Lab Write-ups for ESSP 241L

Follow the format you used in the Bio I Lab (ESSP 240L).

Title is based on the most interesting aspect of your study. Example: Fish Muscle Proteins Are Not Good Tools for Studying Fish Evolution

Name, Date, Course

Introduction states a question, discusses why the question is interesting, provides some background on the question, and what your approach to answering it was. Example: "Can Proteins Expressed in Fish Muscle Be Used For Evolutionary Studies?"

Materials consist of a list of supplies (biological and otherwise) used in the study.  It is best if you can include how or from where the materials were obtained.

Methods consist of a clear prose summary of the procedures you used. Example: "Fresh muscle tissue from five species (u, v, w, x, y) was washed with detergent to release..."  Describe what you did, not what happened or what you measured! This can be confusing for students who are used to thinking chronologically. For example, you would not put a table of the distances you measured, but you WOULD describe how you estimated the molecular weights of the proteins represented by those bands.

Results consist of at least a table and some figures of data with clear captions and headings. Prose explanations of the figures and tables should be brief and not stray into a discussion of the results.  For example: Figure 1 is a photograph of the gel resolving the proteins obtained from washing the muscle tissue of each species. Figure 2 might be your standard curve. Proteins identified and their presence or absence in a species are listed in Table 1.  Based on the data in Table 1, a network of species relatedness was constructed and is illustrated in Figure 3.

Discussion consists of your explanation of the results.  Example from the first lab: Does it make sense for squid to be the nearest relative of smelt?  If not, why do you think those results were obtained? Are muscle proteins good tools for looking at evolutionary relationships?  Why or why not?  What would you do to improve the study or are you satisfied that you will get the same relationships no matter what system you use to study the question?

Did you review other work to complete this write-up?  If so excellent... but you must cite the work at the end of your write-up.  I am expecting Campbell at a minimum.

Example Book citation:
Graur D, Li WH editors (2000) Fundamentals of molecular evolution, 2nd ed. Sunderland (Massachusetts): Sinauer Associates. 481 p.

Example Journal Article citation:
Rico C, Rico I, Hewitt G (1996) 470 million years of conservation of microsatellite loci among fish species. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 263: 549–557.