1. Biology 225

2. Sections of the report Title Introduction Materials and Methods Results Discussion Conclusions References

3. Title Purpose: To accurately describe the scope of your project Be descriptive Include your tube # Example: The identification of two unknown species of bacteria in tube #99

4. Purpose: To introduce your project to the reader and tell how this work would be accomplished and its importance Includes the question that began this whole process Includes HOW you were going to answer the question Possible species Possible tests, stains, etc. Possible techniques that could have been used Includes the reasons that this type of experiment is important Introduction

5. Materials and Methods Purpose: To tell the reader what you did and how Describe what you did Do not include dates Reference your lab manual – this is how you knew what to do Do not forget time and temperature of incubation of biochemical tests Do not repeat yourself Do not list the materials

6. Results Purpose: To represent your data/results in the best possible way Represent your data in tables and figures Tables and figures are “pictures” of your data that are easily read and understood Do not write out all of your results in paragraph form Captions are crucial! Caption = descriptive title that allows that table or figure to be understood by anyone, even outside of the original paper Figures are drawings, pictures, graphs – anything except tables

7. Example of Table Stains, tests, characteristics observed Gram + speciesGram - species Cell shapeCoccusBacillus Cell arrangementTetradsSingle Incubation temperature25 C37 C Colony morphologyYellow, shiny, roundBeige, shiny, oblong Etc………

8. Example of caption for table Table 1 – Cell and colony characteristics, staining characteristics, and biochemical test results from the identification of Gram + and Gram – bacteria in tube #99.

9. Discussion Purpose: To describe to the reader what your logic was behind the choice of the two species that you identified Explain your elimination process – how did you eliminate 8 of 10 possible species of bacteria Discuss one of your species at a time Show how the characteristics of your species are related to the results of tests that you had Discuss any problems that occurred and give possible causes for those problems

10. Conclusion: Purpose: To state the identity of your unknowns A one or two sentence statement telling what the identity of your two unknown species of bacteria were.

11. References: Lab manual Personal communications Bergey’s Manual… Your textbook Websites – use complete URL Other sources References should be listed in numerical order that they were used in the report. Superscript numbers are used at the end of sentences were you used references.

12. General tips…. Write in the past tense – this is what you did Do not use personal pronouns….I, you, etc. This is a scientific paper. Be concise and to-the-point. Cover all information adequately.

13. More general tips…. Use white paper and black ink Use reasonable margins and font Put your name somewhere on the report NO cover or coversheet Length – long enough to get the job done

14. How to get started Writing is hard! Start with what you know best – your Materials and Methods section Then continue on with your Results section Write your Discussion section next Then finish with the rest of the sections

15. Grading Gradesheet in D2L 10 points for correctly identifying your two species Results = 20 points Discussion = 25 points (THE most important section) Minimum score of 70% to finish the course Late point deduction = -10 points per day late

16. The End