BIOS 10140 RESEARCH PROJECT
RESEARCH PROJECT ASSIGNMENT #5
Central research question: Genotype to phenotype: What are the relationships between
genes and behavior and how are they affected by the environment?
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Research project assignment #5: Final research paper
Instructions: For this assignment, you should present a description and analysis of the results
from your groupΒs experiments. This should be written as a formal lab report, adhering to the
style typically found in the professional scientific literature. There are sections that can be
shared across group members and other components that must be unique to individual group
members.
Please complete the following sections; label each with the appropriate sub-heading:
a. Introduction: Background, research questions, literature review, and significance
[You may address the following prompts in any order]
Briefly introduce the field of study and any terms or concepts the audience needs to
know to understand the research questions and their significance
Briefly review the literature that highlights what is known about the research question
motivating this project; Highlight at least one gap your experiment aimed to fill
State central question(s) being addressed by your group
Briefly discuss the significance or value of addressing those questions
[For part (a), you can draw from previous project assignments and students in one group can
present some of the same literature, research questions, and ideas, but each student should
write this section in their own words.]
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b. Methods: Describe the methods used to collect and analyze your data. In the professional
scientific literature, methods are typically presented in paragraph form and in the past tense,
since the experiments have been completed by the time the paper is submitted. For this
assignment, you have the option of presenting your methods in paragraph form or as a
numerical or bulleted list of procedures used. Regardless of the format you choose, your
methods should be presented in the past tense.
[Part (b) can be identical across all group members and all or portions can be identical to the
experimental proposal submitted for Research Project Assignment #2. If you made any
changes to the experiment after submitting the proposal, please update accordingly.]
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c. Results: This section must have figures displaying your raw and/or analyzed data (e.g.,
graphs, images, tables) and a written description of the results in paragraph form. The written
portion should clearly and concisely describe the data shown in the figures, directing the reader
to the figure when appropriate. If a scientific paper has a separate discussion section (as this
assignment does), the results section generally does not discuss what the data mean, but
rather just offers a description of what is shown in the figures (e.g., Drug X decreased
locomotion in wild type C. elegans; Worms exhibited a positive chemotaxis toward Drug X).
BIOS 10140 Inquiry-Based Exploration of Biology (Neurobiology Β McNulty) Spring 2022
[For part (c), all group members can use the same figures/tables/images; however,
individual group members should write up their own descriptions of the results. Although
there can be sim
ilarities in the text across submissions, there should be evidence that each
student made a concerted effort to present their own descriptions of the results.]
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d. Discussion: In this section, you should discuss the conclusions you can draw from the
results you presented in the previous section and the broader implications and relevance of the
work (additional guidelines below).
[Each group member must write their own discussion section (part d) in its entirety.]
Address all of the following questions/prompts (not necessarily in this order):
i. What are the major conclusions you can draw from your results?
ii. To what extent did your results address the central question(s)/hypotheses of your
project?
iii. How does your work relate to that of others addressing similar types of questions?
Draw from at least one professional scientific source to help establish how your work relates to
previously published work. For example, you might explain whether your results align (or
conflict) with those from another investigation. Alternatively, you could discuss how your
project could be considered an extension of related work. [Note: For this prompt, you are not
expected to perform a comprehensive search of published work. You can focus on discussing
how your work relates to an investigation described in just one or a few other published papers.]
iv. What challenges and/or limitations did you encounter as you carried out your
experiments and how might they have impacted your results and conclusions? How might one
address these challenges or limitations in future iterations of the experiments?
v. What would be the next question or hypothesis you would test as a follow up to your
investigation?
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Your discussion must also address at least one of following questions/prompts. Make sure
your reasoning is clear. Consider drawing from outside sources to provide support for your
arguments:
i. Briefly discuss the ecological and/or evolutionary implications of the phenotype(s) you
examined. For example, how might the phenotype(s) you examined relate to behaviors or
ecological interactions in the natural environment? To what extent would the phenotype(s)
affect evolutionary fitness? Would known alleles of a specific gene involved (or proposed to
be involved) in the phenotype(s) confer an evolutionary advantage or negatively impact survival
and reproductive success?
ii. To what extent might the genes and/or phenotype(s) you examined be potentially
affected by developmental stage (e.g., life cycle/aging), epigenetic modifications, and/or
learning/experience?
BIOS 10140 Inquiry-Based Exploration of Biology (Neurobiology Β McNulty) Spring 2022
Considerations for your discussion section:
a. It should be written in paragraph form, not as an outline or bulleted list;
b. It should be logically organized, cohesive, and coherent. You do not need to address the
prompts in the order presented. Consider how the ideas relate to one another and use
transitional phrases and sentences to strengthen fluidity and cohesion;
c. Keep your audience (i.e., one unfamiliar with your project) in mind as you write;
d. When drawing from other sources, paraphrase information properly (do not rely heavily on
direct quotes). Write about the science in your own words, and properly cite all sources
following the guidelines on Canvas.