Biology Lab Report/3 Pages/24 Hrs

Biology Lab Report/3 Pages/24 Hrs

The title is reasonably lengthy in order to be descriptive and

is centered across the top of the first page

Name California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

This is where you will place your abstract. The abstract is a complete, yet succinct, synopsis of the paper. This is basically like a Cliff’s Notes version of your entire paper where you summarize your entire report in one paragraph. It should be italicized and in 10 font. This will most likely be the part you write last so that you have a complete understanding of your entire paper. Journal articles have many different formats for the abstract, but this is what I will expect from you (horizontal lines optional). In the papers you cite, note how they go about summarizing their paper, as this will be helpful in guiding you towards writing a good abstract.

Introduction

In this part of the paper you need to include at least one source (the entire

paper needs three, so if you only have one here you will need two in the discussion

portion or vice versa). The rest of the report will continue in twelve font. Please use

a standard font like Times New Roman. Your sources should be properly cited. Say

for example you want to include a journal article written by Joe Schmoe in 1997. The

end of the sentence containing his information would look exactly like this (Schmoe,

1997). Notice the period is after the close parenthesis. If there are two authors it

looks like this (Schmoe and Toe, 1997). If there are more than two you do this

(Schmoe et al., 1997). Et al. means “and his whole posse”. Or you could include a

citation like this: Schmoe, in his 1997 study of riparian forests, found that more

arthropods than non-arthropods exist in the leaf litter of such a community. Either

way is acceptable. Please do not quote directly from the source. You must

paraphrase (put in your own words). Be sure to examine the literature cited section at

the end of this guide for proper format there.

Now that we have finished the technical stuff for the intro, let’s talk about the

information you need to include in this portion. We have already discussed citations

• Title bold and 16 font • Name and affiliation normal, 12 font • Only capitalize first word of title • NO COVER SHEET!!!! • No period after title

but let me stress that they need to be relevant. You should probably not be using a sea

star article as a reference for this paper. What you should write about is what other

people have found in their research (this is the background stuff, first paragraph).

Then you discuss what you specifically are looking into. You could explain that you

are interested in seeing if there is a difference between two sites, two seasons, etc.

You do not state your hypotheses like this: H0: There is no difference between site

one and site two. HA: There is a significant difference between site one and site two.

This is a no-no. Your words should clearly indicate what your HA is and from there

the reader can infer the H0. Let’s pretend you were comparing a riparian site to the

parking lot. A good way to get your alternative hypothesis across is like this: In this

study, arthropod samples from a riparian community were compared with those

collected from a parking lot to see if the communities exhibited similar or different

levels of diversity and evenness. From this the reader can infer what your hypotheses

are. The introduction should be written in the present tense since this is the most

current information available.

Methods

This portion of your paper is where you lay out exactly all the details of your

project. Since you have already completed this portion, it should be written in the

past tense. You need enough details to allow for reproducibility. This means that

anyone who reads your paper should be able to conduct the exact same experiment to

see if they get the same results. For materials, there should not be a list of items used.

You will incorporate them into your explanation (real words and sentences) of how

you conducted your experiment. You can see how this is done when you read your

journal articles that you have selected to cite. Remember to include exact

measurements of amounts (when possible), time of day, or any other factors that

could influence the outcome. Normally this portion is long and tedious, but our

Figure 1. Brief description of graph

experiment was rather simple so it should not be too bad. You also need to state what

statistical test was applied.

Results

This portion is where you report your findings. You will talk about the

arthropods you collected, etc. I am requiring that you also have graphs or tables to

illustrate your results and you must refer to them in your writing!!! For example,

diversity is greatest in the intermediate group (Figure 1). Make sure you also include

a legend, meaning that at the bottom (for figures) or at the top (for tables) you write

(in 10 font):

YOU MUST DESCRIBE YOUR DATA; ONLY HAVING TABLES AND/OR

FIGURES IS UNACCEPTABLE. We will discuss in class what type of statistics you

will use, but most likely it will be the Shannon index and/or some other statistical test

that gives you a p-value. You do not put all of your math work in this part. You only

need to state some descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations) and the result

(for example, p = 0.0012 or H′ = 1.034) of the statistical test/index. I will talk about

what the p-value means and how you should interpret it for your discussion in class so

pay close attention! Interpreting what your data are telling you will be saved for the

discussion portion. You only describe what you found and report what your numbers

are here. This section should also be written in the past tense.

Discussion

This is the conclusion, where you tie it all together. NOW you can say stuff

about what you should infer from what the data have told you (by the way, data is

plural, datum singular). This is the absolute most important part of the whole paper,

and the part on which I will grade you the toughest. A general rule of thumb is that it

should be at least as long as your introduction. You should have citations here as

well. A good way to do this is to compare your findings to those of another article or

use the conclusions of another article to explain your results. It is important to be

clear whether or not you reject or accept your null hypothesis without actually saying,

“We reject/accept our null hypothesis” (just like the rules in the introduction).

You should also allude to further possible research that could be done to

expand on your project or ways in which your project could have been improved

upon. The most important part of your paper is inferring why you got the results you

did. If there was a significant difference, you should be able to discuss why you think

there is a difference between the sites. Your entire paper must be at least 5 pages,

double spaced.

Literature cited

Polis, G. A. 1981. The evolution and dynamics of intraspecific predation. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 12:225-251.

Shaffer, H. B. and M. L. McKnight. 1996. The polytypic species revisited: genetic

differentiation and molecular phylogenetics of the Tiger Salamander Ambystoma tigrinum (Amphibia: Caudata) complex. Evolution 50:417-433.

Pfennig, D. W., J. P. Collins, and R. E. Ziemba. 1999. A test of alternative

hypotheses for kin recognition in cannibalistic Tiger Salamanders. Behavioral Ecology 10:436-443.

One author:

Two authors: Notice how 2nd author’s name is arranged! 3 + authors:

This section should continue right under your discussion. Do not start a separate page for this portion. There are different acceptable formats, but for our purposes we will use the following format (alphabetical by author’s last name). Notice that each citation is single-spaced.

The post Biology Lab Report/3 Pages/24 Hrs appeared first on graduatepaperhelp.

 

"Looking for a Similar Assignment? Get Expert Help at an Amazing Discount!"