LAB REPORT INSTRUCTIONS PLAGIARISM & ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: Plagiarism of any kind is a serious offense in the academic world

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LAB REPORT INSTRUCTIONS PLAGIARISM & ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: Plagiarism of any kind is a serious offense in the academic world. Plagiarism is when the work of another person, group, or organization is taken without providing proper attribution (citation with reference) in the text. Depending on the severity of the plagiarism, some University’s may be forced to take disciplinary action. Any form of plagiarism, such as: taking information directly from a source without citation (this includes paraphrasing where only a few words are changed here or there); paying for an essay writing service to write your paper; having another person write your paper for you; using paraphrasing software; or any other type of dishonest action will NOT be tolerated. You will be submitting your paper in Blackboard through Turn-it-in, which assesses your document for signs of plagiarism and provides a similarity grade based on how close it is to other sources or papers. If your paper exhibits clear signs of plagiarism or academic dishonesty, you will receive a ZERO for the lab report. GENERAL Unknown reports in microbiology are written in scientific format. The results of the exercise or experiment are what are being showcased, not the writing. The purpose of scientific writing is not to entertain, but to inform. The writing should be simple and easy to understand. There is a specific style that must be followed when writing scientific reports. • Scientific writing is typically written in the passive voice. The pronouns "I", "We" and "They" are not typically used. For example, instead of writing "I used a TSA agar plate to isolate my unknown," it is customary to write, "A trypticase soy agar (TSA) plate was used to isolate the unknown." • It is also customary to write in the past tense for most of the report. This includes the introduction, the summary, the description of the materials and methods and the results. The present tense is reserved for the conclusions about the results. See the examples given below. Some other general rules that should be followed are: • Microbial nomenclature: The name of the bacterium should be written out completely and spelled correctly. • The name should be italicized or underlined. Italicized is preferred. For example, Staphylococcus aureus. • The genus is capitalized but the species is not. After the full genus name is given in the paper, it can be written as S. aureus, but still italicized. This is as long as there in no other genera in the paper that starts with the same letter. TITLE PAGE A title page must be created for each experiment. It will serve as the title sheet for your laboratory report. It should include the title of your report, the “unknown” letter or number, your name, the date, and the course name/number/section. It should also include the results of the initial tests that everyone had to perform – gram stain, morphology, catalase, coagulase, deep stab, and blood hemolysis. INTRODUCTION The introduction should describe the objectives of the experiment. It should also summarize the scientific ideas behind the experiment, and be as brief as possible. One paragraph describing the purpose of the experiment – Why is it important to identify microorganisms? How did you go about identifying your organism? MATERIALS AND METHODS This is where the details of the study are listed. Where did the specimen come from, and what methods were used to identify it? Briefly describe the experimental method used and the names of any chemicals or equipment used. It is important to indicate all temperatures in °C and measurements in metric units. Be specific, but do not re-write the lab manual. You can assume that the reader is familiar with the various techniques, especially if they are standard, so do not give details. For instance, do not include “cook book” directions. One way is to mention the names of the materials used and reference the lab manual for the procedure or method and then continue to elaborate when necessary. See example 1. Example 1: "An unknown labeled as letter G was given out by the lab instructor. The methods that have been learned thus far for identifying bacteria have been applied to this unknown. Procedures were followed as stated in the course laboratory manual by Laboffe and Pierce (1), unless otherwise noted. The first procedure that needed to be done was to streak the unknown out on a Tryptic Soy Agar plate, using the quadrant streak method described in the lab manual. This needed to be done in order to test the purity of the unknown. After the plates were incubated and grown, the morphology was observed and recorded and a Gram stain was performed.” If there is a procedure that the instructor added or made changes to, or the student used another procedure not in the course lab manual, then it should be written out and referenced. RESULTS In the results, you present your observations and data with no interpretations or conclusions about what they mean. Tables and graphs should be used to supplement the text and to present the data in a more understandable form. The written text of the results section may be as short as one sentence summarizing the highlights and directing the reader to specific Tables and Figures. Use past tense to describe your results shown in table format (see examples below). This is also where the flow chart showing how you arrived at the answer is discussed. Example: Unknown G had the following morphology on a TSA plate: medium sized opaque cream colored colony. After determining that it was a Gram negative rod, an indole test was performed resulting in a red ring at the top of the broth (Table 1; Figure 1)….etc. A citrate test was also performed with the agar slant turning blue after incubation (Table 2). Table 1: Biochemical Test Results TEST Gram stain PURPOSE REAGENTS To determine the Gram Crystal violet, reaction of the Iodine, Alcohol, OBSERVATIONS RESULTS Pink rods Gram negative Oxidase test Indole Test bacterium Safranin rods To determine the presence of cytochrome c To determine the ability of an organism to split indole from tryptophane Oxidase paper Purple / black color change Kovac's added to 1 ml of tryptone broth Red Ring at top of broth Positive oxidase test Positive indole test ETC. Table 2: Physiological and Biochemical Results TEST REAGENTS OR MEDIA TEMP OBSERVATIONS RESULTS INTERPRETATIONS Citrate Citrate slant (green) 350C Color changed from green to blue Positive MRVP 350C After adding methyl red to one ml, color changed from light yellow to a darker yellow Negative Organism is able to utilize citrate as a carbon source Organism is not able to produce large amounts of acid from glucose fermentation Methyl Red Eschericia coli Proteus spp. Klebsiella pneumoniae Enterobacter aerogenes Figure 1 – Flow chart of tests performed to identify unknown organism G. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION This is the most important part of your lab report. This is where you show how well you understand what went on in your experiment and draw conclusions based on the observations you made. This section interprets the meaning of the results. The following questions should be answered here: How did the test result lead to identification? Was it the correct identification? If not, why not. What problems were encountered? This is also where the background information on the organism (environment/pathogenicity) that was identified is mentioned. Example of a discussion: After several differential tests, it was concluded that unknown G was Escherichia coli. After performing the Gram stain to determine that the unknown was a Gram negative rod, the organism was grown on a TSA slant for use in inoculating the rest of the biochemical tests. All of the biochemical tests worked well except for the indole test. It gave a false negative result at first. This was determined since it was inconsistent with the rest of the result. The instructor suggested that the test be repeated and it was repeated. The repeated test gave a positive result, consistent with the other data. Therefore it was concluded that the unknown was Escherichia coli. THIS CAN BE ELABORATED MORE FOR EACH TEST. E. coli is in the Enterobacteriaceae family. It is typically found in the human intestines, as well as other animals. It can cause disease in the right host. THE REST OF THIS INFORMATION SHOULD BE RESEARCHED FROM THE TEXTBOOK, INTERNET OR OTHER MICROBIOLOGY RESOURCES. References Correct reference format must be used. References should be numbered and the number added to the report when necessary. See example 1 under materials and methods. Spelling of the authors of the references must be correct. References should be numbered in order as they appear in the text. 1. Microbiology: Laboratory Theory and Application 4th edition, Leboffe, M.J. and Pierce, B.E., Morton Publishing, Englewood, CO, 2010. To reference a journal article, whether found in a printed bound journal or a pdf online, the reference should be the same. Do not provide online access dates and websites for journal articles online. This is a legitimate publication and should be treated as such. An example would be: Hemingway, J.D., Hilton, R.G., Hovius, N., Eglinton, T.I., Haghipour, N., Wacker, L., Chen, MC.,Galy, V.V. 2018. Microbial oxidation of lithospheric organic carbon in rapidly eroding tropical mountain soils. Science 360: 209-212 Figures and Tables All Figures are numbered consecutively throughout the report and are referred to by Figure #. Remember, the terms Figure and Table are always capitalized and are referenced in the body of the text of the report. To do all Tables try to use the table editor in Microsoft Word. Unknown Lab Report Grading Rubric Title Page - Contained creative title - Contained “unknown” number/letter - Contained results of all required tests –aerotolerance and colony morphology - Contained your name, date, course information 5 points /1 /1 /2 /1 Introduction (1 paragraph) - Specific purpose of study was stated - Background information on importance of identifying microorganisms that cause disease – in general…not specific to your organism - Brief explanation of how microorganisms are identified in general…not specific to your organism 15 points /3 Materials & Methods - Methods were described in chronological order & paragraph form - Reference to lab manual included - Thoroughness and repeatability. Someone could read this section and perfectly replicate what you actually did, not just want your lab handout asked you to do. 10 points /2 /2 Results - Table(s) of tests and selective media - Figure of completed flow chart - Results were merely stated, not discussed, in paragraph form - Tables and figures were properly labeled, captioned, and referenced in the text 20 points /6 /6 /4 /4 Discussion (2 to 3 paragraphs) - Explanation of results and how this led to identification of organism 30 points - - Explained any problems/mistakes/errors made and how they were corrected. – if no mistakes, provide suggested improvements if project were repeated. Background information of organism identified – references are required /6 /6 /6 /10 /10 /10 Literature Cited - At least 3 sources - lab manual and 2 peer-reviewed journal articles - Sources were cited in a consistent manner according to instructions In-text citations were present and consistently formatted Format & Grammar - Proper lab report format was used throughout the report – 12 pt font, double spaced, and Correct spelling & punctuation were used throughout the report Each section was written in paragraph form Points deducted for misidentification or use of incorrect media Total 10 points /3 /4 /3 10 points /10 /100 points