California State University Cloning MGH Into pET28a Plasmid Lab Report

Specific instructions for each lab report are provided at the end of the experimental section. Thefollowing general instructions apply to all lab reports.

1. Make perfectly clear how your calculations were done; a reader of your report should beable to see easily where all the numbers come from and reproduce your answer. If alarge number of calculations of an identical type are done, it is usually sufficient to includea sample calculation. If multiple determinations of an experimental quantity are done,report an average or best value.

2. Observe rules on significant figures. It is okay to carry extra significant figures duringintermediate steps of a calculation, but don’t report extra significant figures in your finalcalculated quantities. Don’t simply copy every number from your calculator. For example,if you indicate that a molecular weight estimated by gel filtration is 45678.9237 you will bepenalized. Even if you report a value of 45679 you will be penalized! The precision of gelfiltration measurements is such that the value should be reported as 46,000.

3. Graphs and Tables. Please follow the guidelines below.

A. With few exceptions, graphs should be done with a computer graphing program.

B. The figure or table legend should begin with figure or table number followed by aninformative title (e.g., Fig 1. Enzyme activity as a function of substrate concentration.)7

C. If you are using Excel to generate graphs, be sure to omit the default graph title andhorizontal and vertical lines.

D. Non-tabular graphs and figures should be numbered consecutively using Arabicnumerals (e.g., Fig 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3, etc). Tables should be numbered consecutivelyusing Roman numerals (e.g., Table I, Table II, Table III, etc).

E. Don’t simply use the default graph produced by Excel – adjust the formatappropriately. The size and shape of the graph should be adjusted appropriately; theshort wide default format of an Excel graph is rarely appropriate. Adjust the minimumand maximum values of the abscissa and ordinate so that the data takes up most ofthe plotting area.

F. Make your data points big enough to see clearly.

G. If multiple data sets are plotted on the same set of axes, use different symbols andline styles for each set of values plotted. Use different colors if necessary todistinguish the different data sets. Do not plot so many data sets on one set of axesthat it is difficult to tell which points are which.

H. A standard calibration curve (log of MW vs Rf) for molecular weight determinationshould be plotted on a semi-log paper, not on excel.

I. Use concise legends. Legends for figures should be positioned under the figure.Legends for tables should be positioned above the table. See the following examplesbelow.

4. If spectrophotometer tapes are included in your report, they should be mounted on paper,not paper-clipped or stapled to the report. Gels or blots should be documented as photos.

5. Each student’s lab report MUST include his/her own figures, tables, and legends madeindependently. Evidence that one person simply copied another’s work will result insevere penalties in the grading of the lab reports.