Research Lab Report 2: Research Outcome

This report will contain the information listed below. The page limits for the text are exclusive of figures, tables and references.

Title

A concise statement of your research topic.

Article

The complete reference for your article, in Molecular Microbiology format.

Report on Research Results and Outcome (approximately 6 pages of text)

Target this report for your TA, Prof Wood...and other professional microbiologists.

Summarize the experimental results obtained by your authors, as specified in Lab 6 (approximately 3 pages of text, excluding references and illustrations) . DO NOT paraphrase the Results section of your article... rather write your own, analytical summary of the results! Illustrate this section with flow charts (e.g. for protein purification), tables and figures of your own design. Refer specifically to your Tables and Figures (e.g. Smith et al. analyzed the effects of several mutations on chemotaxis. Their results are summarized in Table 1) and to the data in the article you are analyzing (e.g. Smith et al. observed that bacteria lacking CheA were unable to respond to aspartate as a chemoattractant (Fig. 4 of Smith et al. (year).). It is not necessary or appropriate to reproduce tables and figures from your article in your report.

Then summarize the outcome of the research, including both the authors' own interpretation (summarized during Lab 7), that of other authors and subsequent research (summarized during Lab 8)(approximately 3 pages of text, excluding references and illustrations). DO NOT paraphrase the Discussion section of your article! Look back at the review articles on your topic for examples of the style to be adopted here.

Summarize the most recent citations of your article in a table (up to 50 citations). List the number of articles that cited your article each year, list the number that were self-citations (the authors cited their own work), and list up to three journal titles, selected to show the diversity of the subsequent work. Discuss a few of the citing articles (a few sentences each). For example, the 2015 citation summary for the following article is provided below:

Romantsov T, Helbig S, Culham DE, Gill C, Stalker L, Wood JM. 2007. Cardiolipin promotes polar localization of osmosensory transporter ProP in Escherichia coli. Mol Microbiol. 64:1455-1465

Abstract Suitable for Press Release (250 words)

To complete Report 2, write an abstract (no more than 250 words) that explains the intellectual and scientific context, results and outcome of the research reported in your article, in a form that would be understood by the general public. Imagine that your abstract will be published in a magazine or newspaper or posted on a web site intended for the general population.

DO NOT paraphrase the authors' abstract! Rather, write a new abstract that achieves a balance between technical details of the work and comprehensibility. Avoid technical terms; any essential technical terms must be defined within your abstract. For this purpose, a technical term is any word that would not be understood by an average high school graduate.

To find examples of good scientific writing designed for the general public, take a look at Scientific American!

This will be your most challenging assignment!

Reference List

List the references cited in your report, using the citation format of Molecular Microbiology. Remember that this is not a bibliography - every item in your reference list must be cited in the text of your Report. Check the Project Orientation page to make sure that you are citing references correctly and avoiding plagiarism (a serious academic offense).

Report Format

The report must be typed, double spaced and with 2 cm margins, using a 12 point font. It should include a title page (title, article citation and your name), approximately 7 additional pages of text, excluding tables, figures, supporting documents and the reference list. The pages must be numbered, with the title page as page 1.

Deadline

Completed Lab Reports must be delivered, in the format specified above, as a hard copy to room SCIE4251 and as an electronic copy to the Courselink Dropbox, both before 4 pm on the dates specified on Courselink. This deadline will be extended only if you provide appropriate documentation (otherwise a grade of zero will be assigned). Computer problems are not an acceptable basis for deferral, so take care to back up your work!

Grading

MICR*3260 Microbial Adaptation and Development, Report 2 Grading

Below is a table illustrating how your Research Lab Report 2: Research Outcome will be graded.