PSA testing for prostate cancer.
General Guidelines for Reports
Use 12 point Arial or Times New Roman
Double spaced, single sided pages.
Always use full sentences, never dot points.
Use past tense.
Do not quote, ever. Always use your own words and refer to the source of information.
Quotes are not acceptable in biomedical sciences. One of the important skills you are developing is the ability to express scientific concepts in your own words. The key to good scientific writing is to be clear and concise. It is NOT about using long verbose sentences.
Word Limits: In the “real” world you will come across word or character limits for many things you might write. Word limits are a maximum and not a target. They should not be exceeded. If you submitted your work for publication in a scientific journal and the title was one character too long or the summary was one word above the word limit, it would be immediately rejected before anyone had even read it.
Report Layout and contents
Title page:
Name:
Student Number:
Partner(s) Name(s):
Subject code and title:
Title of the Experiment:
Abstract (250 word limit – a maximum not a target)
The abstract is essentially a concise summary of a full report. This is usually the last section written, but is included at the beginning of the report. It should briefly explain what the experiment is about, and give a concise summary of the results and their significance. In the “real” world it will be the only section read by most readers, so it must be clear.
An abstract needs to outline the following:
A brief introductory statement (can be one or two sentences)
Outline the purpose/aim of the experiment
Methods used in the experiment
Results (some mean values if available, but not all values -pick out what is important). You might even include P values for the most important data in the study.
Conclusions from the experiment related back to your aim (usually one or two sentences at the most).
NB. References are not included in the abstract.
[TIP – write the abstract last, it is easier to write after all other parts of your report are completed]
Introduction (500 word limit – again a maximum not a target):
The introduction section presents the relevant background to the experiment. You should write for your audience (your peers) – you can assume that the reader has a sound basic scientific knowledge but very briefly explain new terms and concepts that would make it easier to understand. DO NOT review the whole topic (that is what review articles are for). Indeed, your introduction should be as concise as possible.
Outline the principle of the experiment (using literature and provide in text referencing)
In text referencing should be included, using the APA or Harvard Referencing System.
The introduction should conclude with a statement of the Aim(s) of the study.
[TIP – try to be concise and focus on the detail relevant to the experiment]
Aim:
State the objectives of the experiment to be performed at the end of the introduction (There is no need to have a separate heading for your aims). Remember to focus on the “experimental” aims, not the “teaching aims” or “learning objectives”.
Method:
All that is required in this section is “As per Laboratory protocol (subject title etc), pages, title
Results (no word limit)
This section should describe your results but not interpret them (save that for the discussion). The results may be represented graphically. However, it is not enough to just give the data – you must also describe in words the changes that you observed. Write paragraphs of text describing what happened and referring to figures, etc. Ensure figures have legends that explain what the figure shows. The results should be described in the body of the text, not just in the figure or table legend.
To test how well you have written the text of the results section, remove the figures and table and read just the text. You should know the basic results you obtained just from reading the description you have written. When you then add the figures/tables it should be even clearer and easy to read.
[TIP – label all pictures and graphs (e.g. Figure 1: Effect of noradrenaline on blood pressure)
[TIP – Do not explain things here, keep explanations for the discussion]
Before you start writing your report, analyse your data
How to present the results in your report
You can plot graphs in Excel or using any other graphing software you prefer. Make sure you add labels (with units) on the X and Y axis. Provide a title and if you have anything to explain or more information to give provide a legend below the figure.
Provide text DESCRIBING what happened during the experiment e.g. what was the mean value and standard error of the mean and was there any obvious difference between conditions. You can state any statistical values in the paragraph also (if you have any P values). Refer to the figures when describing your results.
Discussion (600-750 word limit – a maximum not a target)
First this should address the aim of the study.
This is where you explain and discuss what the results mean.
Outline any implications of your results and any problems you encountered.
You can use references and your results to support your answers.
In text referencing should be included.
Summarise what you found (your own data or group data). Explain your findings. Present any ideas/hypotheses you might have and any evidence to support or deny the idea (if you have any). Are there weaknesses/strengths to the study? How might you improve the study? The important thing with a discussion is to explain what the results mean? Finally, finish with a short concluding sentence or paragraph.
