Link Search Menu Expand Document
Senanu's Bio class

Checklist for lab reports for Bio 40

The following checklist is designed to help you write your lab reports for Bio 40. This is a general checklist, applicable for all lab reports, but is not meant to be exhaustive and not every point will necessarily apply to each paper you write. Please review this list before you write and then refer back to it during the editing process. You are also encouraged to use the peer review rubric and the full writing guide for Bio40 lab reports

Header material:

  • Is your title complete and descriptive?
  • Did you include your name and the names of all co-authors (lab partners)?

Introduction

  • Does your intro start with broad concepts?
  • Does the intro tell an educated reader everything they need to know in order to understand your experiment and why you did it?
  • Do you include a properly-formatted research hypothesis, usually near the end of the introduction
  • Did you use the present tense to describe how something works? (e.g. “Proteins are important…”)

Methods

  • Are your methods in prose (it should be), not bullet points or numbered?
  • Did you describe enough detail so that an educated, smart scientist could repeat your experiment?
  • Did you organize your methods so that they are clear and concise, with minimal repetition? It may be useful to include subheadings within this section, especially for the Enzyme lab.
  • Did you NOT include mundane things like how your tubes were labeled? (You shouldn’t)
  • Did you use a passive voice rather than the 1st person? (e.g. “The mass was measured”)
  • Did you use the past tense for things you did? (e.g. “The mass was measured”)

Results

  • Did you describe your results primarily with prose, and supported with data tables and graphs?
  • Did you describe any relevant trends?
  • Did you label each table sequentially, with the label above the table (eg. Table 1, Table 2, etc)?
  • Did you label each figure (usually graphs) sequentially with the label below the figure (eg. Figure 1, Figure 2, etc)?
  • Did you use R for your data analysis?
  • Did you refer to each table and figure at least once in the prose?
  • Did you describe adequately how any calculations were done (this can also be done in methods)?
  • Did you use the past tense?

Discussion

  • Did you directly address the predictions you made in your research hypothesis?
  • Did you discuss errors and try to identify them as systematic or random?
  • Are there other ways you could interpret your data?
  • What do your findings tell us about how cells work?
  • Did you broaden your discussion (primarily at the end) to broader themes?

Literature Cited

  • Do you have at least 2 citations?
  • Are your citations from primary literature?
  • Does each in-text citation have a reference listed?
  • Are the in-text citations done properly?
  • Is the reference list at the end formatted properly, with the correct information in the correct order, and punctuated properly? (preferably use APA format).

General

  • Did you check your grammar and spelling throughout the paper?
  • Did you make sure you use the correct symbols, where appropriate (e.g. use μl instead of ul)?
  • Does each section have a logical and clear flow?