Lab Report Comments 2014 Lab I Bovine Heart Lung Dissection Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Grading of the Labs Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Organization and Structure Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Organization of Lab Reports Structure Intro overview Methods Results and observations Discussion Writing Clear concise factual precise Careful wording for accuracy Facts over opinion Use this chance to develop your science writing style Use your own words do not use text from other sources Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Title Introduction Include lab partners names in title page Generate table of contents Include purpose of the lab Provide necessary background for what is to follow e g overall organization of the heart in the same way it is presented in the Results section Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Methods Do not repeat verbatim the description you received Summarize and then highlight deviations from description Avoid including results in this section Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Results Must include some text and figures organized in some clear way Each figure must have an associated reference and description in the text Describe not just appearance but also mechanical and visual features that you noticed Highlight functional relationships with structure as they arise at least in brief terms Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Comments Field Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Discussion Section Purpose Summarize observations and attempt mechanistic explanations Approach Begin with a summary but do not provide additional or repeated general background Make statements then back them up Base statements on your data backed up by the textbook Speculation is acceptable as long as the logic is sound and the data support the argument Be sure to pursue all reasonable possibilities and not just the first that comes to mind End with a restatement Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Discussion Section Example valves Statement of how they might work given their structure Compare valves with each other are they all open at rest or are some closed at rest When do they open and close and how much time do they spend in each position Another example The quantity of fatty deposits around the heart was not expected prior to dissection The perpetual function and relative importance of the heart to the organism s survival suggest these fatty deposits serve as an energy source as well as a protective layer to abrupt mechanical loading What are the consequences of such a function Is this the only reasonable explanation Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Implementing Organization Prior to write up Identify the lab purpose Compile a list of major questions from the lab Develop and outline The write up State the lab purpose Answer all questions asked in the lab Refer to your outline Post write up PROOF READ Review lab comments Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Structure and Outlines Use outlines for structure to organize your thoughts BEFORE you write and to analyze your flow AFTER you write Pay attention to what goes in each section Methods belongs in Methods not Results Some discussion better interpretation in Results section is fine Any point included in Introduction should be addressed somewhere again in the report usually Discussion section But avoid explicit and pointless repetition Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Figures Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Perspective Which way is up What is the perspective Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Perspective Which way is up What is the perspective Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Mixed perspectives Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Orientation Yields Perspective Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Orientation Yields Perspective Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Orientation Yields Perspective Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Orientation Yields Perspective Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Nice Organization Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Nice Layout and Caption Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Excellent Overview Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Figure Captioning Figure 2 Top of Heart Figures captions Required Located at bottom of figure on the same page as the figure Start with a brief title then include adequate details to understand content of the figure without needing to view text For each panel in the figure explain the contents Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Another Excellent Example Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Caption of the Year Award Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Captions Spanning Pages Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology File Size Image Resolution Which version is from the 27 times larger file 17 2 MB 64 MB 27 1 Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology File Size Image Resolution Winner of abuse of pixels award Compressed equivalent Original Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Referring to Figures All figures must have a reference in the text Refer to figures by number and not for example as seen below Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Scientific Writing Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology Dissect vs Resect Resection Surgery surgery excision of part of a bone organ or other part Collins English Dictionary Dissection To cut a plant or dead animal into separate parts in order to study it Merriam Webster Dictionary Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology General Writing Rules I Never use contractions e g haven t don t didn t Avoid possessives e g all of the body s other functions should be all of the other functions of the body Verb tense In general use past tense to report methods and results anything actually performed or measured Use present tense only for statements of general truth Avoid excessive use of first person I we us our Avoid any use of the second person you Avoid colloquialisms You can kind of visually see the difference between the pulmonary artery in figure 5 as I pulled on it it resisted that pull and kept its shape Lab 1 Review Bioengineering 6000 CV Physiology General Writing Rules II Use Active over Passive Voice Through dissection it could be speculated how each aspect of the heart and lung could