BI-152 Lab Report Format (25 points each)

Report is not to exceed 3 pages in length. Tables and graphics are to be embedded in the text. The format should include an introduction, methods and materials, results, discussion, and literature cited.

1. An essential part of any scientific investigation is communication of the findings to others who might be interested in the research. The style or format of scientific reports is dictated partly by the nature of the work being described and by format guidelines established by individual scientific journals.

2. The most widely used format for scientific articles includes five separate sections as follows: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion/Conclusions, and Literature Cited. When you write up the results of your laboratory experiment, we ask that you do so in accordance with the following general guidelines. For more information reference the Biology Department web page (www.wartburg.edu/biodept, follow the courses and online material link).

3. Each section of the report, i.e., Introduction, is to be headed by the appropriate word(s) to clearly tell the reader what part of the report that he/she is reading. Reports are to be typed (word-processed) and not to exceed three pages (one side only of each sheet). Reports exceeding this length will be penalized. Some brief suggestions about the contents of each part of the report are given below.

4. Introduction --The introduction should acquaint the reader with the subject of your report and the state of the problem at the beginning of the investigation (if known). You should concisely state what you are going to cover by limiting the scope of the report. You must include clear objectives of your study and state any hypotheses that are to be tested.

5. Materials & Methods --Describe in detail the materials and equipment employed and the methods followed in the investigation. This should be written in sufficient detail so that another investigator could repeat your experiments. If equipment and procedures are spelled out in a laboratory handout or manual, do not copy them into your report. You should, however, inform the reader that you used the materials and methods specified in your laboratory handout/manual by making proper reference to such handouts and list them in the literature cited section. Write this section in the past tense.

6. Results --In this section you are to present your observations/data to the reader in a legible, organized manner. Results in addition to written descriptions may include sketches, graphs, charts, tables, printouts, lists, etc. Each sketch, graph, etc. should have a title and be appropriately labeled. All figures and tables are to be consecutively numbered and referred to in the body of the text, e.g. Figure 1, Blood Cells or Table 1, Animal Weight. Where appropriate, summarized results for your entire lab group should be included. Write in the past tense.

7. Discussion/Conclusions --Your results are to be discussed in light of what you have learned from your work. Present evidence for each of your conclusions and attempt to explain unexpected results and exceptions. Wherever possible, compare your results to class averages. Lab handouts, lecture notes, textbooks and library references are often used in an attempt to compare your findings with previous work or that of other investigators.

8. Literature Cited --At least four references, only one of which may be a web site, must be included and appropriately cited in the text. This is an alphabetical list by author (if known) and year of all printed materials referred to in your paper. Web sites must include the URL. On-line journals are counted as legitimate references and are to be cited as regular journals.