Specific Components and Guidelines Mortality Lab Report Specific Components and Guidelines

Title Page Must have your name, due date, and course Must come up with a unique and specific title for YOUR report Should be on a page centered—does not count towards your 3-page minimum

Abstract Usually the hardest portion of a lab report or publication to write Start out with a few sentences of background information that is general knowledge Then introduce the nature of your study and a basic sentence about methodology. Sentence or two giving general results and conclusions drawn from paper

Introduction Must cite everything that is not public knowledge—otherwise it is plagiarism Discuss: What is predation, different types of predation, past tethering studies, predation/mortality studies At end of introduction, transition into your study and explicitly state your hypothesis/hypotheses.

Methods Use the handout/powerpoint online but try to put things into your own words Need to use complete sentences—no bullets or lists Materials section is not required

Results Do not use JUST group-specific data Use class Chi-Square values for each time point and state the significance correctly

Results Must actually state numbers within your report and embed them in a readable and scientific manner. Example: Greater mortality occurred in the vegetated versus non-vegetated zones (14.03 + 0.597 versus 8.90 + 0.356, respectively). These are made-up numbers/values! Results section should NOT be merely figures and tables—need complete sentences as well

Results Tables are not necessary—can be included if unique Need a minimum of 3 figures showing comparisons/contrasts relevant to the data you choose to use in your results section. It does not work to only make figures of your group’s data Remember the rules regarding tables/figures: caption placement, axis labels, etc.

Example of a bad/incomplete figure—missing axis labels, treatment levels, and caption Example of a good figure—just missing the caption

Discussion This is where you discuss all the results you put in your results section, but do NOT restate your results Be sure to give possible reasons why the results turned out how they did Give pitfalls of the study and ideas for the future (ask if you need help) Compare these results to those of other studies done in the past—at least two references here is mandatory (can be same references used in introduction) Give a concluding statement/summary at the end to tie everything together

Literature Cited Use whatever format you prefer but be consistent Remember to cite appropriately in-text. Use author and year using appropriate format

Overall Guidelines 3-pages minimum (not including title page and literature cited) Need a minimum of 3 peer-reviewed sources Use correct grammar, proofread and write scientifically