TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:
Format: Times New Roman or Arial Font, 12 point, “1” spacing, default word margins. Length: 11/2 – 2 pages long.
Style: Completely written in Third person (avoid “I”, “we”, “our”…) and past tense. Word choice: use scientific jargon, be concise, and avoid repetition
• Incorrect example: “The samples of DNA were in a tube. The samples were then placed
into a gel made of agarose. The gel was then run for 45 minutes. The samples were then seen
using a UV box”.
• Correct example: “The DNA was run on an agarose gel for 45 minutes, and visualized using a UV light source”
.
DIRECTIONS FOR EACH SECTION:
The experiment report is based on the standard style of a scientific journal article. Each section must be clearly labeled.
Title Page: On an individual sheet of paper, include the number and title of the lab exercise, the name of the course, your name, and the date on which you submitted your report.
Abstract: A single paragraph summary of the entire report.
• Must state the study’s purpose, a general approach, and the results/conclusion.
•There should be no literature citations in an Abstract. • Limit Abstract to a maximum of 250 words.
• This section should always be written last.
Introduction: 1-2 paragraphs introducing background information and the study’s goal.
• Include background information needed for a reader to understand the study.
• State the goal & hypothesis (in the form of a prediction statement) of your study.
Material and Methods: Concise description providing enough information to repeat experiments.
Cell Biology
1
• Must be written in paragraph form. DO NOT LIST YOUR MATERIALS.
• Include times, volumes, etc; Omit what you used to measure with.
• Incorrect example: “Solution A, Solution B, a micropipette, and tips were collected.
Using the micropipette, 500uL of Solution A was transferred into 500uL of Solution B. The
tip was then disposed of”.
• Correct example: “500uL of Solution A was transferred into Solution B”.
Results: States and presents the data you collected. Include figure (s) and refer to the figures in the text.
• Example 1: “as seen in Figure 1, the bacteria grew faster on glucose…”
• Example 2: “…a significant increase was seen (Figure 1).”
• Each figure must have a title, and appropriate labels and axis legends should be included, so that each figure may stand alone.
• Do not discuss what the data means.
FIGURES: Note that each Figure has a number and is followed by a brief, descriptive caption.
TABLES: Note that each column and row are centered and labeled, with labels bolded and capitalized. Each Table is followed by a number and a brief, descriptive caption.
Discussion: The discussion reiterates the hypothesis, the results, and what they mean. •
Briefly repeats the data and discusses what they mean in context of the hypothesis.
• States any mistakes/difficulties/future changes to the experiments.
References: This section is a list of all reference materials that you cited in the report in the order of appearance. Use CSE format. List the sources of information that you use to prepare the lab, perform the procedures, and prepare the report. You should cite any laboratory handouts, information sheets, or other material distributed to you that pertain to the experiments.