Some Guidelines for Writing Up Your Internal Assessment

1. Any identifying information should be removed, including that of subjects you used and your own name.  I will know it is yours because it is coming from your turnitin.com account.
2. The page limit is 6-12 pages.  We were not given any requirements for font size or spacing, but those should be chosen to enable clear and easy reading of the paper.  Labs that go over 12 pages will be penalized in the Communication section of the grade.
3. You should list both a topic for your investigation (more general) and a focused question.  The question should truly be focused and generally includes both the manipulated and the responding variable, as well as information that identifies what specifically you are working with.
4. Background:  Generally goes from more general to more specific.  Includes background on the science of your topic, why you are choosing it, and leads into what you will be doing in your lab.  Citations should be used for information that you got from outside sources.  If you include a direct quote, then use quotation marks in addition to identifying the source.  At this level of lab report the background is typically a page long or so.
5. A discussion of significant safety, ethical, and environmental issues should be included where relevant.  If using something that needs special handling, like toxic chemicals, bacteria, etc, you should include how you maintained safe conditions.  If using animals, like Daphnia, describe how you ensured the least amount of harm.  If using humans, include a copy of your blank Release Statement and describe how it ensured safety and privacy for your subjects.  When it comes to environmental issues, what did you do to ensure a low impact on the environment.
6. Variables:  List the manipulated and responding variables.  List at least 5 variables that needed to be controlled, why they needed to be controlled, and how you controlled them or attempted to control them.
7. Methodology:  Outline your methodology in a way that it could be accurately repeated by another person.  You should include how you measured things, how many trials you did, what amounts you used, etc.  Many students include a labeled diagram and/or photo to show their set up.  This can be very helpful when it is difficult to explain in words what you are doing.
8. Data Table:  Should have title, labels, units, uncertainty for each quantity measured, etc.  You are also responsible for recording qualitative data (observations).  Remember that observations are what you actually observed through one of your senses during the data-taking and not just a summary of your data.  You can put annotations under your data table to explain your justification for the uncertainty or to make note of outliers or special conditions.
9. Data Processing:  This can include graphs that have all the components of a good graph (including uncertainty bars), calculations, charts, etc.  You need to clearly show one sample calculation for each type of calculation that you do.
10. Conclusion:  Referring back to the original question, make a concluding statement about your results.  Use SPECIFIC data to back yourself up.  Remember that averages should be used to outline trends where appropriate.  Discuss the impact of uncertainty on the ability to draw conclusions.  Use science to try to explain your results.  You might not know exactly why your results came out the way they did, but you should try to use your knowledge to come up with reasonable explanations.  
11. Evaluation:  Strengths and Weaknesses of your methodology should be discussed (at least 3 of each!).  For each of the weaknesses/limitations you should also come up with a suggested improvement that is reasonable and specific.  You can use the type of chart that we used on other labs to list your weaknesses, impact, and improvements if you would like.  Finally, suggest one or more possible extensions for this lab.  This is different from the improvements.  Here you are actually coming up with a variation of your lab that would tell you more about the topic.
12. Communication:  Your entire lab will be scored for communication in terms of clear presentation, correct usage of subject-specific terminology, few errors, readable tables and charts, etc.