Flagella Regeneration – Data Analysis and
Research Paper
You won't be expected to write up your microscopic studies
of biological models. These studies, including
practice with the microscope, were designed to
hone your skills with a microscope and your observing
skills. Such skills are critical
to successful completion of our experiment on
flagellar regeneration in Chlamydomonas. As is
almost always the case, it is a good idea to think
about your ultimate objective when starting to
work on a project. That is why the write-up on
data analysis and the research paper were placed
here in the sequence.
For this third and final research paper, apply the principles
and practices that have been emphasized through
guidelines, examples, practice, and comments on
previous work. Think carefully about how you plan
each part of the paper. Below are listed some items
that deserve special attention. Keep in mind
that a complete paper must cover more than just
the listed items.
- Appropriate content and style for each section
of the paper
- Appropriate use of verb tense, grammar, spelling,
paragraph organization when applicable
- Use precise and informative language – watch
for vague statements or statements that are not
clear
- The materials/methods should enable someone
to (1) judge the scientific merit of the methods
that you used to achieve your objectives and
(2) permit one to apply any or all of your methods
to another study
- As always, keep the materials/methods succinct
because they are not the focus of the manuscript;
however they must be complete and accurate (times,
temperatures, pH, volumes concentrations)
- Describe a source of materials if the choice
will likely affect the experimental outcome;
when use of an item is implicit in a procedure
(e.g., spectrophotometer, centrifuge, pipet,
test tube) we don't specify the item
- Text of the results section should "walk" the
reader through the findings; it should be comprehensive,
but should focus particularly on those findings
most relevant to the study's objectives
- Adhere to the universal form for figures and
tables in manuscripts and make titles/captions
informative so that each item could stand apart
from the related text and still be understood
- To present the relationship between continuous
variables we usually plot the data; review the
resources on graphing; in particular, be sure
to optimize presentation of the figure and do
not leave the computer defaults "as is"
- When you write any number think about its significance,
about your confidence in the quantity (significant
figures), and about what it represents (physically
meaningful units)
- Keep the original objectives in mind when you
discuss the findings
- To discuss findings in depth you must discuss
mechanisms and likely cause/effect relationships;
be open to alternative explanations
- You must clearly distinguish between the two
important concepts presented as background for
this study – possible feedback
regulation of tubulin synthesis as a regulatory
mechanism; possible dynamic equilibrium
between free and assembled tubulin in cells with
stable flagella
- The abstract should present all of the relevant
findings including (for a study this focused)
a summary of quantitative and qualitative
findings; support your statements with statistics
if applicable
- Address the objectives at the beginning of
the abstract, but briefly; revisit the objectives
with a summary statement at the end
- The introduction should present the rationale
behind the study, keeping in mind the nature
of your intended readership
- There are many good approaches to an introduction;
simply make sure that all of the information
you include is relevant to the goal of fully
acquainting the reader with the reasoning behind
your choices – overall research, specific hypothesis,
experimental model, methods
- It should be clear in the introduction how
the experimental design accomplished its objectives
Honor code policy
Data for the first paper will be collected by
the entire class, compiled, and made available
on line. You may seek assistance from anyone in
acquiring the raw data as a file or printout. Otherwise,
no collaboration at all is permitted on this assignment,
including the construction of figures and/or tables
and the statistical analysis. Consult the instructor
or a teaching assistant if you have trouble preparing
a graph, understanding a concept, etc.
As always, the restriction applies to using any
work by another student from a previous semester.
Important concepts
To facilitate discussion of your findings you
may wish to review two very important concepts
related to the regulation of biological processes.
They are the concept of the steady state that
results from such regulation, and the concept of
feedback inhibition, which is one of the most common
and readily identifiable regulatory processes.
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