Assessment of Medsci 205 Lab Reports

DATE:

 The date when the experiment was carried out.

Experiment:

Title/identification

Conducted BY:

Names of those carrying out the experiment (and group number). 

Aim/s:

The purpose/s of the experiment. Most often taken form the lab manual but wording altered to make it your own.

INTRODUCTION:

A brief description of the relation of the experiment to existing knowledge.  (This can commonly be achieved following a thorough reading of the relevant sections of your textbook).  Cite any references used.  Remember, failure to correctly cite information obtained from textbooks is plagiarism!
"In this section, you introduce all the terminologies and set a stage so that the reader of your assignment will know what is to follow and reference it"

No more than 1 page in length.

Methods:

Briefly describe the experimental protocol that your group followed during the laboratory. You may refer to the lab manual for detailed methods. Comment on how any measurements were made.  Include calibration factors and any formulae used in your calculations. Again, you cannot take methods word to word from your manual, you have to make it your own.

About half a page in length (or less).

Results:

A brief (i.e. written) description of what was observed, supported by printouts of traces (if appropriate), tables of numeric data, graphs, statistical tests, etc.  Ensure that these are clearly labelled so that they are identifiable later. This is a very important section, you have to write a brief narrative beloweach and every graph.

discussion:

This should provide a summary of what the results demonstrated, and an interpretation of them - possibly in terms of formulating a hypothesis to explain them.  The relation of your results to the Introduction should also be made clear.  A critical appraisal of the Methods is also appropriate.
This is the most important section...to get an A in the report, you really have to have a good discussion and demonstrate a clear understanding of the experiment and Physiology behind it.

Usually 1 to 1.5 pages is sufficient.

Conclusions:

A brief outline of what you think your findings show.

REFERENCES:

At the end of your report include a list of all books or journals to which you have referred (and cited) in writing the report.