Writing Your Rough Draft and Final Reports-Cell Biology Section of BIO 375

Writing Your Rough Draft and Final Reports-Cell Biology Section of BIO 375

General Overview

You will be writing a short “scientific paper” on your findings from the first half of the semester.  Background, data, and references for the paper will be assembled during the course of the lab and included in the paper.

1. When is the Report due?

The Rough Draft Report and Final Report due dates are listed on the Summary of Due Dates for your semester and section.

The due dates will also be announced in class.

2. What will be included in the Rough Draft Report?
3. Morphology of proband, mother, and father nuclei
4. Quantification of proband, mother, and father nuclei-abnormal and normal

3. What is the Final Report and what is included in it?

-The Final Report is the revision of the Rough Draft Report that has been commented on by your instructor.

-The Final Report will also include additional information and data that is added to the Rough Draft Report.  This includes:

Western blot analysis of LMNA and Determination of MW

-Details of the Final Report are included in these instructions, starting on page 4.

3. What is the format of the Report? (A detailed description of each is included on the pages 2-3.)

1. Title Page with Brief Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Materials and Methods
4. Results
5. Discussion
6. References
7. Figures/Tables on separate page

4. How long should the Rough Draft Report/Final Reports be?

-No more than third (3) double space pages for the text

– The text does NOT include:  title page (with abstract), references, and figures and table pages

5. How much are the Rough Draft Report and Final Report worth?

-The total Lab Report is worth 30% of your grade.

-Rough Draft Report is worth 9% (out of the 30%).

-Final, revised Report is worth 21% (out of the 30%).

6. How do I submit the Reports?

-The Rough Draft Report is uploaded to Assignments on CANVAS – CellRoughDraft

–Final Report (after revisions) is uploaded to Assignments on CANVAS – CellFinalDraft

-Submit as a Word or PDF Document.

Detailed Instructions for your Rough Draft Report

1. Title Page

Title: Include short but descriptive title that states what is being studied

Abstract:  Short ¼ page summary of your study.

The abstract is a condensed summary of the report.  It includes the why, how, and what was found.  It starts with a very general statement about the area of study.  This is followed by a more specific statement that defines the experimental question or study focus.  Then, the methods used to answer the questions are mentioned and the results summarized.  The abstract for your study should short, no more than 1/3 page (ds).

Results = actual values

Personal Information: Your name, ID (last 4), lab section, date

TEXT of Report = #2, #3, #4, and #5. No more than 3 double spaced pages (you MUST double space)

2. Introduction: about 1/2-2/3 page

-start with a general topic sentence that relates to your experimental question

-include general background on progeria (HGPS), LMNA and progerin.

– A one or two sentence overview of the study

-include the biological question(s) and at least one (1) hypothesis you are investigating

3. Methods: 1/2 page

-summarize the methods used in your study

-include a summary of sample preparation

-include the type of microscopy

-include the type of observations that were made and a summary of the analyses

Summarize what you did but technical steps should be written in the correct temporal     order.

NOTE:  Specific details such as amounts, times, temperatures, solutions are not required for this paper.

Methods used include:  Staining cells with Geimsa. Quantifying the cells as normal and deformed.  Note: you will add the other methods (SDS-PAGE and etc. in the final draft).

4. Results: 1/2 -2/3 page

Two sections for results (include the underlined titles in your lab report results for each section)

1. Analysis of Nuclear Phenotype in Proband, Mother, and Father

This would include images and quantification.  I

1. In the first view sentences you qualitatively compare (described and compare) images of normal to abnormal nuclei. Indicate how normal and abnormal nuclei will be judged. Refer to Fig. of confocal or phone picture.

1. Then, state the results of the quantification of the abnormal and normal nuclei, referring to your graph. You must note actual values. Refer to your Figure – graph (CellGraph assignment)

1. State which of the comparisons (example; father abnormal vs proband abnormal) are significant (p<0.05) based on your calculations of p-values. Refer to Table 1 from CellGraphQuestions.

2. Analysis of LMNA and Progerin by Western Blot Analysis in the Proband, Mother, and Father (Add this title to the rough draft but you won’t complete this result section until the Final Version is turned in). Details for this section are outlined on page 4 and 5 of this document.

5. Discussion: 1/2-2/3 page
6. Make a general statement about what you did and what you found.
7. Discuss the results of the nuclear morphology quantification study. Try to explain your results. For example, were there more abnormal in the father than mother?  Why?  Did the proband have many more abnormal?  What was the percent?  Were these results expected?
8. Provide a cellular/molecular explanation of your results. Why are there abnormal nuclei?

• Use the answers to the questions about your Graph (CellGraphQuestions) to help you formulate the discussion.

NOTE: #6 and #7 = NOT included in the TEXT page limit

6. References:

-Include at least 3 references.

-These must be properly formatted.

-You can use the articles you read or searched for as part of the “formatting”      assignment (if these are relevant).

-You may include the review article on Progeria that you had to read an assignment (#2).

7. Figures and Tables (for Draft Report):
8. Fig. 1 -Image of normal and abnormal nuclei (Confocal or you cell phone images) –    label the images.
9. Fig. 2 – Graph of quantification of nuclei-proband, mother, and father – you already   completed this. You must include any revisions of the graph.
10. Table 1 – Calculated p-values from Assignment “CellGraphQuestions”.

Suggestions for Figures and Tables:

• Figures and Tables can be prepared in PowerPoint and copied/imported into a Word document. By “prepared” I mean, a graph or image can be imported into PowerPoint and labeled.
• Graph must be labeled as instructed.
• Once labeled, they can be “grouped”, copied and pasted into Word. You should try to organize all your Figures, Tables, etc as few pages as possible.  Note: select the image in Word, and click on Wrap Text – select “Tight” In this way, you can move the image around in the text to where you want.
• Do not make the Figures and Tables large, taking up an entire page.
• Do not embed your Figures and Tables in your text.
• Put your Figures and Tables at the end of the Text, in sequential order (that is, the order that you refer to the Figures and Tables in the text).

IMPORTANT:  You can convert your file to PDF to ensure the formatting remains stable when uploaded.

Completing your Final Report

Due Date of Final Lab Report- See summary sheet for due date

Note: To view comments on your rough lab report, you must activate the function on CANVAS. ALL lab reports contain comments written directly on the lab report. If a lab report is submitted without revisions, based on the written comments, you will receive a zero on the final lab report.

After your Rough Draft Report has been commented on by your instructor you will revised the report based on these comments.  First, make all the changes suggested by your instructor.  Then, add the SDS-PAGE and Western Blot data to the report.  This will be new information.

1. Revise your Rough Draft Report
2. Carefully read over the comments of your lab instructors for each section before beginning any revisions. Get a sense of what revisions you will need to do.
3. Starting at the beginning, re read the comments and corrections and begin making revisions and corrections.
4. Some revisions will require that you re write sections. Some revisions may only require that you re arrange sentences.  Some revisions may require that you add information.  READ the COMMENTS carefully and make the necessary revisions.

1. After making all the revisions to the Rough Draft Report, add the SDS-PAGE and Western Blot data to your report. Use what you learned from the instructor’s comments to add this information.  Remember, for the Final Report this section will be graded without prior comment.

See details below for each of these.

1. Add the SDS-PAGE/Western Blot LMNA Protein results to the Abstract.

Add statement of what you did and results.

2. Add a statement about the LMNA protein analysis to the Introduction.

3. Add SDS-PAGE and Western Blot methods to Materials and Method

Preparation of Protein Lysate, SDS-PAGE, and Western Blot (abbreviated overview)

Make certain to name antibodies.

4. Add LMNA protein analysis (SDS-PAGE/Western Blot) to the Results. This includes the picture of the western blot AND the determination of MW of LMNA bands.

5. Add the LMNA protein analysis results to the Discussion.

Results

Title of the section = Analysis of LMNA and Progerin by Western Blot Analysis in the Proband, Mother, and Father

For this section you will add one Figure, (Western Blot), one Graph (Ferguson Plot) and one Table (MW values)

1. Figure = Western Blot results. Make certain the lanes are labeled. And, you have the figure numbered with a figure legend (at the bottom of the Figure).
2. Graph = Standard Molecular Weight Graph (Ferguson Plot) used to determine MW of LMNA/progerin
3. Table = Table from your lab exercise with molecular weight determination for the LMNA/Progerin bands from the Western blot.

Number this Figure and Table in order following your other Figures and Tables.

Include a text for the results. State what you wanted to compare and what you found out.  First, state what you SEE on the Western Blot and make comparisons (example, The results of the Western blot in Fig. ?? shows one LMNA band for the ??? and two LMNA bands for the ??).  Then, state the MW determinations you made, referring to your Graph and molecular weight Table.

Discussion

Add a paragraph to your discussion about the LMNA protein analysis:

Discuss the results of the western blot.  Did the father and mother have any progerin?  If not, why were there some abnormal nuclei?  Did the proband have ALL progerin?  Why or why not?

Add a Figure for the Discussion:

1. Figure of the protein sequences (LMNA and Progerin) – CellProteinSeq assignment (also we did this in class) – showing the missing amino acids in the progerin. You can refer to this Figure to explain the difference in MW of the bands on the western blot.

Summary of Figures and Tables to ADD to Final Report

1. Figure – Western Blot Image – labeled with figure legend
2. Standard Molecular Weight Graph (used to determine MW of LMNA bands on WB).
3. Table from Exercise 4b with Calculation of MW’s of LMNA and Progerin (standard graph is not required).
4. Figure – Protein Sequence of LMNA and Progerin showing missing AA’s. Labeled with figure legend.

1. Finally, upload the Final Report to CellFinalReport by the Due Date (see your Summary of Due Dates for the Specific Date and Time).