Bios 101
Lab Reports
List of things we think you should include, guidelines.
Medieval Science. 5-7 pages. Typed. Introduction, 1-3 paragraphs, explain
the experiments you did in the context of testing astrology, folk magic.
Explain the “null” hypothesis in each case, and what kind of departure you
would expect if each paradigm was scientifically valid. Keep methods
section brief.
Results section; Chisquare analysis for both experiments, figure comparing
vestigial flies in both treatments, figure comparing observed vs. expected
correct astrology predictions. Column graphs in contrasting colors work
well for this, as do pie charts. Do not give us raw data-put it in a form that is
interesting to look at. We are not interested in your chisquare calculations—
we will know if you did them correctly.Discussion section, 1-4 paragraphs
explaining whether you supported, or refuted, the null hypothesis in each
case and what this might mean. This is a good place to discuss the
experiment you were asked to describe. One to four outside sources are
appropriate, the best ones are from popular press and not science journals,
cite in introduction or discussion and list references in LITERATURE
CITED section.
Demography. 4-6 pages. Typed. Introduction explains the value of
gravestones in studying demography, the population being studied. Two or
three paragraphs. This is observational science, and it is not appropriate to
list a hypothesis.
Methods. Explain where you went and what data you collected. Two-four
sentences.
Results-A survivorship curve for your cemetery data, a life table for same,
with no m(x), a fecundity histogram for your discussion section.
Discussion. Examine your data and possibly compare your cemetery
population to contemporary Chicagoans. Two to six paragraphs.
One to four outside references are appropriate, cite in discussion and
introduction, consider rereading the section on Lacerta vivipara in your
book and citing it as well.
Human Mate Choice 5-7 pages Typed. Introduction should explain how
evolutionary psychology predicts people should pick a mate, based upon
gender…a few paragraphs. Results must include figures and tables of sex
vs. mating preference for class surveys, sex vs. age and wealth of mate from
newspapers, analysis of male vs. female adds placed by people desiring only
sex. Discussion should be a page or so, and indicate whether predictions of
evolutionary psychology are supported. One to sixoutside reference,
especially in discussion, desirable.
Algae Interaction 5-7 Pages. Typed. Introduction should explain notion of
competition as an interaction where growth rate or carrying capacity of one
species is affected by other species, and compare to neutralism, amensalism,
mutualism in terms of data that might be expected if each of these
interactions should turn out to be the case. Results should include figures of
density vs. time for both species, alone and in mixed culture. Discussion
should indicate whether data indicate that competition, mutualism,
neutralism, etc. occurred. Include a qualitative comparison of your results to
those of the other members of your class. Include a comparison of your final
densities to those of the experimental cultures that were 9 months old. One
or several outside references desirable, scientific papers on plant competition
are often the most useful here.