Brine Shrimp Write-Up

Although the type of labs we do will vary quite a bit, these are the general requirements for a "full" lab write-up and should be followed as well as possible for your Brine Shrimp Lab due on Thursday 9/20.  See Survival Manual pages 5-6 for more details.

Background:  Background info. should be relevant to the lab you are doing.  Include preliminary observations where appropriate and reasoning for why you chose to examine the variables that you did.  Do not just copy and paste from the internet.  If you do include research information, cite it!

Question:  Simple.  Question should include what you are changing and what you are measuring.  For example, "how does light intensity affect the movement of the brine shrimp?"

Variables:  List independent (manipulated), dependent (responding), and 3 or more controlled (constants).

Materials:  (sorry 1st period, I decided to include this after all)

Labeled Diagram:  helps to show the procedure visually

Step-by Step Procedure:  Should be detailed enough that it can be followed accurately by someone who did not perform your lab.  Include amounts, tools used, number of trials, etc.

Reasoning for the choices you made in the procedure/control of variables:  Explain why you chose the amounts that you did and explain how you kept controlled variables constant.  This can be worked into the step-by-step, but it needs to be somewhere.

Data Table:  Neat, organized, title, labels, units, uncertainty.  "Raw" data should be presented.   Observations (qualitative data) can be listed underneath the data table.

Data Processing:  Include any calculations (show a sample for each type), statistics done (show sample calc.) and generally a graph or graphs.

Conclusion:  Interpret your data.  What does it mean and how does it relate to your question?  Use numbers to back yourself up.  Discuss the size of the uncertainty.

Evaluation:  Discuss sources of uncertainty.  Be specific, not general.  Do not use the term "human error" as a blanket cause for all uncertainty.  Discuss realistic ways that you could reduce the uncertainty for the sources that you listed.