THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. SEE DOCUMENT HANDED OUT IN CLASS FOR LAB NOTEBOOK EXPECTATIONS.
Labs are a large part of the AP Biology curriculum and are based on student inquiry. After each inquiry lab you will either type a formal lab report or present your experimental results to class.
It all counts! Your lab notebook is like a science diary. Write down all of your hypotheses, questions to look up later, and background research. As you are working, write down all your experimental observations or thoughts, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem to you at the time. The little detail you don't record might be exactly what you need to know later!
Never leave home without it. Always have your notebook with you when doing your experiments. Well this doesn't really apply now that everything is digital and we're not leaving home.
Start fresh. Open your notebook to a blank page before you start experimenting during each new lab session. You do not want to start an experiment and then have to stop because you have nowhere to record data. Keep your table of contents current.
Only in the notebook! Don't be tempted to record data anywhere else but in your lab notebook. Scraps of paper can be lost along with important data. Record data right away in your lab notebook. Don't rely on your memory because you can forget what happened when you performed the experiment.
Keep it neat! Be sure to write legibly and in an appropriate size so that others can easily read, understand, and repeat your work. Skip lines as needed - you will have plenty of pages in your lab notebook.
A picture can be worth a 1000 words (and points as well). Draw pictures of your experimental set-up, experimental results, and so on in your notebook.
Be thorough. Include enough information about what you are doing so that you, or someone else, could reproduce your procedure.
Add it up. Whether you are figuring out how much of a reagent to add or analyzing your data, make sure to do all your math calculations in your lab notebook. This way if something goes wrong later, you can go back and double check to see if you made a simple arithmetic error. Label what the calculation was for.
Don't jump around. If you need to skip pages between entries for a project, add notes saying where the next entry can be found and where the previous entry occurs.
Pen only! If you make an error, cross it out once (no white-out) and continue. This is how they do it in college and in "real" research.
Table of Contents. Skip the first page of your lab notebook. This will be your "Table of Contents". Update it every lab.
Right only. I will only grade the right page of your lab notebook. That means you can do any calculations, or jot down notes on the left side of each page. Number only the right side of each page.
Stay organized. Each section title should be underlined, and all data tables and graphs should be done with a ruler.
Cite. All information not found in the textbook or lab must be cited appropriately.
Nothing personal. Do not write anything personal like "me", "I", "we", "us", etc.
Quality > quantity. Don't ramble just to fill up space. You're wasting my time.
Name and date
Title should be descriptive and creative. Copying the lab title is acceptable, but boring.
Typically labs are titled something like "The Effect of [independent variable] on [dependent variable]".
Ex: The Effect of pH on Enzyme Activity
Usually it's given, so just copy it.
If it is not given, and you have to make it up, it should be a testable question that addresses a problem.
Ex: How will changing the pH from 8 to 10 effect the activity of the enzyme lactase?
When you write actual lab reports or research papers in college, your introduction should be done before you write your hypothesis and begin the experiment. It's the background to your experiment: to put the research / experiment in the proper context of biology. To help you do this, I've asked some background knowledge questions that you should be able to answer before you begin the lab.
Answer all questions thoroughly, using appropriate biology vocabulary and concepts.
If you have to do any research outside of the textbook or lab, cite using MLA formatting (see below).
Null Hypothesis: a hypothesis that there will be no change / no effect / no relationship between your variables.
Ex: If the pH is increased from 8 to 10, then the rate of lactose digestion by lactase will remain constant or Increasing the pH from 8 to 10 will have no effect on the rate of lactose digestion by lactase.
Alternative Hypothesis: A testable, educated guess to your question (that's why you did the introduction first - because now you're educated on the topic!).
If/then/BECAUSE statement
Ex: If the pH is increased from 8 to 10, then the rate of lactose digestion by lactase will decrease because the optimal pH for the enzyme lactase is 10.
Take a stand
Don't say vague statements like "if pH changes, lactase activity will change". Is the pH increasing or decreasing? How will you measure lactase activity? Will lactase activity increase or decrease? Not a very good hypothesis.
Remember, do not reference yourself or your group. NO I, my, we, us, etc.
One sentence should be enough to answer each hypothesis. Make it concise.
If you are given a procedure:
Draw a flowchart summarizing the procedure. Click HERE for these instructions.
If you are creating your own procedure:
Create step-by-step and very detailed instructions. Include the most obvious things, like amounts, instruments, times, etc.
Identify at least five controls/constants and the control group throughout your experiment.
Write in complete sentences (that means every sentence has a period).
Make sure the entire experiment is thoroughly explained so that I could repeat it exactly. But, keep your sentences concise. No run-ons.
Don't forget to include how you are collecting data. What data are you collecting? How are you doing it? How frequently are you collecting data? Make sure to collect qualitative data (descriptions) as well as quantitative data (#s, measurements).
Do not reference yourself - that means, no I, my, we, us, etc.
Remember, science only uses metric units.
Ex: 1. Pour 100mL of lactose into a 250mL beaker.
Draw a flowchart summarizing the procedure. Click HERE for these instructions.
Data Table:
Use a ruler - make it neat!
Organize ALL your data into a table - include quantitative (#s) and qualitative data (descriptions).
Even if the data is meaningless, you must include it.
Always title your data table.
All units should be in metric.
Make sure to include borders around your table.
The data table should be easy to understand.
Draw pictures to illustrate results - don't forget to title them.
Calculations:
Show any calculations in this section.
Mean, range, median, percent change, etc.
Chi Square Analysis - only needs to be completed once you've learned it (November-ish?)
Show all your calculations, including your final Chi Square number and probability (if it's above or below 5%).
Based on your calculations, write one sentence that identifies if you reject or do not reject the null hypothesis. You can never say you "accept" the null hypothesis. You can only say you "do not reject" the null hypothesis.
Explain your results in your discussion (see below).
Graph:
Graph your meaningful data (not the useless observations).
Use a ruler - make it neat!
Considering most of your lab data is a function of time - use a line graph, unless otherwise specified.
Include a legend when need be.
Always title and label axis, make it colorful and fabulous.
X-axis is independent variable (what is being changed, usually time), Y-axis is dependent variable (what is being affected).
Graph titles are typically Indep Variable vs. Dep Variable... for example "pH vs. Lactase Activity".
Make sure your intervals are consistent: 5, 10, 15 (NOT 4, 10, 20, 45).
The graph should be easy to understand and clearly shows the trend in data.
Show error bars that represent the 95% confidence interval when asked.
READ YOUR GRAPH BEFORE YOU TURN IT IN - make sure your graph makes sense!!
This is where you answer the original question and persuade the reader using data and scientific knowledge. You should be presenting your findings in a logical, not chronological order.
It should be in paragraph form and very detailed.
Included in your discussion:
CLAIM (1 sentence): write the answer to your original lab question(s) based off the data you collected. It may be the same as your hypothesis. You may have multiple claims if you have multiple trends in the data. You must also consider the results of you Chi Square analysis to properly make a claim about your experiment.
Ex: An increase in pH will decrease the activity of lactase.
EVIDENCE (2 sentences minimum): this is where you prove your claim is correct, based on all the data you collected. Only give important data and trends, don't give me every little piece of data. I want to know averages, or changes over time, or trends or shape and slope of graph. Not every single data point - that's annoying to read.
Ex: According to the graph, when the pH increases from 8 to 10, the average amount of lactose remaining in solution decreased from 30 units to 10 units. This means that for ever 1 pH increase, the lactase activity decreased 10 units.
REASONING (3 sentences minimum): this is where you prove you know biology and can explain your data using biological concepts. This is also where you explain why your results are or are not statistically significant (Chi Square analysis).
Explain biologically why you got your data. Prove you understand the biological concepts. This is how I assess whether or not you actually understand biology.
Based on your Chi Square results, were your "observed" results significantly different from your "expected" results? Did you reject or not reject the null hypothesis? How do you know? What does that mean?
If your results are unexpected or contradictory, you should attempt to explain why and point out possible avenues for further research. Explain what should have happened, using your biology knowledge.
Ex: The reason why increasing pH decreases lactase activity is because... blah blah enzymes, structure, blah...connect to data/lactose decrease... The results of this experiment are significantly different than the expected results because according to the Chi Square analysis, the probability the observed results are due to random chance are less than 5%. This means that...
ERRORS: Every group, no matter how careful you are, has errors. Identify the possible errors and specifically explain how these errors affected your results. Saying "the errors affected my results" is not specific enough. HOW did they effect your results? Were your results too high, too low, why?
Answer all questions with detail, proving you understand the concepts. Use data from the lab where applicable.
If you have to do any research outside of the textbook or lab, CITE (see below).
Small but very important part of the lab. If it's not there, and you copied information without citing, that's plagiarism and the lab gets a zero and your associate principal gets your name.
Citing should be in text and at the end of the lab. Pictures also need to be cited.
Easy citing website (it cites for you!): www.easybib.com
See the following Waltham Library resources for help: Citation Help: Citation Guide for Print and Online