Microbiology Laboratory Research Report Instructions

Microbiology Laboratory Research Report Instructions

Each student must write one research report on their assigned organism. The format for the report is outlined below. The report should be more than two pages in length, but a maximum of four pages long (not including pictures and references). All text should be 12 point font and single spaced with 1 inch margins.

Format for Research Reports – Each student will write his or her own research report based on the organism that they are assigned. The focus of the lab report will be how you would identify your particular microorganism. Each lab report should consist of the following sections that should be identified using the following word/wording:

Title – The title should be the name of the organism that is the subject of your report.

Introduction – A background on your microorganism covering things such as diseases it might be associated with and virulence factors (Please list virulence factors that the organism uses to promote the disease state i.e. Glycoprotein Spikes, ability to change genetically).

Identification – You should have the main body of the paper focus on how you would identify your microorganism, covering the following areas;

1) Cell Morphology – talk about staining procedures that can be used to identify your microorganism as well as what it looks like after the staining procedures are done i.e. after simple staining.

2) Gram (+) or Gram (-) – How you would use the gram staining procedure and what the outcome would be with your microorganism.

3) Special Stains – How and what specials stains you would use to identify your microorganism.

4) Other differential stains you might be able to use such as Acid-Fast Staining.

5) Colony Morphology – How you would set-up to look at colony morphology and what your bacteria would look like on the appropriate media it grows on.

6) Selective and Differential Media – What media you would use to identify your microorganism and what the outcome would be.

Summary – A summary paragraph about your microorganism as it relates to identification.

References – Please include a list of references you used to create your report using MLA citation style (Check this website for examples: http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/mla). A minimum of 3 references should be cited (at least one should be a reference different than your book or the internet). Please do not use Wikipedia or Youtube as a reference!

Terms – You must also properly utilize at least 5 terms that you have learned during this course in the report. Please use a change in format, such as color, bold, underline, italics etc. to indicate that the term refers to something you learned in class i.e. virulence factor, capsid, cell wall.

Grading and Timeline – This report is worth 200 points and is due on the day of the final exam. On this day, you will need to hand in a hard copy of the report. I will not accept electronic versions! Points will be awarded based on format (40 points), conte