LabReportWritingTips&Hints


 * T.B.D. - post Lab Notebook vs. Lab Report document here - Dr. B 12/31/12**
 * T.B.D. - post Lab Notebook grading rubric**

**Title**
incorporate your motivation and your variables e.g. Virtual Screening a diverse compound library for inhibitors of DHFR for the treatment of Anthrax infection

Intro
Start with general background info that you have looked up. Don't start out with the objective.This will allow the reader to get the overall picture first before delving into the purpose and details.

should include outside information not found in handout should contain the main equation (for example: A=Ebc) history and applications of the technique (e.g. spectrophotometry)

End the Intro with a quick summary of what was done in this experiment with your objective and why it is relevant. You could include your hypothesis here. Saying your objective was to 'Learn how to use a spectrophotometer....' is not a good science objective. It needs to be something with a result.

Hypothesis:
That absorbance increases with increasing concentration is an OK hypothesis. But a better one would be 'absorbance increases with increasing concentration within a limited range' (because it is based upon the spectrophotometer's limits of detection).

Another example, "In the present study the enzyme activity of three variants of the DHFR enzyme were tested using spectrophotometry to assess the effect of point mutations. It was hypothesized that the hydrophobic variant would show reduced activity."

Materials & Methods:
don't list items in one big chunk at the beginning, rather mention each item as you come to it in the procedures

Do not use COMMANDS (it is not an instruction book), but rather relay what was done in the experiment in past tense.
 * BAD:** Click on the A tab in PyMol and then select the 'Align' command
 * GOOD:** In the PyMol interface, the 'Align' command was selected under the A tab.


 * BAD:** I calculated the concentration of substrate....
 * GOOD:** The concentration for the substrate was a calculated...

Only need the minimum necessary info to have a colleague familiar with your lab practices be able to complete the experiment

Results & Discussion:
Captions for Figures go below the Figure Captions for Tables go above the Tables
 * Captions**
 * Include descriptive captions - they should tell the reader everything they need to know to understand what is in the image.
 * Explain what they are looking at and don't assume the reader knows.
 * Do not put much (any) analysis in your figure captions - that should be saved for the paragraphs of text that follow the images.

Make statements of observations - what do you see in the data -- trends seen in data - i.e. if absorbance increases with concentration - state that (even though it is obvious on the graph). Often times, when you write down what you see - you will start to see more in depth! Discuss why you think the data is the way it is or how should it really be? address whether your hypothesis held true based upon your results
 * Text of Results & Discussion**

Conclusions
re-cap of what was done in this study (Start out with a 1-2 sentence) State key finding(s) from the data Statement of Future Directions/applications - Try to be specific. (1-2 sentences)


 * BAD:** I finished the lab quickly and had no real problems. It was important to do every step carefully. In the future we will use these skills in more labs which will make drug discovery go faster.


 * GOOD:** The catalysis rates of the three variants of DHFR were measured with the hydrophilic change yielding the least activity. This is in contrast to our hypothesis and consequently helps to elucidate why this strain of bacteria is less virulent. This finding can be applied toward directing which classes of compounds should be virtually screened to more adequately bind the highly virulent strain. Using this more rational approach may serve to speed up the discovery of a cure for infectious diseases that are dependent upon DHFR.

Examples:
.........