GUIDELINES FOR LABORATORY REPORTS

1. Please DOUBLE-SPACE your laboratory report, and use margin size to 1 inch.
2. Place a cover sheet at the front of your laboratory report. The cover sheet should have your name, the report title, the course and section numbers centered on the page. PLEASE DO NOT PLACE YOUR LABORATORY REPORT IN A PLASTIC OR OTHER BINDER.

The laboratory report should include the following sections:

1. An ABSTRACT section, in which you describe in briefest form, the purpose, primary results and conclusions of the research report. By convention, it is 200 words or 3% of the laboratory report, whichever is LESS;
2. An INTRODUCTION section, in which you provide information pertaining to the problem as it is recognized and in which you discuss background information which would be pertinent to the reader. The purpose, in which you specify the questions to be addressed in THIS lab report, should be in the LAST paragraph of the introduction section;
3. A MATERIALS AND METHODS section, in which you discuss the organism(s) under study and the experimental protocol in "text" form. PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE A MATERIALS LIST. If there are several parts to the experiment, each part should be described separately. In text format, briefly describe the protocol you followed in conducting this experiment. If there are several parts to the experiment, each part should be described separately;
4. A RESULTS section, in which you discuss the data from each part of the study in the same sequence as the parts were described in the Materials and Methods section. Use a paragraph to tell the reader what the main point is, and at the end of the sentence, refer to a specific Table or Figure, as in the following: "Seedlings exposed to either .1% or .2% phosphate grew vigorously, but the controls did not (Figure 1)." It is essential to convert or present the data in an understandable format. CHARTS OF RAW DATA ARE NEITHER NECESSARY NOR DESIRABLE!;
5. A DISCUSSION section, in which you relate the results of your experiment to the general body of knowledge pertinent to this area of research;
6. A REFERENCES section, in which you list the references used for background information and/or protocol procedures, including your laboratory textbook.
7. CRITERIA FOR THE GRADING OF PAPERS AND EXPERIMENTAL REPORTS

The maximum grade is a 100 and is a composite of three grades based on spelling grammar, and content.

I. Spelling counts 25% of the total grade. Each different spelling or typographical error will usually result in a point deducted from the maximum. However, if one word is consistently misspelled, it will be deducted only once. Low grades in spelling can be avoided by keeping a dictionary on hand and proofreading your work before you submit it for review.

II. Grammar counts 25% of the total grade. Each grammar error (wrong tense, poor sentence of paragraph structure) will usually result in a point deducted from the maximum. Low grades in grammar can be avoided by proofreading your work before you submit it and by writing practice essays.

III. Content counts 25% of the total grade. The kinds of questions that are considered in evaluating content include the following:

1. Is your information accurate?
2. Is your discussion logical?
3. Did you transform the raw data into a more useful and appropriate format?
4. Do you adequately support your argument?
5. Do you adequately correlate and contrast your data to previous experience?
6. Do you support your conclusions with the appropriate statistical test(s)?

IV. Format counts 25% of the total grade. The kinds of questions that are considered in evaluating format include the following:

1. Did you follow the appropriate protocol for writing the report?
2. Are all section of the lab report complete?
3. Did you transform the data into an appropriate manner?
4. Did you include the appropriate tables and figures?

You should write your reports as if you were submitting them to the Transactions of the Tennessee Academy of Sciences. I, in turn, will review them as if I were an editor for the journal.