General Biology 202

Abstract and Intro Writing Assignment.

This handout has a list of the MAJOR elements needed in each section
of a lab report. If they are presented properly, it is easy to secure most
of the points possible on each report.
Both the abstract and introduction are vital parts of your report. As
with every section of such a paper, there are elements that absolutely
MUST be found in these sections, and elements that absolutely must
NOT be found. Below are brief descriptions of both sections, and a
rudimentary checklist of the expected elements of each section of your
report.

The Abstract:
The abstract is the first section of your report, though it may be best to
write it last. It serves as a SHORT summary of the report in its entirety.
It should be entirely self-contained. The reader should be able to
understand the major points, purposes, and findings of your
experiment by only reading this section. It MUST include:

A brief summary of the background (which will be laid out in full

in the introduction)
A clearly stated hypothesis it needs to be supremely clear that
this is the idea, theory or question being investigated
A CONSICE presentation of experimental method.
Presentation of ALL key data, and significance values.
And a conclusion of the experiment. Was your hypothesis
supported? Refuted? How did you interpret your findings?

The challenge in the abstract is concision. You have to include so much

information, and all of it must be pertinent, in a paragraph. A quasi-rule
of thumb is to shoot for 5-7 sentences; these sentences dont have to
be short- concision means saying as much as you can in as few words
as possible.
Generally, abstracts are written in the passive voice.
As part of the whole report, your abstract will be worth 10% of your
grade.

The Introduction:
Your introduction is just that: the introduction, the lead-in, the
preamble. Here you layout all the necessary background, or underlying
information needed to demonstrate that your experiment is valid,
backed by documented evidence, and lay out what your
expected/predicted outcomes are. It needs to be a logical progression
of supported claims (with proper in-text citations) that lead your
readers to the same mental starting point you were in at the beginning
of the experiment. Your introduction should be brief- extraneous
information need not be included. One of the biggest points about the
introduction is that it covers ALL topics that will be addressed later in
the paper. Your intro MUST include:

A clearly stated issue or question that your experiment

addresses
Sufficient background information to support your hypotheses
Clearly stated and supported hypotheses
All facts are supported by a reference; all opinions have an
example

While this list is shorter than the list of elements needed in an abstract,
the intro is no less difficult. It is imperative that you be sure to avoid
plagiarism. Any fact or idea that did not originate with you should have
proper credit given, and the method for citing is equally precise.
Review Appendix A in your lab manual, or see Jan Pecheniks, A Short
Guide to Writing About Biology, for detailed information on citing
source. Or you can ask. You have peers. You have instructors. You have
resources. Utilize them.
The intro is worth 15% of your grade.

Mechanics:
In addition to the necessary elements in each section, your over-all
grade is also determined by the skill with the English language.
Reports need to have a level of maturity and thoughtfulness. Simply
sentences are often not sufficient to convey the information needed.

You must be able to form and present a mature and well- reasoned
series of claims, supporting your hypothesis. You must use proper
spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Scientific writing does not need to be dry and boring, and there are
some cases in which bending of the guidelines (not the MUSTS) can
lead to a more engaging and enjoyable paper- both for you to write,
and everyone to read. As with everything else in this course, WE WANT
YOU TO THINK. Engage yourself. Be willing to go out on a limb with
some claims youll make, and have the evidence to support it. Make
the most of this experience. And dont hesitate to ask questions.

Materials & Methods:

Your materials and methods section is the part of the paper
where you detail HOW you went about investigating your question. You
NEED to be specific in critical areas. This way, anyone else can
replicate your experiment. Ultimately, scientists aim to only formulate
theories on replicable results. If it is something only you can do, it isnt
important. Keep those points in mind. An ideal materials and methods
section would be all a reader would need to reproduce your experiment
exactly.
There are important aspects to consider, and some short cuts.
When you document the materials used, dont just list them. Certainly
never make a bulleted list. Describe what you used, how and why, and
cover them in the order they were utilized. If you have a very complex
set up or detailed processes, you can reference the protocol you got
them from- in your case, you CAN reference your lab manual/
handouts, but you MUST say what you did in your paper, you cant just
say we followed the protocol described in our manual.
Expertly written M&M sections contain the following elements:

Methods are written in active voice, past tense you DID this
experiment. Explain it that way
How the experiment worked is clearly written, and
understandable. This means that every step you took is either
supported with rationale why, or it is blatantly clear. (i.e. we were
analyzing mass, so we weighed our sample)
Precision of equipment is included (were you on a 10x or 40x
objective lens?)
Data analysis is briefly explained (statistical tests, averages, etc)
Not how it works, but what you used and why
When applicable, describe the organism examined, or field site
investigated.

Again, you did this. We encourage you to think about what you are
doing and why, as scientists, not as students who are here for a grade.
Writing your reports goes much better if you approach it as an attempt
to relate what you did to an interested party. In a full report, M&M
counts for 15 points (15%).

Results:
The results section is generally the largest section of your paper. It is without
a doubt the MOST IMPORTANT SECTION. It may seem daunting at first, but all
you are doing is presenting your data. The catch is that you do it in multiple
forms, and the goal is to provide an unbiased, uninterpreted account of your
findings to your reader. This section is an unbiased summary of your
findings. You will use words, graphs, tables, figures, pictures, etc to
communicate the information you collected.
As Pechenick puts it, it is NOT the place to discuss WHY, HOW, or WHAT
YOU THINK ABOUT the results. All you do is PRESENT THE RESULTS, POINT
OUT KEY TRENDS or MAJOR OBSERVATIONS.
Why all the caps? Because so many times is it done wrong. Heres
what MUST be in your results section:

Writing summarizes important points and findings Dont just repeat

the raw information from your figures. Summarize, process.
Results are written in past tense- remember, you already did this
experiment, and this is what you found
Results are written in active tense- WHEN APPLICABLE. (Remember,
active does not mean present)
ALL statements about the data are referenced to figures and
supported by statistical analysis when applicable
All your data is processed no Raw data (no big tables of numbers
upon numbers
You dont have a table and a graph of the same data
Your tables & graphs present the data in a useful, and effective format
All figures have informative captions or legends

All figures are numbered in the order you refer to them- and ordered
that way
All figures are fully explanatory in and of themselves- they contain all
the information necessary to fully understand them in the form of
title, axes labels, captions, and/or legends

There is a lot that goes in to your results section, but most of the things you
need to remember are formatting details. The overarching idea is easy.
Present your findings; do not tell us what they mean, or what you conclude
from them. Just state the data draw your readers attention to important
aspects or trends that exist in your data, and do it in multiple forms (text,
figures). In your full report, the Results section is worth 20% of the grade.

Mechanics:
As always, mechanics are still important be sure you refer your readers to
appropriate figures as if you were doing an in-text citation, be sure you use
proper spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Discussion/Conclusion:
In you intro, you presented the theoretical aspects of your experiment.
Why you were doing it, why it would work, and what you expected to
find. In your materials and methods section, you detailed exactly WHAT
you did thoroughly enough that anyone could replicate your
experiment. In results, you summarized what you found, your data,
etc. You pointed out significant trends, and key data points. Now, you
bring elements from all those sections together. You finally INTERPRET
your data, and explain what you think it means in light of your initial
assumptions. You discuss whether your findings lend support to your
hypothesis, or if they indicate something else is going on. This section
is where your opinion of your findings gets told.
In some papers, the discussion and conclusion sections are held
separate, in others, they are combined. If you CHOSE to separate the
sections, then you would save the rejections or acceptance of your
hypothesis, and other experimental conclusions for later. If you
combine them, then everything is in one section.
Be sure your section (s) have these elements:

Your data (results) are interpreted through the framework of

assumptions you posited in your hypothesis and introduction.

You clearly separate factual statement from speculation or opinion.

You spend time logically discussing unexpected or unusual findings
from a biological view, rather than as an excuse or a mistake
All facts and opinions are supported with references to your data,
the literature, or with an example
You clearly state whether you accept or reject your hypothesis
given your findings.
You present follow-up questions, future studies, or ways you would
manipulate/ alter the experiment for more relevant results.
The discussion/ conclusion section is worth 15% of the paper.

Literatue Cited:
The end of a full report MUST contain citations for ALL references
used in your paper. There are a few formatting rules for organization of
your literature cited section.
In biology, there is only ONE format for citing sources in your
literature-cited section. This format varies depending on the nature of
the resource- See Pechenicks book for an exhaustive list of proper
citing for all types of sources. There are, however, two accepted
FORMATS for citations. If you are writing a large, complex paper with
multiple sources supporting every claim you make, it is common to use
a numerical citation process- in that case, every in-text citation is
simply a number referring to which source you used.
If you do a numerical in-text, your literature cited section is a list
of numbers next to each number is the corresponding resource you
are referencing. In this case, citations appear in the lit. cited section in
the ORDER they were cited throughout the paper. If you DID NOT use
numerical in-text citations, but instead did the Author, Year format,
then your literature cited will be in ALPHABETICAL order of the last

names of the primary author of your references. If that is confusing,

remember that biological citations mainly list authors first, in a last
name, first name order. So listing your references alphabetically by
primary authors last name is a fancy way of saying, alphabetically by
the first word in each citation. If you have multiple citations with the
same authors, arrange them in order of publication, with the oldest
being first.

Mechanics:
As always, mechanics are still important be sure you refer your readers to
appropriate figures as if you were doing an in-text citation, be sure you use
proper spelling, grammar and punctuation.