FALL2022 BIO221:

BIOLOGICAL
CONCEPTS II
LABORATORY MANUAL

Student Name: Zainab Hashem

Student Number: 202101800

College of Natural and Health Sciences

 
 
 

Agreement:  
 
I Zainab Hashem

Have read and agree to follow all the safety rules set forth in this contract.  I understand that
I must obey these rules to insure my own safety, and that of my fellow students and
instructors.  I will cooperate fully with my instructor and fellow students to maintain a safe
laboratory environment. 
 
I will also closely follow the oral and written instructions provided by the instructor.  I am
aware that any violation of this safety contract that result in unsafe conduct in the laboratory
or misbehavior on my part, may result in my removal from the laboratory, receiving a failing
grade and/or dismissal from the course. 
 
 
Student Signature: _____________________________________ 
 
 
Student Registration No: 202101800
 
 
Course title: BIO 221
 
 
Section: BIO-221-002
 
Date. 26 Jan 2023
 
 
 

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 Laboratory Exercise 1- Scientific Writing
The research process:

LITERATURE REVIEW & CITATIONS

 The literature review is a critical look at the existing research that is significant to the work
that you are carrying out.

o To provide background information

o To establish importance
o To demonstrate familiarity
o To “carve out a space” for further research

● Four Analysis Tasks of the Literature Review:

o Summarize
o Synthesize
o Critique
o Compare

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Where to gather information for your research
● Library Database
● Google Scholar
● Books
● Avoid using websites, blogs, or tweets

● Citing Sources:
o If it’s not your own idea (and not common knowledge)—DOCUMENT IT!
o All sources cited in the literature review should be listed in the references
o Paraphrase key ideas.
o Use proper in-text citation to document the source of ideas (last name of the author,
year published)

● Plagiarism includes (Galvan, pg. 89):

o Using another writer’s words without proper citation
o Using another writer’s ideas without proper citation
o Citing a source but reproducing the exact word without quotation marks
o Borrowing the structure of another author’s phrases/sentences without giving the
source
o Borrowing all or part of another student’s paper
o Using paper-writing service or having a friend write the paper

● How to Cite in APA:

o Citations for Journal Articles found Online:
● Author’s Last name, F.M. (Date published). Title of article. Title of journal,
volume number(issue number), page range. doi:xxxxxxx

o Citations for Print Books:

● Author’s Last name, F. M. (Year published). Title of book.

o Citations for Websites:

● Author’s Last name, F.M. (Year published). Title of article or page. Retrieved
from URL

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Writing a hypothesis:
 A hypothesis is defined as a theory or an assumption that is based on inadequate evidence. It needs
and requires more experiments and testing for confirmation. There are two possibilities that by doing
more experiments and testing, a hypothesis can be false or true. It means it can either prove wrong or
true (Blackwelder, 1982).

 You can choose ONE idea to test by developing a hypothesis.

 A Hypothesis is an educated a statement that predicts the cause/effect relationship between your idea
and the topic you want to explore.
 The hypothesis can be written as an IF…. Then…. statement.
 If Cause Then Effect.

 If INDEPENEDENT then DEPENDENT

 Independent variable:
 The factor being changed
 Can have different treatment levels
 Presence/absence
 Different amounts
 Different types

 Dependent variable:
 This is what can be measured, because the independent variable was
changed.
 You cannot control it because it is the response to the independent
variable
 Should be specific (as in what do you predict will happen, will it
increase, decrease, get bigger or smaller etc.)
 Examples: temperature change, growth, height, speed, time takes,
frequency

Null Hypothesis

The null hypothesis suggests that there is no significant or statistical relationship. The
relation can either be in a single set of variables or among two sets of variables.

The null hypothesis symbol is H0 (it is read as H null or H zero).

Ie. The type of water used to water the plant will not effect growth.

Designing an Experiment
• STEP BY STEP IN DETAILS WHAT YOU WILL DO (clear)

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 • Always identify your test group, control group, and fixed variables.
• Always identify all materials and amounts you need (precise).
• Always explain how you will collect your data, how often, and what equipment you need.

Sample experiment
Description:

An Experiment can examines how different types of the independent variable,

different amounts of the independent variable or the presence of the
independent variable has an effect on the dependent variable by comparing
the outcome as the independent variable changes.

Title: Needs to be relate the independent and dependent variable and be in the format
“The effect of Independent Variable On Dependent Variable”

Example:

The effect of Type of Sugar on Dissolving Time

1. Observation: This is what you saw, heard, felt ect. And you took note of it

Example:
The sugar in my tea did not dissolve even though I stirred it.

2. Question: This when you think about your observation and ask yourself (Who,
what, when, where, why or how depending on the observation.

Example:
Why did the sugar in my tea not dissolve?

3. Idea: Answer to your research question based on previous knowledge or evidence.

Example: I think that ( insert idea from the list below) is the reason why
the sugar did not dissolve.
1. Temp.

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 2. Type of liquid
3. Container
4. Stirring
5. Amount of sugar
6. Type of sugar (icing, table, brown sugar, sugar cubes)
I think sugar did not dissolve because of the type of sugar.

4. Hypothesis: An If/then statement based on your idea that relates the independent
and the dependent variable.

We are going to use Type, so the hypothesis is going to be, a types hypothesis
since we will look at how different types sugar can affect the time a sugar will
dissolve.

Example:

If icing sugar is added to a drink, then it will dissolve faster than cubed,
brown and granulated sugar.

Independent variable: Type of sugar (Icing, Brown, Cubed and

granulated) (cause)

Dependent variable: Dissolving time. (effect)

Null Hypothesis: The type of sugar does not effect the time of dissolving.

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 5. Designing The experiment

Step 1: Plan and identify all the variables and test/ control group

Test group: This group will receive the independent variable which in this case is the
different Types of sugar.

Example:

We will have 4 different types of Sugar

 Test 1 Icing Sugar

 Test 2 Granulated Sugar
 Test 3 Brown Sugar
 Test 4 Cubed Sugar

Control group: This is the group that does not receive the independent variable. In the types
and amounts experiment there is no control group and so you will need to explain why.

Example:

There is no control group because this is a Types experiment and there can be no
absences of a type of sugar.

Fixed Variable: These are the other ideas that you said will affect the dependent variable and
so you need to try to eliminate them from the experiment if you can or keep them the same
(fixed) between your test group in your amounts experiment.

Example:

We said the ideas 1-5 below can also affect the time it takes for the sugar to
dissolve and so among all our test group we need to keep them the same or
eliminate them.

1. Temp.
2. Type of liquid
3. Container
4. Stirring
5. Amount of sugar

We cannot eliminate any of the variables so all variables need to be fixed among the all the test
groups and so we will use the same type of liquid, same temperature, same cup, same amount
of sugar and stir at the same speed.

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Measuring Equipment: This is the tools and how you will measure your dependent variable or
the outcome.

Example:

In this experiment we are looking at how long it will take for the sugar to dissolve
or melt so we will need a timer to measure the length of time.

Step 2: Design a step to step experiment outlining in as much detail as possible (include
amounts and units) all the variables outlined in your plan are identified in the steps.

Example:

1. Bring 4 paper cups and add 100mL of water that is 100’C (fixed)
2. Add 10g of four different types of sugar (fixed)
3. Each cup will have different type of sugar (independent variable)
 Test 1 Icing Sugar
 Test 2 Granulated Sugar
 Test 3 Brown Sugar
 Test 4 Cubed Sugar
4. There is No control group because this is a Types experiment and you cannot have the
absence of a type of sugar.
5. While stirring constantly measure the time it takes for the sugar to dissolve using a
timer in seconds (dependent variable). (Measuring equipment)
6. Repeat the experiment twice

Data Collection:

Example:

Title: the effect of Independent on Dependent

Avg. of dependent
Dissolving Time (seconds)
Variable (seconds)

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 Type of
independent Experiment 1 Experiment 2
(units)

Icing sugar 10 sec 8 sec 10+8/2+9.5 sec

Granulated sugar 37 sec 42 sec 37+42/2 = 9.5 sec

Brown sugar 33 sec 34 sec 32+34/2 = 33 sec

120+145/2 = 132.5
Cubed sugar 120 sec 145 sec
sec

Dissolving Time (seconds)

Avg. of dependent
Type of Sugar Experiment 1 Experiment 2
Variable (seconds)

Icing Sugar 20 22 21

Granulated sugar 28 27 27.5

Brown sugar 35 38 36.5

Cubed sugar 40 42 41

The effect of Type of Sugar on dissolving time

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 The effect of type of sugar on dissolving time
45

40

35
Time to dissolve (seconds)

30

25

20

15

10

0
experiment 1 experiment 2 average

Icing sugar Granulated sugar Brown sugar Cubed sugar

Data Analysis: in the experiment about the effect of types of sugar on dissolving, I concluded
that cubed sugar took the longer time to dissolve while icing sugar was the fastest to disslove in
water. Icing sugar was the fastest it took almost 9 seconds then granulated sugar took almost 40
seconds then brown sugar fianlly the cubed sugar took almost 133 seconds.

When you are analyzing you should do the following for each graph:
 Introduce table/graph/diagram
 Explain data points

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  Make a conclusion about the graph/table

Example:

The graph looks at what how the type of a sugar effect the time it takes to dissolve. In trial one
we can see the icing sugar took 20 seconds to dissolve, while the granulated sugar took 28
seconds to dissolve, the brown sugar took 35 seconds to dissolve and the cubed sugar took 40
seconds to dissolve. This pattern was also seen in Trial 2 when the icing sugar took 22 seconds
to dissolve, while the granulated sugar took 27 seconds to dissolve, the brown sugar took 38
seconds to dissolve and the cubed sugar took 42 seconds to dissolve. These results indicate
that the type of the sugar effects time to dissolve because the cubed sugar takes longer to
dissolve.

Conclusion:

When you write your conclusion, you should do the following:

 Summaries all the major findings.
 State the relationship between the independent and dependent variable.
 State whether your hypothesis was proven or not and why.  If not then will need to come up with
a new one or a modified.
 At the end of your experiment you may also talk about the challenges/limitations of your
experiment.
 At the end of your experiment you may also talk about the strengths of your experiment.
 Suggest possible ways to improve the experimental procedure etc

In this experiment, you will explore and investigate the effect of amount of solute on the
rate of diffusion.
Material:
 Water
 Food Coloring
 Dropper

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  4 Beakers (small)
 Stop watch

Your report must include the following:

1. One Title for the Research Topic [5]

The effect of different amounts of food coloring on rate of diffusion.

2. Write your hypothesis. [10]

The more the amount of food coloring the faster it diffuses.

3. Identify and explain the following: one clearly defined independent variable and one clearly
defined dependent variable.
[10]
Independent Variable: food coloring

Dependent Variable: rate of diffusion

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4. Design an experiment to test your hypothesis – write all the steps to your experiment in detail.
[30]
1- first we got 4 beakers all the same size
2- Fill all the beakers with the same amount of water.
3- One of the beakers is considered as a control group, water only, without adding anything to
it.
4- Fill the rest of the beakers with different amount of food coloring, one of them 1 drop, the
other one 3, and the last one 5 drops.
5- Start the timer to check what diffuses faster.
6- Repeat the experiment twice to have more accurate results.

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5. Identify and explain the following: [20]
o Identify the test group, control group (If not needed, then explain why). Identify at
least 2 clearly defined fixed (constant) variables.

Test Group: amount of food coloring on the diffusion rate

Control Group: beaker filled with water only

Fixed Variable: water, size of the beaker

6. Data Collection & Representation -A reasonable number of data must be collected in your
experiment. You must represent the data in a table [15]

Table 1:
Amount of food Exp 1. Exp 2. Exp 3.
coloring

1 drop 4:24 mins 4:30 mins 4:30 mins

3 drops 3:04 mins 3:07 mins 3:05 mins

5 drops 1:38 mins 1:11 mins 1:35 mins

Control - - -

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 Amount of Food Coloring
6:00

4:48

3:36

2:24

1:12

0:00
Experiment 1 Experiment 2 Experiment 3 Average

1 drop 3 drops 5 drops

7. Conclusion – Is your hypothesis supported or not? If yes, explain the reason by providing
evidence. If not, then what is the next step? [10

Yes, the rate of diffusion depends on the amount of food coloring.

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