Data Summary
Overview
The culminating written assignment for Module 3 will be relatively informal. You should continue to strive for clear writing and thorough explanations, but you do not have to make beautiful figures or polish every last word. Keep in mind that the summaries you write today may be used by students during next spring’s offering of 20.109. Consider what information you would want to see as a student just beginning the third module, and then do your best to convey it.
At a minimum, you should introduce the experimental question you investigated (with links to publications if appropriate), describe your results (in text, tables, and perhaps 2-3 figures), then interpret your findings and discuss implications for future work. The introduction and discussion might only be about 1 long paragraph (or perhaps 2 shorter ones) each.
Although you need not include common methodological details, it is exceedingly important that you write down any such information unique to your experiment (number of cells analyzed, quantity of RNA used in RT-PCR, etc).
Collaboration and Integrity
For this assignment only, you and your partner may share figures and figure captions if you wish. However, all of the supporting text should be written individually.
Logistics
This assignment is due by 5 PM on your final wet lab day.
Evaluation
| SECTION | WORTH (%) | CRITERIA |
|---|---|---|
| Background, Experimental Question, and Design | 30 |
- Is the idea interesting and relevant? - Is previous foundational research sufficiently explained? - Is the experimental design likely to address the question? |
| Results and Interpretation of Data | 50 |
- Is the description of results complete (including necessary methods details)? - Do the figures clearly convey the data? - Are interpretations of each piece of data reasonable? |
| Contextualizing Results and Suggestions for Future Work | 20 |
- Is the import of the present experiment neither over- nor under-stated? - Are minor suggestions for future experimental changes likely to address any problems encountered? - Are broader suggestions for future work interesting and relevant? |
