For Lab 4, you will need to write a formal lab report based on your unknown food sample project. Your lab report should be a result of your own effort. You should not be working with anyone else to w

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For Lab 4, you will need to write a formal lab report based on your unknown food sample project. 

Your lab report should be a result of your own effort. You should not be working with anyone else to write your lab report. You should make sure to write the information included in your lab report in your own words (i.e. paraphrase).

You need to include the following sections in your formal lab report:

  • Introduction
  • Results – data and written summary
  • Discussion
  • Full reference list (bibliography)

Below is a description of what to include in each section:

Introduction: paragraph form

In your OWN words (DO NOT copy the manual or just rephrase the information within it) write in paragraph form the following:

1.Describe the BACKGROUND of the experiment and WHY the experiment is being performed. The following components would be good to include in your introduction:

  • A brief background on the different organic molecules (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, coenzyme/cofactors). You should use at least two other resources (not the lab manual or PowerPoint/recorded lecture) to provide information for this background and provide internal citations within the text where you use the information from those sources (and a full citation at the end of your paper). Your textbook is a good option for one of them!
  • The importance of having positive and negative tests
  • The types of test used to identify the presence of each organic molecule
  1. End with a brief couple sentence summary of what you were specifically testing (i.e. the unknown food experiment). Summarize the key tests or conditions tested to determine your unknown sample.

Results: summary section in paragraph form

  • You should have a table (or separate tables) for your negative and positive control results for each test.
  • You should include a table for your unknown sample results for each test: 
    •  
      • Make sure in your results table to state the specific color and characteristics observed.
      • Make sure in your results table to state whether you think that result is positive or negative.
  • You need a detailed table caption for all tables describing what each represents.
  • Following your data section, you should have a written summary of your results in paragraph form stating the key points of your experimental results.

Discussion: paragraph form

In your discussion section make sure to include the following points:

  • What conclusions can you draw from your experiment?
  • Based on your results and the list of food label options provided, what are the potential options for your unknown food ? Note: you might have more than one possible option.
  • Discuss which tests helped you the most in determining your potential unknown food(s).
  • Discuss if there were any tests results that made it difficult to determine your potential unknown food(s).

References:

You need to include at least two credible outside references in your lab introduction section (not including your lab manual or provided PowerPoint/recordings). Using APA format, you need to include:

  1. An in-text or parenthetical citation for each reference when you use the information from that reference in your lab introduction (i.e. internal citation).
  2. A full citation for each reference in your reference section at the end of your report.