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DAPHNIA MAGNA LAB

BELOW IS INFORMATION ON HOW TO DRAFT A FORMAL LAB REPORT FOR THE EFFECTS OF CHEMICALS ON THE SPECIES DAPHNIA MAGNA

BLANKET STATEMENT ON VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR

Students should be able to use proper grammar throughout the entirety of a lab report.  This is vital to the viewer to see it as a respectable source of information for future trials.  Ask yourself, if a vaccine developer had grammatical errors all through their documentation, would anyone trust their report to invest in the distribution of their vaccine?

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Google Document Specifications: 

  • Margins 1 Inch (Default)

  • Font - Arial (Default)

  • Font Size - 11 (Default)

  • Spacing - Single (Default)

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TITLE

Title:

  • Center the title at the top of the page.  It should include what the lab is about.

  • Make sure it’s specific  

    • Example:

The Effects of Heavy Metal Music on the Heart Rate of Daphnia

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

  • Talk about what is already known - with citations

  • Look for articles that will help you understand everything about Daphnia

  • Include information about their biome, their diet, their anatomy, and their place in their natural ecosystem.  

  • Indicate what you hope to learn (Purpose of the lab)

  • List the experimental design:  Include independent and dependent variables, control factors, constants

  • State your hypothesis:  Example:  If heavy metal music by Bring Me the Horizon is played near the Daphnia organism, then the heart rate of the Daphnia will rise. 

  • DO NOT MAKE UP INFORMATION FROM YOUR HEAD.  USE REAL RESEARCH. 

MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES

Materials 

  • List the materials used in the lab

  • Be specific!


Procedure (Methods)

  • Write your procedures as if they were step by step directions on how to do the lab again.  

  • Imagine all the times you didn’t receive clear directions.  Now is your time to show us what good directions look like.

RESULTS (THE DATA)

  • Create data tables and charts that display your data from your experiment

    • Make sure you have at least 1 table

    • Make sure you have at least one graph or chart

  • Make sure everything is labeled so the viewer can fully understand what he or she is looking at.

  • Use appropriate units.

ANALYSIS (EXPLAINING OR PROCESSING THE DATA IN WRITTEN FORM)

  • Explain what the graph says, but only include observations.  DO NOT include opinions or inferences based on your observations.  

  • Add photos or diagrams of your experiment

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

  • You may want to start by restating your purpose and hypothesis for the experiment.  This will help your reader and you, bridge what you thought would happen to what actually happened in your experiment.

  • State a valid conclusion by including evidence from your data.  Conclusions usually begin by saying, “my hypothesis was rejected because…..” or “my hypothesis was supported because…..” 

  • Explain any unexpected results and why those results may have been obtained.  

    • This includes possible experimental error (mismeasurement, error in data obtaining, error in judgement)

    • This includes possible bumps along the way in terms of repetition during the experiment.

  • Explain further experimental changes you think would improve your data, as well as 

  • Link research to your experimental conclusion.  

    • Example:  My hypothesis that heavy metal music would increase the heart rate of the Daphnia was rejected, because the heart rate actually decreased with heavy metal music playing.  The heart rate had gone from 354 bpm to 150 bpm.  In a prior study done by Castillo (2019), human subjects seemed to have had higher beats per minute while music was playing which is why I thought the same would be true for Daphnia.  It seems apparent that the marine organism Daphnia, has a different response to the stimuli of heavy metal music.  In further research, I would like to try different types of music, as well as increase the number of organisms tested.  Higher trial numbers will lead to more accurate data.  Our resources were limited due to the amount of organisms available.  Future tests on songs with higher/lower frequencies of music, or higher/lower volumes of music, may also be tested.  

SOURCES

Include citations of articles you’ve used in your research.  Simply paste the links of your online research for now.  Eventually you will need to use APA format when writing your source citations.  


You need to cite your sources throughout your paper, usually in the introduction and in your conclusion.  Do so by putting the last name of the author, and the date, like this:  Castillo (2019)

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