BES 108 Lab 7 Report Instructions W23
For this lab you will be writing a lab report, including an abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion section, as well as a descriptive title (page) and short concluding paragraph. All external sources of information should be included in a references section at the end of the report. Assignments are to be submitted individually. Collaboration is encouraged when completing the assignment, but work submitted must be unique to each individual (in their own words).
Report must include the following sections to be a complete report:
Title Page
Abstract
Introduction
Methods •
• • •
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
References / Literature Cited (CSE Format)
o Minimum 3 primary sourcesMore information regarding scientific writing of a lab report and expectations for each section can
be found in Lab 7, Appendix E, on Moodle, and in the report rubric/marking guide. Report Formatting:
~5pagesinlength(canbelongerifneeded) • 12pt Times New Roman font
1.5 line spacing (paragraph setting) • No modifications to the margins Be sure to include the following in the results section:
Properly formatted graph depicting means and standard deviations calculated.
Descriptions of Qualitative data and Quantitative Data Collected in the written paragraph.
Written results of the t-test (with values in parentheses) in the written paragraph.
Review past assignments and other supplemental resources available to you to aid in writing this report. Assignments were designed and structured to assist in planning out a piece of scientific writing and should be used as required to guide writing.
Use the rubric as a checklist to make sure you are not missing components of the report; missing key parts is the most common way to lose marks.
Many of the questions from the activity are relevant to your writing (this is intentional). Use them to aid you in completing relevant sections of the report.
Do not wait until the last day to start your report! Much of the analysis for this report can be completed during or shortly after the normal lab period and will make writing easier.
Scientific Writing –
Overview
BES 108 Winter 2023
Use Assignments (planning components) to guide your writing.
Assignments ‘scaffold’ (build) to this report See Appendix E for more details
Title Page
Title of your report
Sufficiently descriptive of what will be discussed
with proper nomenclature
Name/Lab section/Course
Abstract
Overview of the entire piece of writing.
1-2 sentences that outline the most important information from each sections:
• Introduction (including the objective) • methods• results• discussion
• Write this last!
Introduction – Part 1 • Introduce the Topic of Interest
• set up context and current knowledge
• Background information
General Background (1-2 para.)
Point 1 (citation)
Point 2 (citation) •…
Specific Background (1-2 para.)
Point 1 (citation)
Point 2 (citation) •…
• Information presented is based on the objective
Ex. Examining the effects of A on B
What do we know about B?
What do we know about A+B?
Introduction – Part 2
Indicate your objective and hypothesis
Objective: Examine the effects of ___________ on ___________
Hypothesis: _________ will cause ________ to ________
Hypotheses answer/address a question/objective
Hypothesis is supported by background information (presented earlier, or restated here)
Be careful your hypothesis is not actually your predictions!
Methods Section
• Methods: Overall Experimental Setup (not every detail)
Species of Interest (somewhere in the paragraph)
Manipulation(s) (independent variable) – Experimental/Control Groups
Controls and Consistent Features
Measurement(s) (dependent/responding variable(s) – Data Collected
Analyses (how were raw collected data analyzed??)
Analysis 1
Analysis 2
Analysis …
Tool for analyses and Data Depiction – What tool was used to do the analyses?
Where did methods come from? (either first or last sentence)
• Reference and in-text cite the lab manual • What did you do? (Past tense)
Results Section
What are the results of your experiment?
Written paragraph:
• What do your analyses show? (reporting numbers with descriptions)
• Are there any patterns or trends? What are numbers that describe these?• Reference the figure in written text (ex. Figure 1 shows…, or …(Figure 1))
• Figure/Graph (Where these values are presented)
Do figures and tables have a descriptive caption?
Proper formatting (axes, etc.)
Do they have enough detail to stand alone?
Discussion – Part 1
• What are your key results? • Briefly restate them
What do these results mean? (Interpretation)
Should bring into the context of the hypothesis/objective
What do the specific results you collected tell us?
What explains the results (biological explanation)
Use references/sources to give a reason we see results or should see different results.
Are your findings consistent with other experiments (sources)
Example:
Result 1: “We found X…”
“These results indicate y…” (context of the objective)
Explain why you might/not find these results
Repeat for all important results
Summarize with What all your results, interpretation, and explanation tell you about the experimental objective (conclusion statement)
Discussion – Part 2
Evaluate the design of your experiment
What are potential deficiencies in your design?
How would you adjust your design in the future to obtain better results?
Go beyond sample size and human error, these should not be flaws
Sample size is based on resources available and is a sample for a reason
Human error can happen, but we try to minimize it as best we can (don’t throw yourself under the bus)
If these really are issues, you have a poor experiment and should reassess before performing it.
What are possible future directions that your work applies to?
What might be a “next step in this field?
What new questions do you have after performing the experiment?
Conclusions
Can be in the form of a conclusion paragraph.
Briefly restate some key points from your report, including:
Initial objective of the experiment
What were the main results? (trends, no numbers)
What do these results mean/tell us? (interpretation, no numbers)
Importance/relevance of the findings (implications/applications)
References Section
Contains the full citation for each source used in the report
Using CSE format
Check the formatting, marks can easily be lost if not checked!
Sources cited in text must appear here (and vise versa)
after creating the lab report, the error value graph need to be created by the following information:
Adding Error Bars in Excel:
Do the following to insert error bars that reflect calculated values, not an excel pre-set value.
- click the data series on the graph you wish to add the error bars to
- under “chart design” tab, select the drop down menu “Add chart element”; from here you can select error bars and choose “more error bar options”
- A formatting window will open (likely on the right side of the screen), you should choose the “custom” option under error amount. You will then specify the values for that error (which you have already calculated)
- Using the specify value options, for each box (positive error and negative error), select your calculated error values in the same order your graph data was selected. Repeat this for both the positive and negative error fields, as we want to show the same error value in both directions
- Once the error bar value ranges have been selected, press “ok” and the proper error bars should appear on the graph.
