BIOL 3702L: Gram Stain Report Instructions

Report Components
As part of the writing intensive component of BIOL 3702L, students will write a short
laboratory report on their efforts related to staining their Gram-Stain Unknown (Skills
Test 2). The length of the report is inconsequential. What is important is content and
correct writing style/grammar. The only work limit is for the Abstract section (see
below). Otherwise, write the report such that it is complete, regardless of the length.
NOTE: This report is separate from those materials that you submit regarding your
Skills Test as well as the laboratory report materials from your manual.
The report should contain the following sections:
Abstract: Brief, 35 word or less summary of the problem, what you did to solve
the problem, what your results were, and did the results solve the problem.
Introduction: In this particular report, this section should describe what a Gram
stain is, its historical significance to microbiology, the problem encountered in this
exercise, and why it is being used. The length of this section will vary depending
upon the depth of the background, but it should not be too extensive in
discussion. That material should be saved for the Discussion section of your
report (see below). You should also draw upon reference sources in this section
and appropriately and correctly document your statements with such references.
Materials and Methods: Briefly describe in this section the methods used to
perform the Gram stain. Use references as appropriate. Do not go into
inordinate detail, but use enough detail such that a person not familiar with the
Gram stain would understand what you did. Do not list steps, e.g., step 1 make
a smear. Use your own words in paragraph form.
Results: Just that results. Describe what you see both for the controls and
the unknown. Use descriptive words. Drawings are permitted, but they must be
accompanied by verbal description of the results.
Discussion: It is in this section that you make your conclusions and extrapolate
upon the significance of the Gram stain, controls, etc. Use references as
appropriate. You can use figures to emphasize your points or for comparisons.
Be sure that if you borrow figures from print or the internet that you
appropriately cite the source of those figures in the text.
References: In this section, list the references that you used in your report. Use
the style cited by the American Society for Microbiology for its publication Journal
of Clinical Microbiology (http://www.as.ysu.edu/~crcooper/jcmita.pdf; also
available through the button Author Instructions (PDF) in the PDF Documents
download page http://www.as.ysu.edu/~crcooper/PDFdocuments.html). You
must cite a minimum of three (3) references. If you use an internet reference,
you must cite it both in the text (see Author Instructions) as well as in the
Reference section. You may use up to two (2) internet reference, your laboratory
manual or course text (but not both), and you must use at least one journal
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Gram Stain Report Instructions

article in which the use or description of the Gram stain is noted. Such articles
can be easily accessed via Ohio Links Electronic Journal Center
(http://journals.ohiolink.edu/cgi-bin/sciserv.pl?collection=journals; go to
http://maag.ysu.edu for a quick link to this site).
Report Style
Your report should be typed in single spaced paragraphs with paragraphs and
sections appropriately spaced/divided. The font should be 12 point in size and page
margins should be 1 inch all around. Page numbers, beginning with the cover page,
should be placed at the bottom of each page. A cover page should include your name,
date, the title of your report, your laboratory section, and the name of your laboratory
TA.
Submission of Report
Submit a hard copy of your final report to your TA by March 5, 2004. Submit an
electronic version of your final report to Turnitin.com (http://www.turnitin.com; see
course syllabus for instructions) under the section Gram Stain Lab Report no later than
5:00 PM on Friday, March 5, 2004. Late reports will not be accepted and a score of 0
will be recorded.
Grading of the Report
This report is worth 15 points towards your laboratory grade. Specifically, the
laboratory report will be graded based upon content and use of correct grammar (12
points). In addition, points will be deducted from the report should the student not follow
the above instructions for writing a complete, properly composed report (3 points).
Students may wish to submit a rough draft of their report for a preliminary review.
Such submission is not mandatory, but it must be given to their TA no later than
February 27th. The TA will return the report with comments to the student no later than
February 3rd. Reports submitted for preliminary review are still due by the March 5th
deadline.
Resources for Writing the Report
Students are strongly encouraged to utilize the information presented in A Short
Guide to Writing About Biology, 5th ed., by J. A. Pechenik (Pearson Longman Press). In
particular, students may want to review the items noted in Chapter 8 and Appendix H.
Students should also refer to the author instructions for the Journal of Clinical
Microbiology (http://www.as.ysu.edu/~crcooper/jcmita.pdf; also available through the
button Author Instructions (PDF) in the PDF Documents download page
http://www.as.ysu.edu/~crcooper/PDFdocuments.html).

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