DESIGNING YOUR OWN INVESTIGATION

                                                        Dr. Adams, Biology 1107

    I am betting that just about everyone in this class has had questions about some scientific phenomenon at some point during their lives, questions that could lead to original investigations. Questions like AWhy is the sky blue?@ or AWhy is the grass green?@ are scientific questions that can be answered with simple investigations. Well, you are going to get your chance to design your own investigation -- formulate some hypothesis and tell how you would test it..

    You will start by choosing a partner to work with. Biology, as is true with any science, is frequently a collaborative effort, and, whereas you clearly do not get to collaborate on tests or other exercises, its nice to be able to do so occasionally. Next, you and your partner will choose any biological topic that interests you. Then you will be required to formulate hypotheses about experiments you could use to answer questions about your particular topic. You will not actually do the experiments, but you will be required to do a partial lab write-up (Introduction and Material & Methods; described shortly). You also must choose a problem that would actually require you to do an experiment (manipulate an independent variable), not just gather data. You and your partner will also be asked to investigate two related questions/hypotheses, one for each of you! This will, in essence, be a scientific proposal. You should approach this assignment as if your proposal must be approved, or else you won=t get funding, you won=t get tenure, and you=ll lose your job! In your Introduction, you will need to clearly define your hypotheses, and state reasons for making your hypotheses. Another way to look at it is that you have certain expectations as to what will happen (your hypotheses), and you will need to explain explicitly why you have these expectations. This is not all that will go into your introduction, however. Previous to making your hypotheses, you will need to introduce the topic (this is an Introduction, after all), giving background information on your topic and problems to be investigated, and why you chose these questions. Yes, this means a visit to the library, as you will be required to have no less than ten references for your paper. You can, and should, use the referenced information to support your expectations. I will discuss this more shortly.

    As for the Materials & Methods section, you will need to state (in paragraph form) the procedure that you would follow in your experiments. You must be sure to be as complete as possible, stating exactly what you would do. Remember that replication is a vital part of science, so if you suggest an experiment with a single test subject and a single control subject, you will get points taken off for lack of replication. You will, of course, need to indicate control groups (where appropriate), and also what variables would need to be standardized. This is critically important to a scientific investigation, and is something that is often overlooked. Some of the most obvious standardized variables would be items such as temperature, humidity, etc. The reason why these are often overlooked is because if the experiments are done inside a laboratory, these will automatically be standardized, assuming that the tests are done all in the same room in the same time frame. You must turn in a separate list of the control and standardized variables, as well as the independent and dependent variables for tests you are proposing. Please refer to the handout AThe Process of Scientific Inquiry@ (the black box experiment) you received the first week of class to refresh your memory on these terms.

    Once you have chosen a question to investigate, run it by me for approval before moving on. There are certain questions that, although testable, would not be pursued in science (I=m sure you can figure out what I=m talking about!). Once approved, work on getting the references and writing the paper. Don=t procrastinate; although you have a long time in which to complete this project, it is never too early to start. Please, feel free to discuss any aspect of your experiment with me or with other students before it is due. Input from several different people can help you clarify your project.

Format for the Write-Up:

    The format for the write-up of the proposal (Introduction and Materials & Methods) is generally as follows. Some salient points to emphasize are:

1. You need a title that is appropriate for the problem(s) being investigated.

2. Your Introduction (with the heading AIntroduction@ included) will include background                 information that you get from your references. This should include 1) what sparked your interest in this problem, 2) what is known about the topic (in general), and 3) why your experiment should be done. This should be followed by clearly stated hypotheses, expectations as to what would actually occur in your tests, and reasons for those expectations. Note again that you need to investigate two related questions, one each for you and your partner.

3. The Materials & Methods section must explicitly state, in paragraph form, precisely what you would do, including replication, controls, standardized variables, etc. Do not present a list of materials (everything you use will be mentioned in your procedure), and do not present a numbered list of steps, either. You will also need to produce for me any appropriate (empty) data tables you would need if you actually performed the experiment.

4. Most importantly, if you get a piece of information from a book, journal article, etc. and not from your own previous knowledge, it must be referenced. You will have a bibliography (list of references) at the end of your paper, and you will need to indicate in the body of the paper where you got your information from. If every sentence includes information you got from one of your sources, that=s perfectly okay, but you will need to indicate this every time. As indicated below, the method of referencing in scientific papers is much easier than footnoting, for those of you who have done English papers.

References and Referencing:

    References can come from a lot of different sources. These include, but are not limited to, journals (magazines), books, government documents, and newspapers. The newest resource that can be used as a reference is, of course, websites or articles from the internet. I will not allow you to use the internet exclusively, however. Of the ten references you and your partner arerequired to use, only four can come from the internet. All ten references must be used in writing your paper. I would suggest that you and your partner each be responsible for five.

    When constructing your references/bibliography section of your paper, there is a specific format that is followed for scientific papers. For example, what follows is an example of a common citation form for an article from a journal:

In this example, the author of the paper is Ian Kitching, the year of publication is 1993, in the Journal of the Lepidopterists= Society. The number A47" refers to the volume number of the journal or periodical, and the number A3" refers to the journal number within the volume. Generalized formats for different resources, and specific examples are given on several separate sheets. You will notice that the date of publication can alternatively go at the end of your citation.

    Your references will be listed in the bibliography alphabetically by author. To make referencing easiest, number your references from (1) through (10) (or more!). You will then use these numbers, in the body of the paper, to indicate where the information comes from that you are citing. For instance, if the Kitching reference listed above was reference number four in the bibliography, and you refer to it in the text of your paper, you would follow the statement in your paper by A(4)@, as follows:

AThe sphinx moth Darapsa myron has now been recorded from Thailand (4).@

This means that the information in the above statement comes from the article in the bibliography preceded by the number four, i.e., the paper by Kitching. Again, you must do this every time you cite a specific resource. For anyone who has ever done footnoting, I think you will agree that this is a much easier way to refer to your reference materials.

    IF ANY OF THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS UNCLEAR IN ANY WAY, PLEASE SEE ME FOR HELP!!

    For those of you who have not been to the library in a while, we will take some time in the near future to visit the library to refresh your memory on how to use the innumerable resources available in the library.

TO TURN IN: (Worth 90 points)

    There are two (2) important items to turn in: the proposal and the separate list of treatments/variables mentioned previously. As stated previously, the proposal should contain the Introduction, Materials & Methods, and any necessary data tables. I expect your proposal to be detailed in terms of both the background information and the procedures, so, although I don=t typically have page limits, I would expect the length of this proposal to be at least four pages (double-spaced typewritten). The list should include the control treatments, standardized variables, dependent and independent variables for each test that is indicated in the materials and methods section. Please turn both items in Atypewritten@ form, unless absolutely impossible. If not typewritten, then what you turn in should be incredibly neat, with no scratched out words, etc.

    Although this exercise will require some work, it should also be an exercise that you can enjoy. After all, you will be investigating something that is (hopefully) of interest to you both!

ORAL PRESENTATIONS: (worth 10 points)

    You will be able, the last lab period of the semester, to defend your proposal with a brief oral presentation. This oral presentation should be three to five minutes long (but not longer, or points will be taken off!), giving a brief outline of both the background information on your topic and how you are going to gather your data. You will then have more time to answer a few questions from the review board (me and the rest of the class).