Lab Report Guidelines
Communication is necessary to disseminate information. In this regard, beyond talking with
each other, scientists report on their work
by writing articles on their findings and publish them in journals that other scientists read.
The main idea a scientific article is to convey scientific findings that usually emerge from a hypothesis driven experiment(s).The structure
or format of these scientific articles is nearly universal irrespective of the length of the article.
The format
is a convention that guides the author as well as the reader. At its most basic, the
format guides one through the process telling a story.
The format for the
Lab
Report on the activity of enzymes will resemble that of a scientific
journal article
with some modifications
.
The
Lab Report
will have a
Title, an
Introduction
, a Methods and Materials,
a Results
,
a Discussion/Conclusion and an Appendix section Each section is
typed in bold and start on a new page.
An Abstract
summarizing the article
is not
required
although they
are
ubiquitous
in scientific journal articles
.
References
and
Acknowledgments (for help received and collaborations)
are not required, but
may
be
included. Each section is unique, different from
each other
, but
they
rely on each o
ther to
convey
the
story
.
The
Introduction
describes the
reason for the article. Include enough
background material to
gain the readers
interest
,
much
like all
good story telling does For our purposes ,limit the
discussion of
enzymes
to the material presented in
class lectures and
in
the textbook. There
is no need to look for additional information on enzymes unless you are so driven, but be
warned, the
amount of information
is overwhelming
. At the end of the Introduction, list the
hypotheses for all parts or experiments in the study
.
The
Methods and Materials
describes all the steps taken to perform the experiments. The
purpose of this section is to allow someone else to replicate your work. Therefore, all
chemicals or reagents, their concentration, how they were mixed together and the
instrumentation used must be noted.
There is no need to explain how an instrument works
unless it is a newly developed one. For instance, one c
an assume that the reader knows how
to operate a spectrophotometer.
This section is the near equivalent of a cook book to a chef.
If there are five experiments, then provide instructions for replicating all five experiments.
The
Results
section
contains
the
study data
only
.
Present
the
raw data and
any
transformation
of the raw data
.
Figures and tables
are ideal for presenting
the data because
pictures convey information more easily than words.
Label all figure
s, tables and images
with
a title,
a very
brief
description
of the data
,
and
an
explanation of
specific
components of the
image
that important
for interpreting the data.
Introduce
each
figure
or
table
in the text
.
Presenting
a figure or table without
any
text is a
serious
mistake
–
you are asking the reader
to read your mind and intentions
. Avoid the temptation of
explaining the data in this section
–
this comes later
in the Discussion/Conclusion section
.
However, you may explain
that
one
or two points in the data w
ere
omitted
in a figure or table due to some mishap during the data
collection
–
this is perfectly acceptable.
Remember, t
he focus of this section is the data, and
only the data.
The
Discussion/Conclusion
section
is where you
interpret
your
findings and results.
First, restate the goals of the
study
. Second,
interpret that data
by
considering whether the data
from the experiments support your hypotheses
stated in the Introduction
.
Third,
synthesize
all the data or
observations in the
study
. Do the results fit what you know about enzymes and
what you expected?
The data make sense with your
knowledge and expectations.
Discuss
whether it does or does not.
Fourth,
discuss how future work may address any weaknesses
in the experiments performed,and suggest possible studies that will
build on the knowledge
gained from these studies.
Lastly, make a final conclusion about the observations in your lab
and how they fit the topic.
A
Reference
section is included if you wish to cite any literature such as your textbook, the
lab or any other source material.
It is not required for this assignment.
An
Acknowledgement
section is
included if you wish to
thank any
one who provided you some
unique reagents
,or help in the writing of the text
.
It is not required for this assignment.There are
questions in the lab manual after each experiment
.
You must address these within
the appropriate section of the
Lab Report.
Figure out where the answer to each question
fi
ts
in
the Lab Report
format discussed above
before you start writing
.
The Lab Report should be a minimum of 8 typed pages of text
(excluding figures, tables, illustrations,
or other images)
,
double-spaced, and 10pt–12 pt font
. The Introduction (min. 1.5
page of text),
Methods and Materials(min. 4page of text), Results (min.
1.5 page of text)and Discussion/Conclusion(min. 1 page of text)For this particular assignment, place a
ll figures, tables, illustrations, and images at the end of the paper
and call this section the Appendix.The length of the Appendix does not count towards the length of the
Lab Report.Warning: Do not plagiarize! This is a serious offense. Do not copy
-and paste from any source including a classmate’s Lab Report. The
penalty is a score of zero points (0 points).
