Bio 366L
Lab Report Guidelines
Writing reports is time consuming and tedious (grading them is no big joy either!). However, the importance of being able to properly and effectively communicate and interpret one's experimental data is an essential skill in any scientific field.
The great majority of scientific literature follows a format in which journal articles are divided into major sections. These sections are usually an abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, and references (literature cited). A conclusion section may also be included. The reports for your cell biology lab will include an introduction, material and methods, results and conclusion (as a single section), and literature cited sections. As you write your report keep in mind the following guidelines:
Introduction:
Begin the introduction by identifying your topic. The introduction
should clearly explain the problem that your study addresses and you should
orient the reader to your objectives by citing published material that is
pertinent to the aims of your study. For many of these labs you may find
that materials recently covered in lecture may be quite helpful in writing
up your introduction.
The introduction in the manual may provide useful ideas as to what
materials should be covered in your introduction- but don't use it as a crutch
or plagiarize!
Materials and Methods:
In general, it is not necessary to restate methods that came directly from the lab manual. However, state any modifications of lab manual methods or any new experimental designs that are not specifically outlined in the lab syllabus. The general guidelines for Materials and Methods sections in journal articles (and for your lab reports) is that they should contain enough detail that a knowledgeable reader (i.e. one of your fellow students) could repeat your experiment after reading the Materials and Methods and the Literature Cited therein. Starting materials should also be listed in terms of source and amount.
Results and Conclusions
Write this section as if you are addressing a colleague that does
not possess a lab manual. Therefore, you must be very specific in order
to be understood. Introduce each subsection with a topic sentence that explains
the reason or design for that particular part of the project and what was
done. Next, relate and explicitly interpret your results that have been
organized into tables and graphs. (Refer to your results by figure numbers
so they may be identified easily.) Compare your results to what was predicted
in the literature. Explain any discrepancies and answer any questions posed
in the lab manual in the text of this section. Remember that in order for
your results to be meaningful, they must be compared to a control or reference
point. State your conclusions plainly and as simply as possible. Use summary
graphs to illustrate your points and support your conclusions quantitatively
(i.e. cite numerical results where appropriate) rather than use vague generalities.
Please show sample calculations. Most importantly demonstrate that you understand
the experiment.
All tables and graphs should be thoroughly labeled (i.e. titles, units,
axis, etc.). Also, please include your raw data in the back of the report.
However, all raw data pertinent to your discussion of results and conclusions
must be organized into figures and/or tables.
Literature Cited
This section should be included in each project report. For full
credit you must cite at least 3 sources- your lab manual can be used but
at least one source must be a journal article. Any information that you
present that is not from the lab syllabus must be cited. Cite references
by author and year in the body of your report (e.g. Watson and Crick, 1953)
but include a complete citation --with authors, title, journal, volume, pages,
and year-- in "Literature Cited" using the format employed for references
in the lab syllabus (e.g. Watson, J.D. and Crick F.H.C. 1953. Molecular
Structure of Nucleic Acids, Nature 171: 737).