WATER QUALITY PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS
FORMAL LAB REPORT a.k.a SCIENTIFIC PAPER
Students can leave a hard copy
with the receptionist in A104
or email them to Mr. McGill at jmcgill@yorktech.com
First, I would like to thank everyone who is helping with this project. It can not happen without your work. We are building a significant database regarding water quality in the Catawba River basin.
As part of this project, you will write at least one formal
paper. “What are the requirements for this
paper?” First of all, it is a formal
paper. If you do not know what that is,
Chapter 10 of A
Handbook of Biological Investigation by Ambrose and Ambrose explains a
formal paper. A copy of Ambrose and Ambrose
is on reserve in the library and it is for sale in the York Tech book
store. Also, your instructors have
websites with explanations linked and checksheets are available from the lab
coordinator. These checksheets will be
used to grade your paper. They are the
same ones used in the past to grade your formal papers.
Since the paper is formal, it will have a title, abstract,
introduction, materials and methods, results (paragraph form, table, and figure
(graph)), discussion (conclusions), and references. Papers with an incorrect format will NOT be accepted. You will have at least one opportunity to
revise it. Of course, students who “get it
right” the first time, will have the opportunity to score the highest. Also, Mr. McGill will award extra points for
the CORRECT application of statistical analysis to the results.
Content: Each
student is required to incorporate data from at least 5 sample sites, and at
least two parameters (i.e. temperature and macroinvertebrate cumulative index)
must be used. Students are NOT
encouraged to analyze all parameters.
Pick two parameters that you think may be influencing each other and
determine if there is a relationship between the two, i.e. if the average
temperature of a site is higher, then it has a lower macroinvertebrate
cumulative index (DON’T USE THIS EXAMPLE, pick one of your own, based on YOUR
observations and thoughts). You can
even compare this year’s data to the 1997 water quality study. Two of the sample sites were the same (1997
Manchester Creek and 2002 River Park lower;
Burgis Creek was the same for both studies (even though this would only
be 4 sample sites)).