Laboratory 00

Introduction to the Laboratory

Comparative Animal Physiology Laboratory Manual

Objectives

This section describes the knowledge and skills you should acquire as a result of the laboratory exercise. You may wish to use these objectives as a general guide in preparing for, performing, and evaluating your own performance in each laboratory exercise.

Introduction

Procedures

The procedures section contains a step-by-step description of the things you will do for each exercise. Do not, however, expect a complete cook book. In some of the labs you will be required to design experiments to test hypothesis presented to you. In others the hypothesis themselves become your responsibility. Laboratory protocols and equipment operation instructions are not directly included in the lab exercises. These step by step instructions for specific tasks are collected into appendices. Lab exercises will include links to specific appendices or you may browse the list.

There will be significant pre-laboratory preparatory procedures involved in many laboratory exercises. It is necessary to be aware of these in time to complete them prior to your lab meeting. Labs requiring pre-lab preparation will be annotated in large red fonts and reminders will be distributed through Blackboard.

Evaluation

Some amount of written work will be assigned for practically every lab, and this part of the instructions tells you what it will be. For most labs, this will be a formal laboratory report written in the form of a manuscript for submission for journal publication and written according to the guidelines in the Biology Department Style Manual. For others, it may be a poster presentation or simply data analysis, presentation and interpretation. Lab reports will be due at the beginning of the lab on the week following completion of the experiment. Ten percent will be deducted from your grade for each day the lab is late. No late lab reports will be accepted after reports from the rest of the class are handed back. You are expected to abide by the policies on academic honesty as stated in the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities. I recommend that you read the section on plagiarism in the Biology Department Style Manual as it is not that easy to recognize close paraphrasing problems in your own work.

Student Presentations

For Some laboratory exercises, each lab team will be required to present their experimental design and the results of their experiments. These may take the form of oral (platform presentation) or poster presentations.

Laboratory policy.

Attendance

Attendance is required.
If you have a significant conflict (athletic event, family affairs, etc) communicate with me and make arrangements for an alternative lab time. If you are ill, communicate with me as soon as possible and establish a time table for completing the lab as soon as possible. In addition, it is essential to be on time for lab as the introductory lecture will include any changes in procedure, and most labs require every minute scheduled as well as the occasional unscheduled minute.

Preparation for lab

It may seam a bit redundant at this point in your carrier, but but both your success in and your enjoyment of the laboratory will depend on you being prepared.  At the very least you need to read the manual and understand the concepts being explored .  You will often be asked to produce a hypothesis or design an experiment to test a you have been given. You will often be collecting complex data sets. If you have though these through prior to lab, especially if you are prone to spontaneous human combustion.made some notes or set up data tables in your notebook, you will have much more time in lab for your experiments and avoid the frustration of running over the lab period.  In addition, as you prepare for each lab you should make note of the cautions and warnings that apply to each laboratory exercise. Some labs will, for example, involve field collections so you may want to dress appropriately. Others incorporate open flames, so you should avoid loose clothing or hair.

Some labs will require considerable experimental pre-lab preparation. Animals may have to be acclimated to new conditions for days or even weeks.  You may need to remove an endocrine gland from some beast well in advance of the lab.  These preparations are critical.  If they aren't completed, you will not be able to perform the experiments of make the required observations.  The lab manual is annotated to make this clear and frequent reminders will be issued.

Lab Notebooks

Virtually all scientists keep lab notebooks. In this course, you must keep a notebook that contains a clear, accurate record of your work. As in most professional laboratories your notebook will never leave the premises so it is important to keep a carbon (not Xerox) copy of your notes for your own use. An important characteristic of a lab notebook is that it have all your observations, data, notes, and comments in it. Therefore, you should get into the habit of writing things down in your notebook first. Neatness and clarity are important, but not nearly as important as completeness. It must include all of the data that you collect, any procedural changes, and any special instructions not included in the laboratory manual Always write the date at the top of the page, and write a short title that will remind you what you were doing. It's often a good idea to start with a new page each day, but don't be doctrinaire about this (for example, if you're running a multi-day experiment, it would be silly to start every observation on a new page).

Do Not collect your data on scratch paper and record it in your notebook later! The one time your lab partner uses the scratch paper to wipe up trichloroacetic acid will be the one time that you hadn't quite got around to transcribing irreplaceable data into your notebook. If you get printed data from an instrument (e.g., a computer printout), staple it into your notebook. If you look up a formula in a reference book, write the reference in your notebook . Everything goes into your notebook.

Some people seem to be naturally neat and organized, others messy and disorganized. As far as we know, great scientists are found in both groups with about equal frequency. If you're not naturally neat and organized, I suggest the left-hand/right-hand technique: write down your notes on the left-hand side of each page in whatever way you want, and then when you have a minute copy them neatly, legibly, and in some reasonable organization onto the right-hand side of the same page. Don't ever get much more than a page behind, because after a day or so even you might have trouble remembering what all those hen-scratching on the left-hand side meant.

Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

Some of you may, on one of those days, get completely skunked in lab - your fish dies, your oysters migrate to Miami for the season, anything can and will happen. Should disaster strike, you are still responsible for obtaining usable data in each experiment. It might well be necessary to repeat your experiments. On occasion, there will be nothing more to learn from repetition of your attempts and I will suggest that you should:

• Record in your notebook exactly what happened.
• Borrow someone else's data.

In your lab report indicate what happened, why you think your results are useless and whose data you are using.It is important to remember that the laboratory environment requires constant attention to safety.

Lab report Submission

Lab reports are submitted electronically by attaching them to the appropriate assignment in Blackboard.   This permits me to evaluate, grade, and return an annotated copy of each report all within the bb assignment.   Note: there is no way for me to grade a report that is not as described above.  Blackboard will simply record a 0 - not submitted and the grade entry form will greyed out.

1. All lab reports must have the author(s) name up front in the report file.
1. Use insert header
2. include names, short title, and date

2. All Lab report are submitted as one document (an MSWord.docx or open source equivalent) and only one document unless specific instructions to the contrary are provided in the lab manual.

1. Figures must be included in this document.
2. Tables must be included in this document
3. Legends for the figures must be written in MSWord and not incorporated as part of an inserted MSExcel graph or table.
4. Figures and tables should not be dragged and dropped in to the document unless they are first copied into the clipboard or scrapbook
1. They can be copied and then pasted
2. Using “past special” as a picture works will often solve problems with uncooperative figures.  Don’t do it unless there is a problem.           

3. Individual lab reports are submitted through blackboard as an attachment to an assignment as described above.

2. If it is an individual report , the file name for the attachment must comply with the Dept of Biology file naming conventions.

1. Filenames start with your name followed by your initials ie  Hatchwi.
2. This is followed by an _ and terse description of the content  i.e. Hatchwi_OsmoRpt   do not use codes like “lab 3” without a short descriptor.
3. You should include the appropriate file extension as well ie wiHatchOsmoRpt.docx or wiHatch_OsmoRpt.docx.
4. There should be no spaces in a file name the use of uppercase letters to separate the components is the easiest way to keep things clear.  Underscores are ok but take up more space.

4. Team lab reports are also submitted through blackboard as an attachment to an group assignment

3. You must be a member of a group to submit a report.
4. You must be a member of a group to receive a lab report grade.          
5. Team members must signup for a group in lab before starting a lab

1. Select the group appropriate for the lab exercise
2. Select the group with the number of the iBook you are working at.

6.   Only one member need submit the report.  Who submitted is not even recorded.
7. Your file name must be your group name for example.

1. Lab1DataAcquisitionsTeam1
2. Lab2HumanEOGTeam7

5. Lab reports must be submitted on the due date to avoid penalty

8. The due date ends at 1:20 on lab day.
9. Late submissions will usually be accepted but they will be marked late.
   

Lab report evaluation -  How to get an A

1. In order to receive the grade you deserve for your great science,
1. The document must adhere to all of the formatting requirements in the Department of Biology Style Manual including citation and bibliographic formatting.
2. You may submit in manuscript format which includes

1.  A separate title page with all of the appropriate information
1. Title
2. Authors (all of them ie your lab group). You do not need to include the entire class when you are sharing data.
3. Date of submission
4. Authors addresses  (when all are from the same institution) you can simply use the name of the institution)
2. A separate abstract page
3. A manuscript body with:
1. Introduction,  methods,  results discussion and literature cited
2. Figures and tables are appended to the end of the text. Just after the bibliography.
3. Acknowledgements or appendices is used

3. You may submit in Journal format with the figures and text integrated into the text, as you would see in a journal.  The appropriate journal format is JYBE and it’s templates are located on Student-svr.

Safety

You should always be aware of the location of the nearest exit as well as the location and the proper use of laboratory safety equipment such as the eye wash, safety shower and fire extinguishers. You are expected to read and abide by the policies in the Biology Department Safety Manual.

Walter I. Hatch
wihatch@smcm.edu

September 7, 2014