Grading Rubric for Laboratory Reports

JOURNAL OF MICROBIOLOGY & BIOLOGY EDUCATION, May 2015, p. 61-68 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v16i1.884

Supplemental Materials for Facilitating Improvements in Laboratory Report Writing Skills with Less Grading: A Laboratory Report Peer-Review Process Jennifer R. Brigati* and Jerilyn M. Swann Maryville College, Maryville, TN 37804

Table of Contents (Total pages 9)

Appendix 1: Laboratory report writing procedure Appendix 2: Laboratory partner contract Appendix 3: Laboratory report writing guide Appendix 4: Laboratory report grading rubric

*Corresponding author. Mailing address: Maryville College, 502 E. Lamar Alexander Pkwy, Maryville, TN 37804. Phone: 865-9818168. E-mail: [email protected]. ©2015 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.

JMBE ▪ 1752 N Street NW, Washington, DC 20036 (202) 942-9299 ▪ fax (202) 942-9329 ▪ [email protected] http://jmbe.asm.org

Appendix 1: Laboratory report writing procedure.

LABORATORY REPORT WRITING PROCEDURE 1. Everyone will need to choose a lab partner. You are free to choose any person in your laboratory section. 2. Each individual will prepare a lab report on their own. Partners should not work together on preparation of the initial reports. Pairs handing in reports with any identical segments will be considered to have cheated. 3. Partners will exchange lab reports (in class for the first lab, on their own for subsequent labs) and make specific corrections/suggestions according to the laboratory report rubric. The reports will then be handed back to the author, who will revise their report as necessary. 4. The marked-up draft copies, as well as the final copies will be handed in to the instructor on the due date for the laboratory report. 5. The instructor will randomly choose one report to grade and both students will receive this grade. Grading will be based on the same rubric that you have been given. 6. The instructor will also look over the remaining documents to check for evidence of cheating or plagiarism. 7. The instructor will retain all documents except the graded report for a minimum of 1 week to allow discussion of grades. The person who reviewed the graded report (ie – the person whose lab was not graded) may earn additional points if they suggested specific corrections on the draft of their lab partners paper that were ignored and this resulted in a reduction of points. To get these points back simply come by my office with the graded report and we’ll compare it to the marked-up draft. This can bring your grade up, but will not influence your partner’s grade in any way, so please don’t feel like you are going to “get them in trouble” because they didn’t take your suggestions. There are several reasons for using this procedure: 1. Single author papers are extremely rare in science. Your name will often go on a paper in which the only input you’ve had is through a review process such as the one we are using. This exercise will teach you how to give constructive criticism in a manner that allows you to influence the final product, so that you feel comfortable putting your name on the final paper. 2. The review process will give each of you the opportunity to fix mistakes that you made in your initial draft before it is graded. This should increase the quality of your laboratory report, resulting in a more pleasant grading experience for your instructor and better grades for the majority of students. 3. This procedure allows for ample and prompt feedback on your laboratory report writing skills. Each student will get to write three full length laboratory reports and will get rapid feedback on their writing from their partner for each report. In addition, each pair will get prompt feedback from the instructor on one of their “final product” reports for each project. By grading only 1 report for each partnership, the instructor can return reports to students in half the usual time. 1

Appendix 2: Laboratory partner contract.

Laboratory Partner Contract

We, the undersigned lab partners in BIO ____, have agreed to the following guidelines regarding the completion of lab reports:

First drafts of lab reports will represent a full effort and will be in a condition suitable to hand in to the instructor for grading. The drafts will be ready for exchange no later than _________________ days prior to the due date of the lab report.

A thorough review of the rough draft will be completed and returned to the author within _______________ days of receiving the draft. The reviewer’s recommendations will be incorporated into the report unless they are contradictory to the author’s interpretation of the lab report guidelines or conceptual understanding. If the author is unsure about whether or not to follow the reviewer’s recommendation, he or she will seek help from the instructor or the course tutor.

If one of the lab partners is in violation of this agreement, the other partner may come to the instructor for intervention. Violators of the agreement will be subject to grade penalties, up to and including a grade of zero on the assignment. Penalties will not affect the partner that reported the violation, but may result in dissolution of the partnership (individual grading) for the lab report in question.

We may be reached at the following contact numbers/email addresses: ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________

___________________

Signature

Date

______________________________________

___________________

Signature

Date

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Appendix 3: Laboratory report writing guide.

Laboratory Report Writing Guide When you write a lab report or someday when you write your thesis or a scientific paper, part of how your instructors or peers will judge your work will be based upon your grammar, spelling, and how logical and coherently you write. A scientific paper should be written to conserve space, not take up as much room as possible. In a minimum amount of space you need to clearly describe what you did and explain its relevance to your reader. In your paper do not use slang, contractions, or undefined abbreviations. Use numbers rather than writing them out (i.e. 10, not ten) when referring to quantities and measurements. Do not capitalize common names and always write scientific names correctly (i.e. Homo sapiens or Homo sapiens). Never quote, instead you should paraphrase (put the idea in your own words). Write in 3rd person and in active voice (the Materials and Methods section should use passive voice). For class purposes do all of your papers double spaced and typed, left justified. Give your paper a title and include a title page with your name, the title, and date on it. The Pechenik text A Short Guide to Writing About Biology is an excellent resource for additional information regarding scientific writing. This is available on Amazon. ABSTRACT: This is a very brief description of what you did, how you did it, and what you found. It is best written last, using the most important 1-2 sentences from each section. It must clearly state your hypothesis or purpose, briefly describe the methods used and the results, and clearly state your conclusions. Your hypothesis or purpose and conclusions should be scientific, and should not refer to learning goals. For example, “The purpose of this lab was to learn about plasmid biology,” is NOT acceptable. INTRODUCTION: This section introduces the reader to the topic of your study and should entice the reader to keep reading. The introduction should contain some background information on the topic and a summary of the results and conclusions of other studies that have been conducted on the same subject. You should give the common and scientific names of organisms in your study. This background information should logically lead to your purpose or hypothesis, which should be put at the end of the introduction. Cite any literature you use to write this section (or any part of the report). See the CSE guide (at the end of this document) for directions on how to style these internal references. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This section should be a detailed account of exactly what you did and what statistical tests you used, but it is written in third person. During your experiment, it is important to jot down notes on what you did, what equipment you used, and what amounts and concentrations of chemicals you used. If you do not you may not remember them later. DO NOT list the materials you used, but incorporate them into the text. Always use past tense and third person (i.e., instead of: ‘I put 0.2 ml of amylase into the test tube’… write ‘Amylase (0.2ml) was added to a test tube’). Use subheadings to clearly separate procedures in this section if the experiment required more than 1 procedure (this is usually the case if the experiment took more than 1 lab period). Let someone else read this section when you finish writing it and see if the reader could actually do exactly what you did. If the reader becomes confused, rewrite it so that exactly what you did is clear. If you followed a protocol precisely from a lab manual or some published source, cite the lab manual or other reference and do not re-write it here. If you followed a lab manual or other protocol, but modified it in some way, refer to the citation but add that you modified it and describe those modifications so that someone else could repeat your experiment. Please note that citing a lab handout is not acceptable because this is not a published document available to the general public.

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RESULTS: This section begins with text – ALWAYS. You never present tables and/or figures without telling what it is first. The text section is brief, written in past tense, and summarizes the content of the figures and tables. Tables and figures should be embedded within the text of the results section after the text where it is mentioned. If you must place the tables/figures on separate pages, they should follow immediately after the page on which they are first mentioned. Tables or figures should be numbered consecutively (Table 1 or Figure 1) and should have a title and explanatory sentences that explain what is shown. The title and explanatory sentences should give enough information so that the table or figure can stand alone without the reader having to refer to the text. Figures are labeled (title and sentences) below the figure and tables are labeled (title and sentences) above the table. Never present the data in both a table and a figure. The text of the results section should summarize and bring out the important points of the results, but should not repeat what is in the tables and figures. The results section should not contain an interpretation of the results; this will come in the discussion section. Use Excel or some other graphing software to produce your graphs, and use Word or Excel to make tables. If you are unclear about which graphing style (scatter plot, bar graph, etc.) to use for different types of data, ask me. DISCUSSION: This is where you get to be creative and use some independent thought. In the discussion section you interpret your results in terms of how they compare to what you expected (i.e. your hypothesis). Tell whether you did or did not support your hypothesis. If your results do not support your hypothesis explain why. In science results are never wrong or incorrect because they happened for a reason! You may, however, get unexpected results, or your results may be invalid if the controls in your experiment fail. Give possible SCIENTIFIC reasons for unexpected results rather than: “Sally must have forgotten to add the enzyme.” Explain the significance of the results in relation to known scientific literature. When appropriate, propose follow up studies that could refine the results you found. As with the rest of the report, write in 3rd person using active voice (the Materials section may require passive voice, by its nature). Cite any literature you use to support (or refute) your ideas. Your discussion section should end with a conclusions paragraph. The conclusions are not placed in a separate section.

REFERENCES: Materials that you cite in your introduction and discussion should be cited according to the CSE Style guide shown below. CSE Style Guide Citation are to be given in Name Year format. References are listed alphabetically at the end of the research paper. These items are referred to in the body of the paper using the In-Text style. ARTICLE - SCHOLARLY JOURNAL References: Meise CJ, Johnson DL, Stehlik LL, Manderson J, Shaheen P. 2003. Growth rates of juvenile Winter Flounder under varying environmental conditions. Trans Am Fish Soc 132(2): 225-345. In-Text: (Meise et al. 2003) ARTICLE – SCHOLARLY JOURNAL - ELECTRONIC Cite as you would for a journal article in print. Do not include retrieval date information or link. ARTICLE - MONTHLY PERIODICAL (i.e., a magazine, not peer-reviewed) Jarrell KF, Bayley DP, Correia JD, Thomas NA. 1999 July. Recent excitement about the archaea. BioScience 49(7): 530-541. BOOK References: McCormac JS, Kennedy G. 2004. Birds of Ohio. Auburn (WA): Lone Pine. 360 p.

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In-Text: (McCormac and Kennedy 2004) BOOK WITH MULTIPLE EDITIONS Ferrini AF, Ferrini RL.1993. Health in the later years. 2nd ed. Dubuque (IA): Brown & Benchmark. 470 p. BOOK WITH EDITORS Gilman AG, Rall TW, Nies AS, Taylor P, editors. 1990. The pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 8th ed. New York: Pergamon. 1811 p. BOOK CHAPTER McDaniel TK, Valdivia RH. 2005. New tools for virulence gene discovery. In: Cossart P, Boquet P, Normark S, Rappuoli R, editors. Cellular microbiology. 2nd ed. Washington (DC): ASM Press. p 473-488.

DISSERTATION/THESIS Dettmers JM. 1995. Assessing the trophic cascade in reservoirs: the role of an introduced predator [dissertation]. Columbus (OH): Ohio State University. 188 p. In-Text: (Dettmers 1995) CONFERENCE PAPER Clarke A, Crame JA. 2003. Importance of historical processes in global patterns of diversity. In: Blackburn TM, Gaston KJ, editors. Macroecology: concepts and consequences. Proceedings of the 43rd annual symposium of the British Ecological Society. 2002 Apr 17-19. Birmingham. Malden (MA): Blackwell. p 130-152. CONFERENCE ABSTRACT Swanson TA, Blair P, Madigan L. 2004. Reduction in medication errors through redesign of the medication use system [abstract]. In: American Society of Health-System Pharmacists 39th midyear meeting. 2004 Dec 5-9. Orlando. Bethesda (MD): American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. MCS-28. TECHNICAL REPORT Ford PL, Fagerlund RA, Duszynski DW, Polechla PJ. 2004. Fleas and lice of mammals in New Mexico. Fort Collins (CO): USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. General Technical Report nr RMRS-GTR-123. 57 p. INTERNET SOURCE Ford PL. British Medical Journal [Internet]. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ; 2004 July 10 [cited 2005 July 7]; Available from: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/ _______________________________________________________________________ GENERAL INFORMATION Citing a Source in the Text When citing an entire work, document the last name of the author and the year of publication. No page numbers are necessary. The citation format will vary according to whether the author's name is mentioned in the sentence being cited. Author Name Not Included in Sentence Format: Cite both the last name of the author and the publication date. The citation is placed in parentheses directly following the information being cited. When the citation falls at the end of the sentence, the parenthetical note precedes the end punctuation (the Period). One space separates the author's name and the date. 5

Example: In one such study (Anderson 1997)... Author Name Included in Sentence Format: When the author's name is mentioned in the sentence, you may omit this name from the parentheses to avoid redundancy, using only the date. The date (in parentheses) should follow directly after mention of the author's name. Example: Anderson (1997) determined that... CSE References formatting rules 1. References is the most common title, however Cited References or Literature Cited are acceptable titles as well. 2. The end documentation begins on the last page of your document, not on a separate one. If your document is 6½ pages long, the References list should begin on page 7, directly below the concluding text of your document. 3. Double space between title and first entry; single-space all other entries. The first line of each entry is flush-left. Indent each subsequent line five spaces from the left margin (the normal tabbutton default space). 4. Arrange entries alphabetically. Excerpt from a sample paper: Made naturally, antibiotics are designed to interfere with or kill other microorganisms (Ambile-Cuevas et al. 1995; Levy 1998). Microbes that make the antibiotics have devised ways to protect themselves from their self-manufactured toxins (Ambile-Cuevas et al. 1995). This resistance can also be passed on to other bacteria, even those of different species. When a population of bacteria is exposed to an antibiotic (which occurs, for example, when we take antibiotics), those bacteria NOT resistant to the drug die first. The resistant ones are left behind to produce more resistant bacteria (Ambile-Cuevas et al. 1995; Levy 1998). Some activities contributing to the observed increase in resistant bacteria include the following (in no particular order):  Not taking antibiotics as prescribed (Ambile-Cuevas et al. 1995; Levy 1998)  The unnecessary use of antibacterial products (Levy 1998)  Doctors prescribing antibiotics when they are not needed (Ambile-Cuevas et al. 1995; Levy 1998)  Mixing antibiotics with livestock feed (Holmberg et al. 1987; Levy 1998) Resistant bacteria pose an ever-increasing threat. Several strains of the tuberculosis bacterium, resistant to one, two, or even three antibiotics, have been isolated. Some bacteria seem to acquire the DNA of other bacteria, and therefore antibiotic resistance genes, more readily than others (Grady 1996). This has produced particularly pathogenic strains of some food borne bacteria, such as E. coli and Salmonella, which no longer respond to antibiotic treatment (Holmberg et al. 1987). Outbreaks of these infections have made headlines recently. [end of excerpt from text] References Ambile-Cuevas CF, Cardemas-Garcia M, Ludgar M. 1995. Antibiotic resistance. American Scientist 83(4): 320-329. Grady D. 1996. Quick-change pathogens gain on evolutionary edge. Science 274: 1081. Holmberg S, Osterholm M, Sanger K, Cohen M. 1987. Drug-resistant Salmonella from animals fed antimicrobials. New England Journal of Medicine 31: 617-622. Levy SB. 1998. The challenge of antibiotic resistance. Scientific American 278 (3): 4653. This guide was modified from http://library.osu.edu/sites/guides/cbegd.php and http://www.monroecc.edu/depts/library/cbe.htm.

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Appendix 4: Laboratory report grading rubric.

Grading Rubric for Laboratory Reports

Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar

10

8

5

3

10pts = 20) in spelling, punctuation, capitalization & grammar. 3 pts = many grammar and spelling errors made the paper difficult to read. Next report must be initialed by a writing center tutor.

Format & Style

10

8

5

3

10 pts = Report contains appropriate title. Report contains appropriate sections (with appropriate headings). Report contains properly formatted figures/tables with appropriate numbers and legends. Methods and results are written in the past tense. Report has a serious tone (no jokes or creative writing). Scientific names are italicized or underlined. 8 points = Any one of the above requirements not met. 5 points = Any two of the above requirements are not met 3 points = Any four of the above requirements are not met OR instructions for completing the lab report were clearly ignored

Abstract

10

8

5

3

10 pts = Single paragraph. Clearly states hypothesis or purpose. Briefly mentions methods and results. Clearly states the main conclusion(s). 8 pts = Single paragraph. Clearly states the hypothesis or purpose and conclusions, but does not mention methods and/or results. 5 pts = Single or multiple paragraphs. Clearly states the hypothesis or purpose or the conclusions, but not both. 3 pts = Abstract is present but does not clearly state the hypothesis or purpose or the conclusions

Introduction

10

8

5

3

10 pts = Gives sufficient background such that an educated reader can understand the reason for performing the experiment. Connects the experimental goals or methods to previous research (from lab handouts, text, journal articles, etc.). Clearly states the hypothesis or purpose of the experiment. 8 pts = Background information is not completely sufficient, or is too verbose (does not focus on justifying the experiment), and/or background information seems disconnected from the experiment, but the hypothesis or purpose of the experiment is clearly stated. Alternatively, background information in sufficient but the purpose or hypothesis is not clearly stated 5pts = Introduction contains very little background information. hypothesis or purpose of the experiment is in the introduction, but may or may not be clear. 3pts = Introduction contains very little background information. Introduction does not state the hypothesis or purpose of the experiment.

Methods

10

8

5

3

10 pts = Written with level of detail necessary for a classmate to replicate the experiment. Appropriate subheadings used to divide the section. Appropriate rationales given for the methods when necessary. Written in paragraphs and full sentences, not as numbered lists. 8 pts = Lacks appropriate detail for one procedure or one of the other three requirements is not met 5 pts = Lacks appropriate detail for one or two procedures, and one of the other three requirements may not be met. Or the section is written with sufficient detail but two of the other requirements are not met. 3 pts = Written in a way such that a classmate could not replicate the experiment.

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Results

10

8

5

3

10 pts = Reports all appropriate data. Tables or Graphs contain sufficient information to be understood outside of the report. Draws attention to trends or major findings. Does not draw conclusions about the data or speculate about anything based on the data. 8 pts = Reports all appropriate data. Draws attention to trends or major findings. One of the other two requirements is not met. 5 pts = Reports sufficient data. Tables and graphs present but might not be stand-alone. Speculations or conclusions may be included. 3 pts = Does not report pertinent data collected during the experiment. Tables and/or graphs may be omitted.

Discussion

10

8

5

3

10 pts = Provides meaningful interpretation of results. Provides scientific reasoning for unexpected or negative results if appropriate. Includes a conclusion paragraph. Draws appropriate conclusions based on the data that are not overly broad. 8 pts = Provides meaningful interpretation of results. Provides some reasoning for negative or unexpected results if appropriate. One of the other two requirements not met. 5 pts = Provides some interpretation of results. Includes some sort of conclusions. 3 pts = Interpretation of results is not clearly explained. No conclusions are made based on the results.

Literature Cited

10

8

5

3

0

10 pts = Sufficient and appropriate sources cited. Sources are cited appropriately in the text (Author Date). All references are formatted appropriately according to CSE guidelines. 8 pts = Sufficient and appropriate sources cited. Sources are cited in the text. Most references are formatted appropriately according to CSE guidelines. 5 pts = Some references are cited in the text and listed in a references cited section, however, formatting is incorrect for all references, or insufficient or inappropriate references are used. 3 pts = References are listed in some format. References are not cited in the text. 0 pts = no references cited (section missing)

Conceptual Understanding

20

15

10

5

0

20 pts = All scientific terms are used accurately and appropriately. Scientific concepts are well explained. The purpose of the experiment is well justified and the conclusions are well supported by the experimental evidence. 15 pts = Some scientific terms are misused and/or some key background information necessary to support the purpose or conclusions has been left out, but the author still demonstrates that he/she understands the major scientific concepts pertinent to the report. The conclusions are well supported by the experimental evidence. 10 pts = The author has inaccurately described one of the major scientific concepts, and may have left out some key background information. However, the conclusions are still well supported by the experimental evidence. 5 pts = Several of the major concepts are inaccurately described or missing, and/or the results are misinterpreted. 0 pts = Report grossly misstates the scientific concepts and principles that are the basis for the experiment, or grossly misinterprets the results.

Deductions: Lateness