Green Bean Ecology Formal Lab Report
BLG 144 W2021 Formal Lab Report Instructions DUE: Friday April 9th 2021 at 11 PM. Over the course of the semester, you have been explored the scientific process by investigating interactions of Phaseolus vulgaris with its environment, both abiotic and biotic. Your assignment is to write a short paper in standard scientific format about course experiment. In it, you will discuss the effect of one condition (sterilized soil, mycorrhizae fungi, rhizobium bacteria, or ammonia) on three parameters of green bean growth (size and number of any two parameters you think are important indicators of growth, as well as growth rate of any parameter). Your paper should include an introduction to the research topic outlining why the research was done, how it relates to previous research on the subject, and specifies the question(s) being addressed as well as the null hypothesis(es) being tested. It should have a materials and methods section, either of what was outlined in the instructions and videos, or what you actually did if you grew plants. There should be a results section, with appropriate figures and figure captions, that details what was found and what these results imply or suggest. Your paper should show the calculations for significance testing either using the Chi-square or t-test. Your paper should include a discussion section that discusses these results with reference to background material and the primary literature. Prepare five sections to your paper, assembled in the following order: 1. Title Page (5 points) 2. Introduction (20 points) 3. Materials and Methods (10 points) 4. Results (20 points) 5. Discussion (20 points) 6. References (10 points) 7. Appendix (5 points) There will also be points given (15 points) based on an overall assessment of your report. We expect short and succinct papers that are no longer than 6 pages (double spaced), not including the title page, figures, calculations, references, or appendix. You may find it helpful to review the Power Point presentation titled “Writing Workshop” on D2L. This will help clarify what each section of a paper is intended to accomplish. BLG 144 W2021 Formal Lab Report Instructions TITLE PAGE (5 points) Submit an edited lab report title page found at the back of this document. The first page of your report should include a title. Your title should be descriptive and give your reader an idea of what your paper is all about. INTRODUCTION (20 points total) Things to consider for your Introduction: 1. Introduce the topic and emphasize why is it important. 2. Relate the research to current knowledge (i.e., "What has been done" and "What needs to be done?") 3. Introduce your work and give the purpose and main objective. Make sure to specify the question(s) being addressed as well as the null hypothesis(es) being tested. Marking for Introduction I. Is the introduction well researched? (0 – 5 points) Things to consider: A. Quality of references: Did you use quality references such as primary literature (journal articles)? Did you use inappropriate resources such as websites? B. Quality of information: Did you do a good job summarizing information from the papers? Is the information summarized relevant to the research? C. Were there adequate references to support the Introduction? In other words, using only a couple of references does not build a compelling Introduction. A well‐researched Introduction will be built on multiple references. II. Are the objectives of the experiment clear? Did you relate this research to current knowledge in literature? (0 – 15 points) Things to consider: A. Have you clearly stated the question being addressed and have you included the null hypotheses? Have you provided a rationale for the experiment? B. Did you relate the research to current knowledge? MATERIALS AND METHODS (10 points total) Give a summary of how the plants were prepared, the seeds were germinated and planted, and the growing conditions for the plants (amount of light, water, and any other important factors). This should be written in 1-2 paragraphs. BLG 144 W2021 Formal Lab Report Instructions RESULTS (20 points total) You should have three (3) figures presenting data* for growth related to length, number, and rate. Show calculations for hypothesis testing. Statistical significance (p-value) should be added to graph if appropriate. Summarize in your own words what any figures and/or tables show in subsequent paragraphs. Focus: put emphasis on what you believe are the key findings. Highlight aspects of particular interest. But do not discuss your data here. Discussion and interpretation of results should take place in the next section of your paper. Your results need not necessarily always agree with what other people have found. Unexpected results are often the most interesting. The most important thing is to always be honest about your data. If your results are non‐significant, that is still a valid and interesting finding. *Include data table for calculations as an Appendix after the References. DISCUSSION (20 points total) In the Discussion, you should put your results in context. Answer research questions presented in the introduction and provide summary conclusions. The discussion is probably the most important section of your paper. This is where you interpret your results and provide a comparison with the results from other studies. Simply presenting a list of results is not enough. You need to be able to interpret your data, and draw conclusions. I & II below are worth I. Can you conclusively answer the question you raised in the introduction? How confident are you in these findings? Were results different than your expectations? Why? Explain your answer. II. How would you improve the study? Where there any flaws or potential biases in the approach? Consider whether or not the protocol was easy to follow III. Use relevant scientific literature to support your answers to the questions above. Things to consider: A. Quality of references: Did you use quality references such as primary literature (journal articles)? Did you rely heavily on textbooks (less appropriate)? Did you use inappropriate resources such as websites (inappropriate)? B. Quality of information: Did you do a good job summarizing information from the papers? Is the information summarized relevant to the research? Is the paper cited correctly? Things to consider: A. Did you use the standard (last name, year) method for citing literature within the text? B. Did you use citations where they are required (after EVERY statement or idea that BLG 144 W2021 Formal Lab Report Instructions is clearly informed by another source, not the student’s own original idea)? Please note that the points awarded for each of the paragraphs in your Discussion are based upon content and quality of writing. REFERENCES (10 points total) References should be cited within the text according to a proper scientific journal writing format. A complete reference list should be included at the end of the paper. Again, this reference list must follow a scientific journal format. Footnotes are not permitted in citing references. Please use CSE formatting (https://dal.ca.libguides.com/CitationStyleGuide/CSE) Is the reference list formatted correctly? This is the list of references that appears at the end of your paper. Please again review the Writing Workshop Power Point document on D2L. (0 – 5 points) Are the references arranged in alphabetical order (by first author’s last names) within your reference list? Are all references in your list also cited within the text? (they must be). Are all works cited in the text listed in your references section? (0 – 5 points) APPENDIX (5 points) Data table has a minimum of 3 data sets (i.e. data from three independent sources). It is ok if a source only has one plant that has survived, not two. You may want to include more data sets to for hypothesis testing. OVERALL (15 points) I. Is the paper well‐written? (0 ‐ 15 points) Things to consider: A. Is it grammatically correct? B. Is the spelling correct? C. Is it easy to read? D. Are ideas disjunct? II. Additional Considerations: Did you include information that is not appropriate for the Introduction, such as detailed Methods or Results statements? (deduct 5 points) LATE MARKS: 10% off each 24h after submission time. https://dal.ca.libguides.com/CitationStyleGuide/CSE BLG 144 W2021 Formal Lab Report Rubric Title Page 5 Name and Student # (0.5 mark each) 1 Title (must be a proper title, ie. "Formal Report" not proper title) 2 Date and Course Number (0.5 mark each) 1 Who report is submitted to (ie. TA name, deduct marks if they spell your name wrong) 1 Introduction 20 Background information on Phaseolus vulgaris (aka green beans), the effects of biotic/abiotic factors, and the specific treatments that you are analyzing. 5 Importance of research 3 Past relevant research ie. What has been done? 3 Main objective/purpose of experiment. 2 Statement of null hypothesis 2 Adequate number of references to support introduction 1 Quality of references 2 Quality of information ie. Is it well researched? 2 Materials and Methods 10 Summary of soil and prep 3 Summary of germinating and planting seeds (described from experience, from video, and from instruction Summary of plant conditions (light, water, etc) 3 Results 20 Presentation of data given (proper Fig/Table number and title) 5 Calculations correct 5 Summary of results (what figures/tables show) 5 Statement of key findings highlighting interesting or significant findings 5 Discussion 15 Did the green beans grow as you predicted? 2 Explanation and interpretation of data 3 Are there biases and flaws in the research? Explanation of this. 3 How can this study be improved? 2 Adequate number of references to support discussion 1 Quality of references 2 Quality of information ie. Is it well researched? 2 References 10 Is citing in introduction and discussion formatted properly? Consistently? 3 Is the reference section formatted correctly? Ie alphabetical order 2 Are the individual references formatted correctly? Ie based on CSE formatting. 3 Are all references in the list also cited with the text?