Bioassessment Report Tips - Fall 2010 (Thanks to our past Teaching Assistants, including Scott Colborne for their contribution.) Tips for Lab Report Write-up The quality of the lab report is dependent on the primary literature references (especially Introduction and Discussion sections) You are instructed to write reports as a journal article. This means Title and Abstract are on separate pages; followed by Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion and References (references also should begin on separate page). State the purpose of your study. Keep in mind our investigation focused on assessing the impact of a drainage ditch on the aquatic community along the Speed River. You are required to write out a full materials and methods section. You may reference HACH tests (cite the lab manual) and Metrics (cite marie's website). Website citation: Rush, m.T. 2010. Bioassessment of the Speed River. Data and Metrics for analyzing biological data [online]. Available from http://www.uoguelph.ca/zoology/rush/zooBIOL4350www/BPWFall2010/Bioassess2010/Bioassess2010a.html [access date]. Structuring a paragraph: A paragraph should include just one topic/idea being discussed in it. For example, you could talk about Species Diversity and what it meant in relation to our study in one paragraph. However, to then move onto the aquatic ecosystem would require starting a new paragraph. As well, in the discussion especially, it is important to not end a paragraph with a reference. It needs to be related back to this study and why we should care about it.   General paragraph structure example: Introduction to paragraph topic _ Supporting studies/evidence _ Concluding statement to tie it back to your work Create an introduction and discussion that follow a proper flow. So introduction going from broad to specifc and discussion going from specific back outwards, without going to far out and making statements that can't be supported by our data. Figures and tables are not part of the 'text' part of the paper. They are to be placed at the end of the paper, (following the references), all tables first , then figures. Tables are to have no vertical lines in them. Figure and Table captions are double spaced. References are also double spaced. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (CJFAS) format must be followed. Follow the "Instructions to Authors" link from: http://www.uoguelph.ca/~cjfas/ or go directly to: http://pubs.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/cgi-bin/rp/rp2_prog_e?cjfas_instruct_e.html When using abbreviations (i.e. PMA), the full term (i.e. Percent Model Affinity (PMA)) is to be written out the first time in text only! From that point on only use the abbreviation. The Abstract and Figure /Table titles are considered separate and require full terms and abbreviations the first time as well. Do not present the same data in a Table and a Figure format- just once, in whatever form you feel best represents the data. Do not present Raw Data. Figure/Table titles need to have enough detail to stand on their own. Figure titles are placed below figure, Table titles are placed above table. When presenting average values it is important to include SEM mg/L should read Be consistent when discussing time frames- i.e. do not switch between days and hours throughout paper. Refer to Pages 3 - 5 in Beamish, Mackie, Cottenie, Frank & Rush, 2010. Biology of Polluted Waters Laboratory Manual 2010.

Due Date: Monday, November 29, 2010, before noon, in SCIE 2502 (marie's office) Contribution: 20% of final grade Breakdown: Abstract (10%) Introduction (10%) Methods (10%) Results (30%) Discussion (30%) Title (2.5%) References (7.5%) Limit of 10 pages (double space) as follows: Title Page (one page) Abstract (one page) Introduction; Methods; Results; Discussion (seven page limit) References (one page) Exceptions: Appendices (which include tables, figures, information on methods, etc.) no page limit.

Created: Nov. 16, 2010