UTSC Journal of Plant Stress
BIO A02 WINTER - 2022; 1(1): 1-6
Insert Principal Author’s Name/Student Numbe
Paper title (The title should be descriptive, specific, and concise-Do not use “Formal Lab Report” in the title. All words except the first word should be in lower case-except for proper nouns)
Author’s Name (Your name)1
1Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Sca
orough, Toronto, Canada
UTSC BIOA02 Lab PRAXX
PRAXX TA:
Abstract: An abstract is a one-paragraph summary of your report. It should include (in this order) the background of the study (1-3 sentences), mentioning of the study system/species/object (1 sentence), the question investigated (1 sentence), the general methods used (1 sentence), the principle results (1 sentence) and the conclusions/significance (1 sentence). The reader should be able to determine the major points of your report without having to read further. The language should be concise, no citations or references and no statistical parameters should be included in the abstract. The abstract is located at the beginning of your report, however it is usually written once you have finished writing your paper.
Keywords: Include at least 3 keywords or phrases (specific to your paper) in alphabetical order, which must be separated by commas to differentiate them
Introduction [Page limit-1 page]
This template is set up to provide you with an example of the format expected for your Formal Lab Report (FLR). The template provides you with most of the specifications needed for preparing your FLR. You can save this file as a separate document and type your report directly into the template. This paper should be written in the present tense, with the exception of the Materials and Methods section which should be written in the past tense.
The introduction provides a context for the research. This section should include the following: 1) Description of the cu
ent state of knowledge or understanding at the beginning of your investigation (i.e., background information synthesized from the existing literature – think about what information readers would need to know to be able to understand your lab report; 2) Background information about study species used and why it was used for this study; 3) The purpose of the experiment and/or the question being asked; 4) Hypothesis/hypotheses written as statements; 5) Brief description of the approach being used to test your hypothesis/hypotheses statement; 6) Predictions written as explanatory statements (“If…then”) that focus only on experimental treatment groups (not controls) and are backed up with relevant references.
To avoid and academic integrity violation, it is imperative that you include properly formatted in-text citations to support all non-original ideas within your introduction. Failure to include in-text citations will result in an academic offence.
Materials and Methods [Page limit – 1/2 – 1 page]
The purpose of this section is to describe the experimental procedures, including any controls. This section should be written in the past tense (and first-person if applicable); the remainder of the paper should be written in the present tense. The description should be complete enough to allow someone to repeat your work. The Methods section should describe the chronological process that was used to complete the research, how all of the data was collected, and a short description of the statistical analyses you completed. It should be written in complete sentences, not bulleted lists.
Be certain to include any software used to produce graphs and analyze data (e.g., Excel, GraphPad).
Results [Page limit – 1 ½ - 2 pages (written ½ page, table and figures 1 -1 ½ pages)]
The results section describes, but DOES NOT interpret your experiment. You should present your tables and figures in this section and refer to them. The ‘Results’ section should always begin with text and not a table or figure. You should describe your findings (be sure to mention key trends) to the reader in words and full sentences. You will also include any qualitative observations you made from the image shown by your TA here. In addition, you should refer the reader to your table(s) and figure(s) appropriately in your results description (e.g., see Table 1) so that you can concisely present your results in several paragraphs. If you do not refer to the appropriate table and figure in your results section, marks will be deducted.
For this report, your table and figure should be embedded within your results section. Be certain that there is not a page
eak in the middle of your table or figure and do not wrap text around the outside of the table or figure. The table caption should appear above the table, whereas the figure caption should appear below the figure. Insert your table and figure after they are refe
ed to in the text. You may choose to show all results in a single table and a single figure, or instead divide the information in two tables and two figures.
Your table must include the following information summarizing each of your statistical tests: sample size (n), critical t-value, calculated t-value, degrees of freedom (df), actual p-value (p>0.05, p
Use the ‘Statistics Worksheet’ and the GraphPad QuickCalcs software to help guide your data analyses.
Table 1: Your caption should be above your table and include details of what is included in your table. The information in your caption/table should be complete enough and presented in a way that the reader can easily understand the information presented without refe
ing to the text of your report. Note: Do NOT include interpretation of the data within the caption. The caption should be concise and informative.
INSERT TABLE HERE - Your table should include the following columns for each t-test comparison: n, critical
t-value, calculated t-value, df, actual p-value (p>0.05 or p=0.05 or p
Your figure(s) will be a depiction of the mean and standard deviation (i.e., standard deviation e
or bars) of all data provided by the lab technician for your experiment: plant height (cm) and aboveground fresh weight (g) for each strain of Arabidopsis, experimental and control.
Your figure(s) must include the following information: bar graph showing the mean plant height (cm) and mean aboveground fresh weight (g) of plants for each strain in your experiment with standard deviation e
or bars, x- and y-axes titles, legend (if necessary), figure number and caption. Your graph should NOT include a title. See tips for the Figure caption below.
INSERT FIGURE HERE (i.e., bar graph/standard deviation e
or bars depicting the mean plant height (cm) and mean aboveground fresh weight (g) for all plants grown in for your experiment (experimental and control). ‘Bars’ should be grouped according to strain. You can choose whether to do 2 separate graphs or one. If you choose one, you will need two y-axes one for aboveground fresh weight measured in grams (g), one for plant height measured in centimetres (cm).
Figure 1: Your caption should be below your figure and include details of what is depicted in your graph. The information in your caption/graph should be complete enough and presented in a way that the reader can easily understand the information presented without refe
ing to the text of your report. Note: Do NOT include interpretation of the data within the caption. The caption should not be more than 2 sentences in length.
Discussion [Page limit - 1 page]
The discussion section is where you report on the interpretation, conclusion, and significance of your results. This is your opportunity to demonstrate your ability to analyze, evaluate, interpret and reason effectively. The discussion should relate your findings to your original question, hypothesis (or hypotheses if you had more than one), and predictions, which means that you evaluate your results in terms of your original question/hypothesis/predictions and point out the biological relevance of your findings. Avoid redundancy between the ‘Results’ and ‘Discussion’ sections.
In addition, you should generalize the importance of your findings, discuss ambiguous data, and relate your results to other published studies (i.e., results published in primary scientific literature). Is your work in agreement or in contrast with previously published work? You should also discuss any sources of experimental e
or or limitations and recommend ‘specific’ areas of further research based on your results and the findings of other published studies. You should end your discussion by summarizing the main points that you want the reader to remember; you should provide closure for the report and by extension, the reader.
It is imperative that you include properly formatted in-text citations to support all non-original ideas within your discussion. Failure to include in-text citations will violate the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters and result in an academic offence.
Acknowledgements [Page limit – 1 paragraph, optional]
The acknowledgements section is where you can choose to acknowledge people who contributed to your work in some way but do not fit the criteria to be included as authors.
References [Page limit - 1/2 - 1 page]
You must include a minimum of three primary scientific literature sources, which you are responsible for finding and format these references using CSE: Name-Year System referencing style. Further resources can be included in addition to the three required primary sources. This style combines in-text parenthetical citations with a reference list at the end of your report. The references should be organized in alphabetical order by the primary author’s surname - DO NOT alphabetize the names within each citation. Be consistent when writing journal titles - write all journal titles out in full (e.g., European Food Research and Technology) or all a
eviated (e.g., Eur Food Res Technol).
Tip: Watch the Li
ary Research videos (link provided in FLR information page) to help you find relevant primary resources.
See examples below and more by using li
ary resource document included with other FLR files on Quercus. Remember to remove subheadings when preparing your reference list. Reference list should be a single alphabetized list.
Scholarly Journal Article (primary source)
Ma Q, Scanlan C, Bell R, Brennan R XXXXXXXXXXThe dynamics of potassium uptake and use, leaf gas exchange and root growth throughout plant phenological development and its effects on see yield in wheat (Triticum aestivum) on a low-K sandy soil. Plant Soil 373:373-384.
Scholarly Journal Article (primary source found on the internet)
Mattupalli C, Genger RK, Charkowski AO XXXXXXXXXXEvaluating incidence of Helminthosporium solani and Colletotrichum coccodes on asymptomatic organic potatoes and screening potato lines for resistance to silver scurf. Am J Potato Res [Internet]. [Cited 20 June 2013.] Available from http:
link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs XXXXXXXXXXpdf
Scholarly Journal Article (review, not a primary source)