Drosophila lab report example

BIOL3251 GENETICS LAB – DROSOPHILA LAB REPORT FALL 2018

DROSOPHILA LAB REPORT

RUBRIC

This assignment involves writing your final lab report for the Drosophila project. The intent is to provide you with experience in the written communication of science in a way that is consistent with professional, peer-reviewed reporting of experimental results. The expectation is that you will incorporate the feedback previously received from your instructor on your draft introduction, and that you will follow the guidelines provided in this document to further develop your lab report.

This assignment is an individual assessment of your knowledge; collaboration with another student or tutor will be considered a breach of our policy on academic misconduct. If you have questions about the assignment, you should ask your lab instructor or the lab coordinator for assistance.

How will this assignment be graded? This is a 50-point assignment. You will be graded using the following rubric:

· Quality (20 points total)

1. Is the writing style clear and concise? (0-5 points)

2. Has the student provided sufficient detail in reporting of data and analysis to allow for assessment of accuracy? (0-5 points)

3. Has the student shown a logical and analytical approach to data interpretation? (0-5 points)

4. Does the content of the report clearly indicate that the student has a strong conceptual understanding of the objectives? (0-5 points)

· Content (20 points total)

1. Has the objective of the experiment been clearly presented throughout the lab report? (0-5 points)

2. Have hypotheses been clearly stated and supported by external resources (i.e., peer-reviewed literature or approved websites)? (0-5 points)

3. Are methods and results presented in similar order and sufficient detail to support analytical inferences made? (0-5 points)

4. Are data well organized in tabular form for quick and straightforward review? (0-5 points)

· Format (10 points total)

1. Does the structure of the lab report follow the required formatting as explained in this document? (0-5 points)

2. Is the content in each section of the lab report consistent with the expectations outlined herein? (0-5 points)

How long should this report actually be? In general, “how long should this paper be?” is not the most appropriate question to ask. The answer will often be, “as long as it takes to address the topic.” In reality, the quality and content are more important than the length of a document. In practice, your report should be 5-10 pages long.

How should the document be formatted? As per the instructions outlined in your lab manual, this document should be formatted as follows:

· Typed, double-spaced

· 12 point standard font (Arial, Calibri, or Times)

· 1-in margins on all sides

· Saved as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx)

· File name should be LastName_FirstName_LabReport.doc

When is this document due? See your lab syllabus for exact dates. You are to submit this assignment as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) to the D2L drobox called “Drosophila Lab Report” no later than 11:59PM the night before the lab period in which it is due.

NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED. Failure to submit your lab report to D2L dropbox by the deadline provided by your instructor will equate to a grade of zero on this assignment. Technical difficulties are not an acceptable excuse for failure to submit, so do not wait until the deadline to attempt a submission. If you encounter technical difficulties at the time of submission, you should email your instructor immediately with an explanation and a screenshot. The timestamp on your email will be taken into consideration when resolving any issues of this nature. A paper submission in place of an online submission is not acceptable and will not be graded.

DROSOPHILA LAB REPORT

GUIDELINES AND EXPECTATIONS

What is the expected format of my Drosophila report? The following information provides explicit instructions for the format of the Drosophila lab report. Failure to follow these instructions will negatively impact your grade for this assignment.

· Document style: The lab report should be typed, double-spaced, using a standard font (e.g., Arial 12 pt), with margins of 1 inch on all sides. Only Microsoft Word documents (extensions of .doc or .docx) will be accepted.

The following sections should be included in the order shown here:

1) Title page: The first page should contain the following information, centered and double-spaced:

Documenting independent assortment and genetic linkage

in Drosophila melanogaster

[NOTE: This is an example title – you should develop your own title that reflects the findings of your experiment]

Your Name

BIOL 3251 Genetics—Section Number

Lab Instructor’s First and Last Name

Date of Submission of Report

Lab Partners

First and Last Name, each person on a separate line

2) Introduction: Start the Introduction on the next page, but do not use a header for this section.

What should be included in the introduction of my Drosophila report? Key information that must be included is bulleted here:

· The objective of this project (Which is what? Be specific.)

· The importance / value of Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism in genetics (based on properly cited information from peer-reviewed sources)

· The mutant lines of Drosophila melanogaster included in this project

· The chromosome on which each observed mutation occurs (based on information from properly cited online resources)

· The hypothesized inheritance patterns for each mutant combination (autosomal unlinked, autosomal linked, or x-linked) based on chromosome location

What is the purpose of an introduction in a scientific report? The introduction provides the broader context for questions or hypotheses being addressed. When writing, consider the funnel approach: start with the big picture and work your way down to the specific details of the study at hand. Begin by outlining your funnel, with the final point in your outline being your specific questions or hypotheses. In well-developed writing, you begin with an overview paragraph that includes major points. Each subsequent paragraph focuses on one of the major points, providing additional detail regarding the significance of the concept or question, what we already know (based on peer-reviewed literature) about the concept or question, and what remains to be determined about the concept or question. After each point is made in full, then tie all paragraphs together with a final paragraph outlining the specific aims or objectives of the current work, which seeks to address those remaining questions. Refer to a peer-reviewed scientific article for examples of how Introductions are typically written.

3) Methods: Leave a blank line between the end of the Introduction and the header for the Methods section. This header should be left-justified, all caps, and bolded. Start the body of the text on the subsequent line.

What should be included in the Methods of my Drosophila report? Key information that must be included is bulleted here:

· The parental crosses that were established to test each hypothesis outlined in the introduction (Which cross corresponds to which hypothesis?)

· The exact steps taken to complete the experiment – do not include a list of supplies

· The chi-square tests used for each hypothesis (What specific F2 ratios were tested for each proposed hypothesis? How was the chi-square test statistic calculated? How was significance determined? Be specific.

What is the purpose of the Methods section in a scientific report? The Methods section should clearly report all procedures used to complete the objective of the study such that another student could repeat the work exactly as you did it. Why? Perhaps another lab wants to confirm or negate your results because they have reason (i.e., hypotheses) to suspect a different outcome. Do not include a simple list of supplies. This section should be so clearly written that another researcher could reconstruct your experiment and analyses from scratch. Refer to a peer-reviewed scientific article for examples of how methods are typically written.

4) Results: Leave a blank line between the end of the Methods and the header for the Results section. This header should be left-justified, all caps, and bolded. Start the body of the text on the subsequent line.

What should be included in the Results of my Drosophila report? The Results section should include a textual description of the results, both for raw data and analyses. The results should be written to follow the flow of the Methods section, that is, write the results in the same order in which you performed the experiment (and outlined it in your methods). Being organized in this way throughout your report makes it easier for a reader to follow what you did, and it makes it easier for your work to be critically analyzed, which is an important part of scientific review. Any tables and figures should be referenced parenthetically, but should not be imbedded in the Results section.

Example: “The F2 results of the F1 x F1 cross for mutant line 1 were consistent with a 9:3:3:1 phenotypic ratio (Table 1), with trait A being completing dominant over trait B.”

The Results section should also include details of your chi-square analysis for each cross.

Example: “The calculated chi-square test statistic for this analysis was 3.758, which is not significant for df= 3 and an alpha value of 0.05.”

What is the purpose of the Results section in a scientific report? The Results section is literally just the facts. What were the “answers” to your experiment, with respect to numbers observed and recorded and values calculated? Were statistical values significant or not? You should not attempt to explain your results in this section; any subjective comments are left to the Discussion section. Refer to a peer-reviewed scientific article for examples of how Results are typically written.

5) Discussion: Leave a blank line between the end of the Results and the header for the Discussion section. This header should be left-justified, all caps, and bolded. Start the body of the text on the subsequent line.

What should be included in the Discussion of my Drosophila report? Key information that must be included is bulleted here:

· Restate the objective of the project

· Clearly indicate what the results mean in the context of the objective

· Clearly state how your results compare to your expectations based on your investigation of the primary literature

· If your results are not consistent with your expectations, you should propose one or more possible explanations

· All ideas that are not your own should be properly cited as such.

· Do not use direct quotes; all information must be stated in your own words AND cited accordingly

What is the purpose of the Discussion section in a scientific report? The Discussion section is intended to be persuasive. You are making the case for how your data do or do not support the bigger picture objectives you originally proposed in the Introduction. Additionally, you are making the case for why anyone should care about your work. Why is it important to anyone outside of your lab group? What is the broader significance of the studies you have undertaken? Refer to a peer-reviewed scientific article for examples of how Discussions are typically written.

6) Literature Cited: This section should start on a new page. The header Literature Cited should be all caps, bolded, and centered. Refer to www.citationmachine.net for more information about proper citation formatting. You are expected to follow the format provided later in this document. Refer to a peer-reviewed scientific article for examples of how Literature Cited sections are typically written.

How many sources should be cited for this work? We require a minimum of two, peer-reviewed journal articles or a textbook and one peer-reviewed journal article as resources for this assignment. Websites are not acceptable substitutions for this requirement, but you may include a website in addition to this requirement, if (and only if) it is a legitimate resource unique to Drosophila research (e.g., flybase.org [A Database of Drosophila Genes & Genomes]). The Morris & Cahoon Genetics Lab Manual should also be cited if information from the lab manual is used in your introduction. Failure to properly cite the lab manual is still considered a breach of our policy on Academic Misconduct, as is failure to properly cite any information, thoughts, or comments that are derived from other sources. This, by definition, is plagiarism.