Lab report structure

I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. Title Abstract Introduction Methods and Materials Results Discussion References Figures

Abstract
One or two paragraphs summarizing everything
what question you were investigating brief summary of results and conclusions

Introduction
Background information - what is already known in this field of research ex: floral structure; important genes and mutant phenotypes
What question you were investigating

Methods and Materials

Description of what you did in paragraph form; each section should have a title Include information such as the PCR primer sequence and the name of the miniprep kit you used

Example

The genomic region of FUL, extending 2700 bases 5of the translation initiation codon, was PCR amplified using wild-type Arabidopsis DNA as template. This fragment was cloned into the pEL112 plant transformation vector and transformed into wildtype Arabidopsis by published procedures (reference). Kanamycin-resistant transgenic plants were selected and analyzed.

Results
Your results, but without much analysis of what they mean

Results text
In order to determine if the mutations in unknowns A and B are in the AP3 gene, we crossed pollen from each unknown mutant onto ap3 mutant flowers. As shown in Table 1, we found that

Figure and Legend

Figure 1. Characterization of Flowers from the Different Genotypes Used in This Study. (A) to (E) Scanning electron micrographs of mature flowers of each genotype treated with dexamethasone. Genotypes are as follows: wild type (A), pi-1 (B), ap3-3 (C), D6::DTA (D), and ap3-3; ag-3; 35S::PI; 35S::AP3-GR (abbreviated as AP3-GR) treated with dexamethosone (E).(F) RNA gel blot analysis of AP3 (top gels) and PI (bottom gels) expression in the different genetic backgrounds: wild type (lane a), pi-1 (lane b), ap3-3 (lane c), AP3-GR (lane d), and D6::DTA (lane e). Lanes contained 20 g of total RNA extracted from flowers. The AP3 higher molecular mass band in lane d corresponds to the transcript of the transgene encoding the AP3-GR fusion protein. The lower molecular mass band corresponds to the transcript of the endogenous mutant ap3 gene, whose expression also was regulated positively by AP3-GR. Hybridization to 18S rRNA shows the RNA loading in each lane.

Discussion
Summarize your results and discuss what they mean

Arabidopsis nomenclature
Genus species:
wild type gene:

Arabidopsis thaliana
APETALA3 (AP3)

mutant gene:
wild type protein:

apetela3 (ap3)
APETALA3 (AP3)

mutant alleles:

ap3-1, ap3-2, ap3-3

Scientific style
Formal writing style; not written as a lab report Our collaborators instead of other groups.

In your own words

For example, in your introduction, dont simply copy word for word what is written in the handout or what is written in a manuscript. Put it in your own words and provide a reference at the end to indicate where you got the information.