigned to it.
2. Abstract (pp. 55-59)
Although this section is presented first, this should be the last part that you write. It is a complete summary of your paper. The abstract allows a busy reader to quickly scan the article, understand what the experiment was about, and what was discovered. It should include a sentence or two to summarize each section of the paper (including results and discussion) and should be no longer than one or two (short) paragraphs. This is not a mystery novel so donÕt be afraid of spoiling the ending by telling ÒwhodunitÓ here. You should tell the reader what happened in your experiment. Abstracts are an important tool that scientists use to rapidly keep up on the findings of other researchers without reading billions of long, detailed papers.
This section should explain the objectives of the study, and why it was a worthwhile effort. An effective introduction should address the following questions: 1) Why did the author undertake the study? The best initial statement is often on observation in nature that stimulated the interest of the author, or of a hypothesis drawn from a survey of the literature; 2) What is the existing state of knowledge on this topic? You should synthesize information from the literature (or your textbook) that traces the development of the problem and summarizes its current state. 3) What specific hypothesis did you test? What, specifically did the author do to test this hypothesis? Here the author must indicate the specific goals, objectives, or testable hypotheses that will be considered in the paper.
This is not a lab manual so donÕt start by giving an inventory of the supplies you used. In the Methods section of a paper you write out exactly what you did in the experiment. A general rule of thumb is you need to write out the methods in sufficient detail that a reader could repeat the experiment if they were so inclined. However, be careful of a common mistake: you are NOT writing out directions for someone else to do the experiment. The Methods section is the story of WHAT YOU DID. Think of it as describing to someone what you did over the weekend. It is ok in scientific writing to use the first person (Òwe recorded the number of hairsÉÓ or ÒI observed the number of turtles on logsÉÓ) and since youÕve already done the experiment this section should be written in past tense and not as orders (ÒI did thisÓ NOT ÒFirst, you collect seedsÓ). As you explain what you did, you should describe any specific materials or devices you used.
5.
Results (pp. 66-71; chapter 2 & 3)
This is the longest section in the book (spread over 3 chapters) on how to write a lab report, but you would be well served by reading it all. This is the section students have the most trouble with. A results section should consist of written PARAGRAPHS summarizing your data: you are stating what you found. Note: you donÕt discuss what think your results mean, you leave that for the discussion section. You use tables and graphs to show the actual data (tables) and point out any trends in the data (graphs). Some brief instructions on preparing tables and figures are listed below, but are in much more detail in your book. To see how to refer to tables and figures in your written paragraphs, see page 38-40.
6. Discussion (pp. 71-75)
Now it is time talk about what your data mean. In the Discussion section your results are interpreted, critically evaluated, and compared to other research reports; conclusions are then drawn based on the study and its findings. You may attempt to include several of the following in a good discussion section: 1) how do your results relate to the hypotheses you laid out in the introduction? Do the data support/contradict the hypothesis? What does this mean? 2) compare your results to other studies. Did you obtain similar results or different? Why? 3) Were there any errors in procedure that may have influenced your data so that you have unexpected results? How could you correct for these? 4) speculate on the broader meaning of your experiment. What does it tell you about some of the general principles of biology? The Discussion section is often the longest section of the paper.
7. Literature Cited (chapter 6)
You did not arrive in this world with a detailed knowledge of the activity of enzymes or the details of photosynthesis. Because of this, and the fact that every body wants credit for the work they do, every research paper must include a "Literature Cited" section. Typically, within the text of the paper, whenever you say something that just isn't common knowledge, you need to cite the source where you got the information by using the author's name and date of publication. This gives the author credit while at the same time giving the reader additional sources to look up if they want even more information. You can either cite an author within the sentence, such as, "According to Davis (1994), science is..." or at the end of a sentence: "Science is great (Davis 1994)." At the end of the paper, you list all the sources you used throughout the paper, giving the full bibliographic listing, in the "Literature Cited" section alphabetically by author's last name. For this lab report assignment, you should have at least 5 references that can include your textbook, lab handouts, etc.
General
The organization of the paper is important- information should be in the correct section. If you feel as if you're repeating the same information over and over, re-read your paper to make sure you're not putting methods in the results, etc.
After saying that, many people find that it is easier to write the ÒMethodsÓ and the ÒResultsÓ sections first and then go back to write the rest of the paper (and putting the sections in the correct order). In any case, it is a very good idea before you start to write that you spend some time first organizing all the information you want to include in each section and even making an outline of your paper. This little extra effort will not only make the writing of the actual paper a lot easier, it will make your final product flow better and seem more organized and more professional. After you finish a rough draft, it is also a good idea to talk with other students in the class about the paper. They may point out insights into the data that you missed or clear up any fuzzy areas you may have. If your fellow students canÕt figure out what youÕre trying to say, then chances are, I wonÕt be able to either.
Try to be very clear about what you're saying. Don't try to B.S. or pad your writing to make it sound better or more important or like scientific jargon. The most important thing about writing is getting your message across. Simple things like spelling, grammar, and clear sentences are very important. Nothing takes away from the overall impression of a paper than sloppy writing.
Finally, this assignment is not just a way to torture biology students. You spent a lot of effort doing this experiment (and any experiments you will do in the future) and learning how to report on your findings is a gratifying and valuable skill. It will do you no good whatsoever to do interesting and important investigations in the future if you canÕt report and communicate your results to your fellow scientific colleagues. So enjoy!