HSN204_T2 2022

FAQs Lab Report 1

Q) Is Lab Report 1 a full lab report?

Yes. For you lab report 1, you will need to provide a full report with a Title, Abstract,
Introduction, Results, Discussion and Conclusion. Please refer to the Assignment
Help guide for Assessment Task 2 on your unit guide
(Contents/Assessment/Assessment Task 2) for more details on what should be given
in each section.

Q) What should the introduction section include?

In the introduction section you should introduce microbial enumeration and the
techniques used in the practical (their principle advantages/disadvantages). Are there
alternative techniques that are used for performing microbial enumeration?

Q) Do you need to write the Materials and Methods section?

You do not need to write the material and methods. You can just refer to the
HSN204_Laboratory Manual_Part 2 available on your unit site (Content/Practical)
for the Material and Methods section using the appropriate referencing style.

Q) Do I need to prepare my individual Results table? How do I discuss it?

For the Results section you have been provided a word template for presenting your
individual results. You can find it under Contents/Assessments/Assessment Task 2. It
has a table for 'Individual Results table template' Please copy paste this in your report.
You do not need to draw your own table.
Once you complete the results table, discuss key highlights for the different
techniques for your food sample. E.g. how did the counts vary for the different
techniques, possible reasons for the difference? What does that tell you about the
microbial load in the foods? Perhaps comparisons to literature for similar analysis
when it is available.

Q) How should I represent the Class results and discuss it?

You will be provided with a class mean for each food type using each technique
(spread plate/pour plate/Petrifilms aerobic count, yeast and mould and E.coli count).
• You will use the class mean for any one method to compare your
estimations to the class mean for the same food.
• You will also compare the class means for any one method for the different
foods in the report and discuss why different foods have different
microbial counts.

E.g. if you chose to discuss the petrifilm aerobic counts class mean result for your food
then first you need to compare your individual pertifilm aerobic counts result with the
class mean. If your counts are different from the class results then can you think of
reasons why that might be the case? Following this you will compare the petrifilm class
results for the different food samples and discuss the differences in counts in the
different foods to explain why they might be different.
It would be better if you could tabulate the results or prepare a graph when you
are comparing class results so the marker can easily view it.

Q) What do I need to address in the lab report?

HSN204_T2 2022

Please go through the HSN204_Assessment 2 (Lab report 1 and 2)_Rubric available

on your unit site (Contents/Assessment/Assessment Task 2) for Lab report 3 before you
submit your work to ensure that you have fulfilled all expected criteria.

Q) Do I need to have an appendix section?

You don’t have to. But if you want you can have one where you show any raw
calculations that you may have done or any supplementary data that you may have.

Q) Is there a levy on the word limit?

No there is no levy on the word limit. As per policy the marker will stop reading
beyond the permitted word limit of 1000 words.

Q) What is not counted in the word limit?

References (final bibliography/list of references), Tables, Figures, table or figure

captions, headings and sub-headings are not considered part of the word limit. In-text
references are counted in the word count.

Q) Which reference style are we supposed to use?

Please refer the Assessment Task 2_Help guide on your unit guide. You can find this
under Contents/Assessment/Assessment Task 2.