LAB REPORT GUIDELINES
BIOL 1406 Enzyme Lab
General guidelines:
- Each student does 100% own work. Lab write-ups that are similar will be giving a grade of 0. DO NOT SHARE YOUR REPORT WITH ANYONE.
- The lab report must be typed and turned in as a physical document. Your Bar Graph must be done on the computer as well using some kind of graphing software. You can attach the bar graph to the word file or embed the graph in the text, it’s up to you. No emailed reports accepted. No handwritten reports accepted.
- No page limit, though you need to completely address each required lab report item.
- Write only about the activity you did only from the following: temperature, pH, inhibitor, and concentration
- The lab report should be broken into 6 sections, each clearly labelled as: ABSTRACT, INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS & METHODS, RESULTS, DISCUSSION, and REFERENCES
- The lab report itself must have a title worth 5 points. The title must be one sentence long, but must be descriptive as to what the lab report is about. “Peroxidase Lab Report” is not a good title at all as it doesn’t explain what you explored or how. The title must be descriptive, not creative.
- Lab report due date is located in your syllabus. 10% point deduction for each day late.
SECTIONS:
ABSTRACT (10 points – should be only 1 paragraph long but very descriptive)
- In the abstract paragraph, you should include in detail: what did you test? How did you test it and what were your results.
- For results you may want to mention optimal conditions for each activity
INTRODUCTION (15 points – no limit on length)
- No paragraph limitation, explain in detail the following. Introduce your topic and give background information regarding:
- What is an enzyme?
- What is peroxidase?
- What is spectrophotometry?
- What is guaiacol and why are we using it?
- What is the reaction that we are analyzing
- How exactly are we monitoring this reaction
- What is the association between color change, slope, and the enzyme reaction rate?
- How exactly are we obtaining an enzyme reaction rate
- Be specific
MATERIALS and METHODS (5 points – no limit on length)
- List the materials you used and detail the methodology you followed to conduct the studies.
RESULTS (40 points – submit a properly labelled bar graph)
- No line graph required. (You do not turn in the graph that you printed out last lab)
- Include a fully detailed title for the bar graph
- X and Y axis must have their own title with units (hint: slope or ‘m’ is not a good title)
- X axis should also be labeled with each condition tested
- Data must have correct layout (independent variable on x axis, dependent on y)
DISCUSSION (20 points – no limit on length)
In as much detail as possible discuss your results in paragraph format. Include the following:
- What was the optimal condition for the activity you tested?
- What was the trend that you saw for enzyme activity? In as much detail as possible explain why you would see this trend.
- What conditions produced low activity? What could explain why the activity was low for these conditions? What could be happening to the enzyme?
- Explain what could be causing your results.
- Summarize your results. Make sure to look at your graph to interpret the results and summarize them in the discussion section
- What do your results say about peroxidase? What conclusions do you draw?
REFERENCES (5 points)
- Include at least two references. You may use the lab manual, the book, etc.
Of course, the graph must have a real title and the axes must have the proper label.
Format for books citations: List all authors by last name and initials, separated by commas if there are more than two authors. Put an “and” before the last author in the list. Then put the year of publication, the title of the book (in italics if possible), the publisher, the city, and the number of pages in the book.
AI-3
Format for scientific journal articles citations: List the author(s) of the article using the same format given above for books, then give the year, the title of the article or chapter (no quotes, italics or underlines), then the title of the journal or magazine (in italics if possible), the volume number of the journal (do not use the publication date), and page numbers where the article can be found.
- Format for web citations: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Online Periodical, volume number(issue number if available). Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/