Appendix 3: EDM Write-up Guidelines
In the first semester of the second year, all students will be required to write a report on one of the EDM practicals which contributes 20% of the final EDM unit mark. The practical to be written-up has been chosen by your Programme Director and in some cases may be finalised by your Academic Advisor (as shown below). This report should be written in the style of a short research paper. Presenting and discussing data is an essential feature of the final year research project and indeed of research in general.
To assist in this exercise, it is strongly recommended that journal articles appropriate for your degree course be consulted to see how research is normally communicated. This will indicate, for example, how the research is summarised in the abstract and how the description and discussion of data is normally separated into two distinct sections. More information on “Writing Lab Reports and Scientific Papers” will be obtained from your Advisor and is also available on the Blackboard site for your EDM unit.
| Degree Programme | EDM (Practical Number) (Unit Code) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Diabetic Retinopathy (6) (BIOL21061) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DEADLINE: Thursday 15th December, 16:00 via the EDM (BIOL21041/21051/21061) Blackboard site; NOT the BIOL20000 Tutorial site.
CONTENT AND LAYOUT FOR SUBMISSION
This report should be written in the style of a short research paper. The report should contain the following sections: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and References.
The title page or first page of your submission must appear as follows:
[top of page, flush right:]
Library Card Number
Degree Programme
Name of your Academic Advisor
[Middle of page and centred:]
Title
Use your library card number for identification.
Reports must be written in 10 pt Arial, 1.5 line spacing with all margins set to at least 2.5cm and should be no more than 7 pages in length excluding the cover/title page and list of references. The following recommendations in relation to length for each of the reports components should be observed:
- Abstract: no more than 200 words
- Introduction and aims: no more than 1 page
- Methods: 1 page
- Results: 3½ pages
- Discussion and conclusions: no more than 1 page
[Further resources and guidance on preparing the content of each of these sections is provided on each of the EDM Blackboard sites]
Figures and/or tables of data should be included to support the text (see below). ALL supporting material, such as figures, tables, text boxes etc. must be included in the page limit, and you are advised to ensure that any such items are sufficiently large to be read and understood with ease.
- FIGURES AND TABLES
You should use figures and/or tables to present the experimental data and support the text. Readers must be provided with an explanation of what they are looking at in the figure/table in the supporting legend, and also refer to the figure/table in the text. The legend may be written in a font size no smaller than size 8 and using single line spacing [note the main text MUST be in 10 pt Arial and 1.5 line spacing]. The legend should also provide a key for any abbreviations or special symbols used. The meaning of arrows, brackets, etc. should be explained where this is not obvious. If tables or figures are used from other sources, or put together using information published elsewhere, these sources must be acknowledged and included in the reference list. Acknowledgement should be included in the legend to the Table or Figure using a phrase such as “Taken from Smith and Jones (2001)” if no changes have been made to content or “Adapted from Smith and Jones (2001)” in cases where changes have been made.
- REFERENCES
Throughout your written work you will need to refer to the work of others (a citation) in order to support and provide evidence for the statements that you are making. The Harvard or Numbering (Vancouver) system may be used for the citation of the references. You are strongly recommended to use EndNote for storing, retrieving and sorting references. For further information on referencing, please take a look at the excellent resources supplied by the library on Endnote: http://subjects.library.manchester.ac.uk/referencing
and the online tutorials and face-to-face workshops available in ‘My Learning Essentials’:
http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/services-and-support/students/support-for-your-studies/my-learning-essentials/
The list of citations should be compiled in a “References” section at the end of the review.
Papers should be cited in the text by the surnames of authors and year of publication: e.g. “…Bottle and Wyatt (1966) wrote an extensive guide to the published literature…..advice on writing scientific reports is also readily available (O’Connor and Woodford, 1971).” For three or more authors you should name only the first author followed by et al. Where more than one paper by the same author(s) is published in the same year they should be referred to as 1990a, 1990b etc.
In the final list of references, articles should be in alphabetical order, and multiple references from the same first author should be grouped chronologically. Names of all authors (<20) must be given in the References section – do not use et al.
Numbering (Vancouver) system:
References should be cited in the text by sequential numbering in square brackets e.g., [1], [2-6], [1,4,5,7-10]. The final list should then be in numerical order, preceded by the appropriate number.
How do I cite different types of source?
For a paper: Author(s) surname(s) and initials
Year of publication (including a, b, c etc if appropriate)
The full title of the paper
The journal title (often inserted in italics)
The volume number (often inserted in bold)
The first and last page numbers.
e.g., Sanger, F. (1981) Determination of nucleotide sequences in DNA. Science 214: 1205-1210.
For an article in a book the following details are required:
Author(s) surname(s) and initials
Year of publication
The article title
The title of the book, including volume number
The editor(s) names
The first and last page numbers.
The publisher’s name and place of publication
e.g., Farr, L.A., Gaspar, T.M. & Munn, D.F. (1984) Desynchronization with surgery. In Chronobiology. Eds. E. Hans & H.F. Kabat. Pp. 544-547. Karzer, New York.
If the complete book is referred to the total number of pages should be stated:
e.g., O’Connor, M. & Woodford, F.P. (1976) Writing Scientific Papers in English. Elsevier, Amsterdam. 108 pp.
Information derived from websites can be treated in much the same way as printed sources. If the information is available, then references in the text should include the author (or organization if author not available) and the year accessed. In the reference list, you should include the author (or organization), the date the material was written (if available), title of the article (if available), the web address and the exact date last accessed in the references, The source should be included within the same list (alphabetically by author) as paper-based articles.
e.g. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2001). Guidance on the use of gemcitabine for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. NICE technology appraisal guidance [TA25]. Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta25 (Accessed 12th April 2016).
Submission
Back up your work regularly and keep backup copies of all materials in a place separate from the master version (e.g. MyDocuments@Manchester; mydocuments.manchester.ac.uk; sometimes referred to as the ‘P drive’) or email yourself a copy of the latest version. Use a different filename to indicate the latest version date, e.g. Reece_1234567_BIOL21061_12_10_2016.doc so that you are not confused by which file is the latest version.
The EDM write-up is to be submitted as a PDF via the appropriate EDM unit on Blackboard before the deadline stated above. Only PDF files are allowed for submission. You are advised to leave plenty of time for checking and uploading your work: anything left until the last day may well leave you with insufficient time if you have computer problems! It is in the nature of technology to fail sometimes: technical problems (unlike medical emergencies) are counted as foreseeable. They will NOT be considered as mitigation. In particular, you should double check that the PDF conversion of your report was successful before you submit it (number of pages, formatting, and quality of the figures)
You can find the EDM submission area by going to https://online.manchester.ac.uk > BIOL21041 Molecular and Cellular Biology EDM 2016-17 1st Semester OR BIOL21051 Organismal Biology EDM 2016-17 1st Semester OR BIOL21061 Human Sciences EDM 2016-17 1st Semester> Assessments (left-hand menu) > eSubmission. You must read the information carefully and submit to the eSubmission of EDM Final Write-Up View/Complete link. For guidance on uploading files see:
http://bmh-elearning.org/tii/sbs_tii_upload/
When you have submitted your write-up onto Blackboard make sure a digital receipt similar to the one below is shown at the end:
If you have any problems with submission, help will be available from the eLearning support team using the link below:
http://bmh-elearning.org/technical-support/
You should ensure that you submit any eLearning enquires early as it may take up to 1 full working day to respond to your submission, therefore if you request support after 4pm the day before the deadline, it is possible that you will not receive support before the deadline and will not be granted an extension. The eLearning team does try to answer all requests as soon as possible; therefore it is your responsibility to keep checking your emails between submitting a request and the deadline. Responses may be in an email addressed from University of Manchester Service Desk.
If you are having a problem very close to the deadline, or if your eLearning enquiry has not been answered, the eLearning support team will be available on Thursday 15th December (Week 12) from 2pm –4pm, room to be confirmed (check the Announcements nearer the deadline for information). Ensure that you arrive as early as possible since if you arrive close to the deadline time and there are already a lot of people waiting to be seen, you may not get help before the deadline and therefore you will lose marks for late submission.
MARKING CRITERIA FOR EDM FULL WRITE-UP
Criteria for assigning marks are provided below for each section of the report. Advisors will use these to complete the online rubric:
0, 1, 2, 3 = fails to meet basic criteria for the report
4 = meets basic criteria but nothing more
5, 6 = satisfactory
7, 8 = good
9, 10 = very good
ABSTRACT [5%] – 200 word limit
Basic: abstract present that displays some attempt to summarise the content of the report.
Satisfactory: abstract summarises main findings with some omissions or inaccuracies.
Good: abstract summarises work reasonably well and precisely.
Very good: clear and accurate summary of the content of the report.
INTRODUCTION [10%]
It is important to take into consideration when marking the content that the student will have very little prior knowledge of specialist subject areas and consequently may need to cover basic aspects of the subject area prior to tackling more detailed aspects of the topic. The background information should lead logically to the aims.
Background and Aims
Basic: student attempts to address the topic. Aims are loosely defined.
Satisfactory: reasonable attempt to address topic but some information absent. Aims are reasonably well defined but lack some detail.
Good: most areas of importance covered in addressing the topic. Aims are well defined and cover the most important aspects.
Very good: comprehensive tackling of topic with evidence of original thought. Aims are clearly defined and all aspects are covered.
MATERIALS AND METHODS [15%]
Basic: present but lacking detail and some major omissions.
Satisfactory: mostly present but may lack clarity.
Good: largely present but perhaps minor omissions.
Very good: fully presented.
RESULTS
DESCRIPTION OF DATA [15%]
Basic: most results described in text but lack detail and limited use of tables and figures or results are just a series of tables and figures with no commentary text.
Satisfactory: tables and figures supplement text but not in all cases appropriately or sufficiently.
Good: text, tables and figures used in most cases appropriately and sufficiently.
Very good: intelligent and appropriate use of text, tables and figures to convey information.
NB Statistical analysis may not be required for some experiments. Tables and figures should not repeat the same data. If there is repetition, then only a satisfactory mark will be achieved.
PRESENTATION OF DATA [15%]
Basic: tables and figures present but of limited quality and lack attention to detail; little or no
statistical analysis.
Satisfactory: most tables and figures contain appropriate information but some omissions and errors in presentation; limited statistical analysis.
Good: tables and figures generally well presented with appropriate figure numbers, labelling,
legends etc.; appropriate statistical analysis but possibly some deficiencies.
Very good: high quality tables and figures with no errors or omissions; detailed statistical
analysis.
DISCUSSION [10%]
Interpretation of Data and Conclusions
Basic: student attempts to interpret data but there may be major inaccuracies. Some conclusions present but largely weak.
Satisfactory: reasonable attempt to understand data but some misinterpretation or inaccuracy. Reasonable conclusions drawn from the work but no real depth.
Good: most of the data accurately interpreted with a few minor inaccuracies; evidence of critical
appraisal of available information. Well thought out conclusions that on the whole are supported by the data.
Very good: data accurately interpreted and analysed critically and compared with the existing
literature. Excellent conclusions which are fully supported by the data.
REFERENCES [10%]
Basic: no or very little appropriate literature consulted.
Satisfactory: appropriate literature consulted but of limited range; i.e. mainly general text books.
Good: clear evidence that different types of appropriate literature have been consulted.
Very good: a good balance between basic text, review articles and current literature.
NB If numerous websites are cited, then only a mark of satisfactory will be given
STANDARD OF ENGLISH [10%]
Basic: very poor use of English with poor sentence construction and many sentences incomprehensible; numerous misspellings and grammatical errors.
Satisfactory: sentence construction is largely acceptable; mediocre English with significant use of colloquialisms and mixed tenses; some misspellings.
Good: good clear use of English and well-constructed sentences; minimal misspellings.
Very good: excellent use of English making the report very easy to read and comprehend; all sentences are of an appropriate length and grammatically correct; no misspellings.
PRESENTATION OF REPORT [10%]
Basic: the report is word processed.
Satisfactory: well presented but some inconsistencies in notation, in the numbering of sections
and alignment of tables, some figures may not be of high quality.
Good: well presented with accurate numbering of sections and most tables and figures of good
quality including editing of graphics and inclusion of captions.
Very good: high quality with appropriate and consistent presentation style, tables well prepared, figures of high quality, clear evidence of attention to detail.
PLAGIARISM & ACADEMIC MALPRACTICE
The project submissions must be in your own words (see the Second Level Handbook entry on Plagiarism). Remember that all work you submit will be subjected to scrutiny by the markers as well as an electronic check for plagiarism in Turnitin.