DNA Lab Report Submission Instructions

These instructions are specific to the lab report for the DNA lab. Please refer to pages vii-ix of
the lab manual for the important comprehensive general guidelines for lab reports.
This lab report is an individual exercise. Even though you collected data as a group, you will be
writing your own individual report. You will write your report on DNA Exp. 1, 2 and 3. The
results obtained from Exp 1 (amount of the extracted DNA, please check the page18), Exp 2
(Digested DNA electrophoresis, page 19-20) and Exp 3 (Analysis of the bacterial transformation
based on growth on Am/Kana plates, page 26) will be in your results section. The results for
experiments 2 and 3 are already posted on your CANVAS; The DNA quantification/purity data
were obtained before the spring break (O.D readings from the spectrophotometer).

Submission and formatting.

All lab reports will be submitted via VeriCite as a single document (see the link and instructions
on Canvas) and must be your original creative work. Your report will not be graded if you do not
upload it to VeriCite before your scheduled lab period. Your TA may request email copies in
addition. To avoid last minute uploading issues, try uploading your report to VeriCite a day or
two before it is due. The following submission requirements are mandatory: The report should
be prepared with a word processor (i.e. Microsoft Word). The final product should have 8
pages as follows: 5 pages of text followed by 3 pages of figures. Reports that do not conform to
these instructions will not be graded.

Text. The report should have 5 pages of text (not more!). The text should be single spaced with
one inch margins, and in 11p font for Arial or similar fonts or 12p for Times. Sections should be
separated by a line break and headings. The first page (title page) should have the title and
author (your name), followed by the abstract and then the abbreviations. The abstract should
be between 80 and 100 words (not more!). For the remaining 4 pages of the text (the main text)
you should have the following approximate lengths for each section. Introduction: about 0.5
page, it must include one or more hypotheses, Materials and Methods: about 1.5 pages,
Results: about 1.5 pages. Some of the data might lend itself to presentation in table form (for
instance the O.D. reading from the Spectrophotometer). Such tables can be embedded in the text
in the results section. All data figures and tables need to be mentioned in the results. You need to
decide if your data support your hypotheses or not. Discussion: about 0.5 page. Literature
cited: You must include five references, one of which is the lab manual, four of which must be
found by yourself and must each be a peer-reviewed journal article. Citations give credit and are
verifiable sources for statements made. They allow the reader to see where ideas, methods, or
concepts are described in the scientific literature.
The balance of these 5 sections of main text should be close to 5 pages (but not more!). Figures.
You should add three figures. Two figures should present data, which are described in the
results section (DNA electrophoresis gel image and pictures of the plates). The 3 rd figure should
be some kind of a model that illustrates how the two different plasmids are digested by the
BAMHI and HINDIII enzymes. This model should include the fragments generated by the
different digestions and their size in bp. This 3rd figure shall be referred to in the discussion. The
figures should be each on a separate page with a clear title, and the legend (caption) under the
figure. The legend explains what we see in the figure. If the data become too crowded in one plot
you can choose to separate the data into two or more plots presented next to each other or above
each other as two panels (e.g. panel A and Panel B, each discussed in the same legend). Each
figure should have one common theme (unrelated data do not belong in the same figure). Which
data you choose to present in the 2 data figures is up to you. Choose wisely.

Grading criteria and guidelines.

Your report will be graded based on the following evaluation criteria: To what extent does the
report allow a reader to understand and reproduce what was done, and to what extent does it
allow a reader to understand and evaluate how conclusions were reached (all within the given
space constraints). In addition, this time you will be graded on the clarity of your model for
how the two different plasmids are digested by the BAMHI and HINDIII enzymes and the
sizes of the resulting fragments (fig 3 and discussion). Careful analysis and interpretation of the
data presented in the figures and results is of paramount importance. Sloppy presentation or
errors in style and grammar distract and make a report less readable, therefore points may be
deducted for work that lacks editing. 40 points can be earned. The figures with legends are worth
15 points (5 each). The text is worth 25 points (5 for the abstract and 20 for the rest).