GUIDELINES: PRACTICAL REPORTS

This guide is presented as a general outline of the basic requirements for the presentation of
practical write-ups by students in biological sciences Reports must be typed. These represent
the classical way of writing up practicals (see below). The written account of the experiment
must state what you did, why you did it, what you found, and what you make of the results.
Be concise, clear, informative and accurate. Your report should be formatted with the
following headings:

All reports must be presented in the form of a short scientific paper with the following
format (largely taken from the journal Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science published by
Elsevier, see also website http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02727714):

FONT, MARGINS & LINE SPACING

Use font size 12 Arial, 2.5 cm margins (in all directions) and double line spacing throughout
your manuscript.

TITLE: Give a brief title to the investigation.

e.g. Intertidal survey of rocky shore biota at Treasure Beach, Kwazulu-Natal
OR
A survey of sandy shore and beach processes at Treasure Beach, KwaZulu-natal

NAME, AFFILIATION AND ADDRESS

Provide your full name and the full postal address of your institutional affiliation, including e-
mail address.

ABSTRACT: at the beginning of the body of text.

The abstract should be concise and factual (maximum length 300 words) and include only
the major findings (results) of the experiments conducted and any special techniques used
(developed) should be mentioned but not detailed. The abstract should state briefly the
purpose of the research, the methods used, the principal results and a short interpretation of
the main findings. It should therefore be written last. An abstract is often presented separate
from the article, so it must be able to stand alone.

KEYWORDS:
5 keywords that describe your research.
INTRODUCTION:
Do not refer to any results in the introduction.
A short, concise outline of the problem or subject being investigated, with reference to
previous work in the field. The introduction should introduce the reader to the practical
scenario and topic/research question as well as the study site or region and any hypotheses
you have. Make sure you reference all the statements in your introduction. For example, if
your practical involves the use of sediment coring, then your introduction should describe
the how it is done and why, and in particular, the method that you will be using in the
practical. At the end of this section, you should state clearly the aims and objectives a of the
work that was undertaken (i.e explain what the experiment was designed to investigate and
the significance of the phenomenon being studied).
You should attempt to consult as much peer-reviewed literature (NOT websites, as they are
not peer-reviewed) outside of that provided. Avoid, however, including in this section too
many details derived from the literature survey (i.e. be selective of the material most relevant
and important to your work) or a summary of the results.
This section must not exceed 2 A4 pages with double line-spacing. (incl. aims,
objectives, hypotheses).

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

A description of the procedures adopted and materials used, including all field, laboratory
and numerical/statistical gears/tools and methods used from the onset to the completion of
the study. Where available, make use of references, rather than repeating too many details
already published elsewhere.
Materials & methods should be written out in full sentences, not in point form. They should
contain enough detail to enable another researcher to repeat your entire
investigation/experiment. You cannot leave anything out! Remember to write materials &
methods only for the practical techniques (field and/or laboratory) that you used. Raw
data and buffer recipes etc. must be cited in the Appendix at the end of your report. Include
the name of the animal (s) or plant species, a description of the apparatus, and, where it
would be helpful, a drawing of the apparatus, full details of the experimental procedure,
special precautions it was found necessary to take, etc. This section should be concise, but
contain enough information to allow someone else to repeat exactly your final procedure,
without any previous knowledge of the experiment or techniques, and without repeating any
of the errors you may have made.
This section must not exceed 2 A4 pages with double line spacing. (incl. site
description)

RESULTS:
A concise description of your own experimental results are presented which must be
accompanied by a small, but informative series of graphs and/or tables (no more than 6
items in total). NOTE that it is not sufficient to produce in this section just a set of graphs
and tables. These must be accompanied by a descriptive, factual synthesis of all the findings.
Details of all the raw data obtained during the study should be presented in an appendix
attached to the report, right at the end of the manuscript. Always state the units in which
various quantities are measured. Long verbal descriptions are often misleading or subject to
misinterpretation and should be avoided. If your results include multiple data points,
calculate the standard deviation. The results section should include a few sentences that
present the facts or explain the figures – any tables or figures should be referred to in this
explanation; do not discuss or draw conclusions in this section. Figure & table titles must fall
on the same page as the figure or table – take time to format your document!
This section must not exceed 4 A4 pages with double line spacing.

DISCUSSION:
The discussion should explore critically the significance of the results of the work, not repeat
them and explain their significance in terms of a specific hypothesis and, where appropriate,
compares these with the results obtained by other researchers working in the same or in
similar fields. If your results are at variance with those of others, try to account for the
differences. We encourage you to discuss your results in light of any facts that you may have
stated in your Introduction. Unexpected observations should also be discussed. Point out
the relevance of the conclusions drawn from the experimental results to the physiological
processes under investigation and to the life of the animal/plant. Avoid extensive citations
and discussion of published literature, but do compare your findings as broadly as possible
with information already available in the literature on the subject.
Any questions that need to be answered should be placed in this section of the report.

ILLUSTRATIONS:
Clear, neat, informative drawings are nearly always necessary. Illustrations should be
numbered according to their sequence in the text. References should be made in the text to
each illustration. When plotting results on a graph, choose scales intelligently and show
either individual points or average values with maximum and minimum values or, better,
with standard errors.

TABLES: Tables should bear a short descriptive title and should be submitted on separate
sheets.

REFERENCES:
Ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice
versa). Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the
reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. Textbooks and journals are the preferred
sources of information, since they are edited and reviewed prior to publication. Citation of a
reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication. Web sites,
although useful, should be treated with caution since they do not necessarily go through the
same review process.

Citation of References within the Text:

Citation of references is important, since it shows the reader where the material being
discussed is derived from. Citation also ensures that you are not passing another's work off
as your own. Direct quotes should appear in quotation marks. There are two formats (see
below), which are interchangeable, for citation of references in the text.
It has been demonstrated (Smith & Jones, 1997; Brown et al., 1998) that bacteria x is capable
of nitrate reduction. Please note that the references are in chronological order.
Smith and Jones (1997) first demonstrated that bacteria x is capable of nitrate reduction.
Brown et al. (1998) showed that...
Note:
Single Author's surname (without initials) and year of publication.
Two Authors' surnames and the year of publication
Three or more Authors; first Author's surname followed by "et al." and the year of
publication. In the list of references names of authors and all co-authors must be given in
full.
If the citation of two different references is identical, the date used in the citation and
reference should be followed by a letter, which allows the two be distinguished (e.g. Smith
(1997a) and Smith (1997b).
References in the text should be arranged chronologically.
References in the Reference List should be arranged first alphabetically, and then further
sorted chronologically if necessary.
More than one reference from the same Author(s) in the same year, must be identified by
the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication.
Check for consistent formatting. Use Estuarine, Coastal & Shelf Science format. (No size limit)
Failure to reference the work of others is plagiarism and you will be penalised.

One sure way of getting extra marks is to read other relevant literature, and cite it in the
Discussion. References should be listed in alphabetical sequence according to first author.
The reference list must include only those references that you cited in your text. Do not
forget to reference! References should appear as a single list, in alphabetical order,
irrespective of the type of source from which they were derived, at the end of the practical
report. In the reference list, periodicals, books, and chapters in books should accord with the
following examples:

Journal Articles:Author(s). (date) Title of paper. Journal Title. Volume Number, Page
numbers. E.g.:
Hammock, B.D., Bonning, B.C., Possee, R.D., Hanzlik, T.N. & Maeda, S. (1990) Expression and
effects of the juvenile hormone esterase in a baculovirus vector. Nature 344, 458 - 461.
Books:Author(s). (date). Book title Edition Number, Publisher, Place of publication, Page
numbers. E.g.:
Prescott, L.M., Harvey, J.P. & Klein, D.A. (1993) Microbiology 2nd edition, W.C. Brown
Publishers, Oxford, England. pp 100-115.
Please note that book publishers and place where it is published are indicated.
Chapters in Books with Editors:Author(s). (date). Chapter title. In Book title Edited by,
Publisher, Place of publication, Page numbers. E.g.:
Dawes, E.A. (1985) Starvation, survival and energy reserves. In Bacteria in their Natural
Environments. Edited by M. Fletcher and G.D. Floodgate. Academic Press, London, England.
pp 43 - 78

STRUCTURE:
Take care in the setting out and writing of your record; it has to be submitted during the
term to be assessed for inclusion in your class record. See that your report is correct in
spelling and grammar, precise and indicative of the frame of mind with which the
experimentalist approaches the work; in addition, it provides good practice for the way in
which you should answer questions in the practical tests.