BIO 5406
McGilliard
 

I.  Style.

• Same format as a scientific paper.

• Length depends on the complexity of the experiment.

II.  Organization of the Report.

• Title page.

          1.  Title.
          2.  Author.
          3.  Date.

• Abstract (about one-half page).

          1.  Brief summary of the experiment and its conclusions.
          2.  One or two sentences describing each section.

          3.  The abstract comes first, but should be written last.

• Introduction (one or two pages).

          1.  Brief background.
          2.  Purpose.
          3.  Hypothesis.

• Methods.

          1.  Detailed description of experimental procedure.
          2.  Formulas or statistical tests used (where appropriate).
          3.  Write in past tense.

• Results.

          1.  Observations.
          2.  Data.
          3.  Organize data into tables and graphs.
          4.  Statistical analysis (where appropriate).
          5.  Do not discuss results or draw conclusions.

• Discussion.

          1.  Interpretation of results.
          2.  Conclusions.  Was the hypothesis supported or refuted?
          3.  Relate to principles of endocrinology.
          4.  Discuss any unusual results.
          5.  Discuss problems, modifications, suggestions for future experiments.
          6.  End with a summary paragraph.

• References.

          1.  Your textbook, lab handout, and web notes are good references.

               Hadley, M.E., and Levine, J.E.  Endocrinology, 6th ed., Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper

                    Saddle River, NJ, 2007, pp. ??

               McGilliard, K.L.  [Title of Lab Handout], Charleston, IL 2008a.

               McGilliard, K.L.  [Title of Web Page], 2008b.  Retrieved [date] from

                    http://ux1.eiu.edu/~klmcgilliard/bio5406/title.html

         2.  You may find other useful references in the lab handout.

         3.  Cite references in the body of your paper by the author's name and date of publication
               (Hadley and Levine, 2007).
 

III.  Evaluation.

• Each lab report is worth 20 points.
   

• Evaluation will be based on five criteria (4 points each).

          1.  Organization.

          2.  Clarity.

          3.  Completeness and accuracy.

          4.  Composition (including spelling and grammar).

          5.  Scientific content.

• Late assignments will be penalized.