Assessment 3 Guidelines
Using a range of formats to present information
30%
This project is where you put everything you’ve learned in this class together into a
report and a poster that shows you can communicate your findings to others.
Remember the last step in the scientific method is to tell others what you have
found.
So for this assessment you will synthesize all of the results from your Excel exercises
(the shell data) into a single report as if you were preparing it for publication. It will
not be a full report, because you are focussing on the parts that are relevant to
data analysis (introduction (your hypotheses) results (your graphs and statistics)
and discussion (interpreting your results).
You will also produce a scientific poster to present the information from your
report. Both the report and poster will be submitted to Moodle.
Where to start: your hypotheses
You have a big data set that you have made in Excel from shell measurements.
You can think about a beach with wave and wind action try to make a guess
about why some shells end up in the high tide zone and others lower in the tidal
range. Following the scientific method, you have made observations. Now it’s
time for step two, to formulate your hypotheses
1. Write testable null and alternative hypotheses for: a. colour, b. size, c.
species
These hypotheses should go under the heading “introduction” and be the start of
your report.
Results
The next section is “results” and is where you will present all of your evidence in an
attempt to test your hypotheses. This section will:
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include all tables and figures that test your hypotheses. For each figure, any trends or lack of trends should be written in a description above it. All figures and tables should be in scientific writing format with appropriate captions. |
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See the marking schedule for a more detailed list of what you should include.
Discussion
This is an important part of communicating results in which you clearly explain to
the reader what you found. You discuss the interpretation or what the results
mean to the reader. Do not just restate the results, but use your own reasoning
and evidence from previously published reports to say why you think there is a
difference, or if there is no difference, between the shells found at high tide and
those found at low tide. You should include peer reviewed references to support
your reasoning. Peer reviewed referencing is not specifically stated in the marking
schedule, but is part of science writing and will improve your discussion.
Write a discussion of roughly one page with a rationale synthesizing evidence
for why you found changes or lack of changes in shell characteristics between
tidal levels.
Appendix
The appendix is where you put large tables of raw data that don’t need a written
description. You can also put Excel outputs for statistical tests, which are normally
not presented in the body of a report.
| | Include a table and caption of all your summary statistics under the title “Appendix 1” |
Part of good communication is making sure that your report is neat, that the
spelling is correct, that you include page numbers and section headings where
appropriate. Understandably, if English writing is not your strength, you may have
to take the time to get help from the learning advisors available on campus.
Scientific poster
Your scientific poster should be produced in Powerpoint, with the slide in portrait
orientation (rather than landscape). It should include all the sections you would
normally find in a scientific report (introduction, methods, results, discussion), but
they are presented in a more visual way, using minimal text. Normally the results
are the biggest section. Some examples of scientific posters are provided on
Moodle.
| Marking Schedule for project – Assessment 3 | ||||
| Requirement | Evidence | Marks | Out of | Comments |
| Report: Introduction | ||||
| Ho and Ha for colour | Hypotheses are testable and clearly written | 1 | ||
| Ho and Ha for species | Hypotheses are testable and clearly written | 1 | ||
| Ho and Ha for shell size | Hypotheses are testable and clearly written | 1 | ||
| Report: Results | ||||
| Appropriate figure/s comparing colour vs. tidal zone |
graph/s showing any trends or lack of trends in colour change from low to high tide. Properly formatted with written description |
4 | ||
| Appropriate figure/s comparing species vs. tidal zone |
graph/s showing any trends or lack of trends in species makeup from low to high tide. Properly formatted with written description |
4 | ||
| Appropriate figure/s comparing shell size vs. tidal zone |
graph/s showing any trends or lack of trends in shell size from low to high tide. Properly formatted with written description |
4 | ||
| Appropriate statistical tests comparing colour vs. tidal zone |
Correct test chosen for conclusions. Meaning of p-value expressed correctly |
3 | ||
| Appropriate statistical tests comparing species vs. tidal zone |
Correct test chosen for conclusions. Meaning of p-value expressed correctly |
3 | ||
| Appropriate statistical tests comparing shell size vs. tidal zone |
Correct test chosen for conclusions. Meaning of p-value expressed correctly |
3 | ||
| Report: Discussion | ||||
| Colour vs tidal level discussed | Clear rationale for conclusions. Clear statement of whether or not hypotheses are supported. |
4 | ||
| Species vs tidal level discussed | Clear rationale for conclusions. Clear statement of whether or not hypotheses are supported. |
4 | ||
| Shell size vs tidal level discussed | Clear rationale for conclusions. Clear statement of whether or not hypotheses are supported. |
4 | ||
| Report: Appendix | ||||
| Table with summary statistics for colour species and shell size for each tidal zone |
Mean, st. dev., st. error., count, quartiles, range, max and min values included for all categories. Scientific format correct. |
3 | ||
| Overall neat and professional standard including spelling and writing quality |
6 |
| Poster | |
| Key information from report presented | 10 |
| Overall neat and professional standard including spelling and writing quality |
6 |
| Poster is visually appealing and key messages can be determined at a glance |
4 |
| Total marks – | 65 |
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