You are employed as a research assistant in our Medicinal Plant Research Lab. You were testing the effects of a plant extract on brain cancer cells (Figure 1). The plants were extracted using different solvents (water ultra, water, ethanol etc). Without treatment (untreated), the brain cancer cells were almost 100% alive. Treated brain cancer cells were significantly reduced. Your task is to analyse this data and write it up as a scientific report for your supervisor to assess.
This summarises what the report is about in less than 100 words. This section should include the rationale (why was this investigation done), aims (objectives), materials and methods (how was it done), results (what was found) and conclusions (how can this information be used, what relevance does this have to you and the society).
This section tells your audience what the problem was, how a solution was found and the aim of the investigation with references where appropriate in less than 100 words.
Eg The life span of humans are increasing, with the average age for men and women now 80 years old (ref) but there has been a decline in brain health (ref). This project aimed to ….. The implications and importance of these findings.
Materials and methods:
This section explains what was done so that you or another person can repeat it. Use less than 100 words.
Eg Information and data was obtained from my supervisor. A graph was created using Microsoft excel version 10...
Results:
You will need to compile 1 figure of the data (Figure 1) in a scientific standard format. Refer to your lecture notes for examples and choose the best one to suit the information. Your aim is to create a figure that is easy to read so that your audience understands your results without needing to read the text summary. Write a text summary. The text summary should tell your audience in less than 400 words what was found with reference to your figure including the ranges (minimum, maximum), overall trends (increases, decreases), comparisons (similarities, differences), contrasts and important observations.
Discussion:
Tell your audience in less than 600 words what the results mean, relative to the aims and compare/contrast what was found with reference to what others have found. Does this plant have brain cancer fighting properties? Are you convinced of the information? What else is needed? How is this information important to you, to society, to the world?
Eg Plant x has brain cancer fighting properties, similar to other plants such as ……(ref)and …(ref). The bioactive compounds were ….(ref) and (ref). The bioactive compounds of this plant x is unknown and will be pivotal for future research because…...
