BIOL 203 Lab Report Assignment
Aria’s Case
Aria is a 30-year-old woman who recently presented in the emergency after a bicycle accident. The ER
nurses treated several lacerations and abrasions to the right side of Aria’s face and her right arm. X-ray
images showed a complete transverse fracture of Aria’s right wrist and fractures to her right temporal
bone. The attending physician placed a cast on Aria’s arm and proceeded to examine her for the extent
of the head trauma.
When asked to walk across the room, Aria complained of dizziness and had trouble keeping her balance.
Aria was unable to hear clearly through her right ear and when a tuning fork was struck and placed on
her forehead, she could hear it only on her left side. When asked to sniff a vial of vanilla extract, Aria
correctly identified the odor. An eye exam revealed that Aria’s visual acuity and peripheral vision were
normal. The doctor then asked Aria to follow a penlight with her eyes as he moved the light to Aria’s right,
left, up, down, and towards her nose. Both eyes tracked the light as normal. The doctor examined Aria’s
face for symmetry and observed some weakness in the eyelids, eyebrows, lips, and forehead on the right
side. A taste test revealed that Aria was unable to distinguish sweet and salty tastes on the anterior right
side of her tongue. Aria was able to feel a warm probe applied to her forehead, cheek, and chin. When
asked to clench her jaw, the physician observed a strong and symmetrical contraction. Aria’s gag reflex
was normal.
Based on her symptoms, the physician concluded that Aria had cranial nerve damage. He advised his
patient that she may require surgery and sent her back to radiography for thin-slice CT scans of her skull.
For this assignment, you are the physician! Your task is to determine which of Aria’s cranial nerve(s) are
damaged. You will use the data you gathered in lab as the normal or control subject. Use the description
of Aria’s symptoms in the case given above to formulate data for an abnormal or experimental subject.
Compare the data from the control subject (your lab partner) to the data for the experimental subject
(Aria) to determine what sensory or motor deficits Aria is experiencing. Use your knowledge of the
anatomy and function of each cranial nerve to determine which cranial nerve or nerves were affected by
her injuries. To write your lab report, follow the format specified on the last page of this document and
use the rubric provided to guide the content.
General Guidelines:
1.
The lab report must be typed, double-spaced, submitted via Canvas, and checked by TurnItIn.
2.
Be as concise as possible. Be specific in your wording. The best lab reports are ones that make
every word count. Strive for logic and precision and avoid ambiguity. Keep the writing
impersonal; do not use person (i.e., I or we).
3.
Proofread your report before submitting it for grading. Mistakes in grammar and spelling will factor
into your final grade. Have a neutral person review and critique your report before submission. If
you need help, see your instructor or go to the LAC for assistance.
4.
The report needs to be written in sufficient detail so that a person with the same background as
you can read the report and understand it.
5.
Be sure to say whether the hypothesis was accepted or rejected and then explain why.
Include data from the lab results to demonstrate your reasoning.
6.
Do not just list data. It needs to be in a format that suits the data such as a graph or table.
7.
Academic honesty is required. Although you worked with a partner while completing the lab
exercise, you must write your own, individual lab report. Copying another student’s paper or
portions thereof constitutes plagiarism. Copying published materials such as websites or text
books is also plagiarism. Review the tutorials on Canvas or consult with library staff if you are
uncertain about how to avoid plagiarism.
The HCC handbook states:
“Academic honesty means the use of one’s own thoughts and materials in the writing of papers,
tests and other classroom related activities….
Students are expected to give full credit for the borrowing of other’s words or ideas. Intentional or
unintentional use of another’s words or ideas without acknowledging this use constitutes
plagiarism:
• The duplication of an author’s words without quotation marks and accurate references and
footnotes.
• The duplication of author’s words or phrases with footnotes or accurate references but
without quotation marks
• The use of author’s ideas in paraphrase without accurate references or footnotes.
• Submitting a paper in which exact words are merely rearranged even though footnoted.”
The penalty for the first infraction of the Academic Honesty policy is to receive a
zero on the assignment. The second offense may result in a failing grade for the
course.
8.
Make sure to use in-text citations when quoting or paraphrasing another author’s words,
phases, ideas or data. Merely rearranging the order of words and not using an in text
citation constitutes plagiarism. APA style format for in text and full citations must be used
9.
Your originality score from turnitin.com must be below 25% for you to receive a grade for
this report. If your originality score is above 25% by the due date you will receive a zero
on this assignment.
Notes:
1. Material covering cranial nerves is in pages 495-503 of your textbook.
2. Data must be reported in graph or table format.
3. You must use in text citations where appropriate in the body of the paper. Failure to do
so results in plagiarism and will be treated as a violation of HCC’s academic honesty
policy. You must use APA format for in text citations and for the full reference in the
literature cited section of the paper. If you fail to use the proper APA citation format you
will lose points, see rubric below.
Format:
Your paper must follow the format outlined below. The format of this paper
follows the APA research report format. An example of this format can be found at:
http://www.thewritesource.com/apa/apa.pdf
Title Page: The title page should be on a separate page at beginning and contain
the title of the report, your name, the name(s) of your lab partner(s),
the course number and the date that the report was submitted.
The body of the paper should contain the following clearly labeled sections:
Introduction: An introduction provides a concise statement, in paragraph form, of the
purposes or aims of the experiment/test. Although the introduction varies with the style
of the author and tests performed, it should only contain information that is relevant to
the case. The introduction should be between one and two double-spaced pages long.
Your hypothesis will be based on the information in the case study and the background
material. Give a reason for your hypothesis that is based on what is known about the
function of the cranial nerves. Remember, the hypothesis doesn’t have to be correct.
Make sure to cite all references properly in the body of the paper
Procedures: This section explicitly describes the details of the tests performed. Do not copy from the
lab manual. Describe in your own words the procedures you used to test the functions
of cranial nerves.
Results:
This section is used to present your results. You should not report raw data. It should
be tabulated and presented in the form of tables and graphs. Make sure that all tables
and graphs are labeled appropriately.
Discussion: The data is analyzed and discussed in this section. Do not simply repeat the data from
the results section, instead, explain the data. What differences did you find between the
control and experimental results? Explain how those differences relate to the function of
the cranial nerves. Do you results support your hypothesis (in other words, was your
prediction correct)? Or do your results contradict your hypothesis (was your prediction
wrong)? Use your data to explain your reasoning. What are the main points of
uncertainty in interpreting your data? Include suggestions that you may have for
improving the design of the tests. If you use material from other sources to support your
discussion, you must cite the reference.
Abstract:
In this section, you will make a brief summary of the study, along with the main
conclusions. If your report was a movie, this would be the trailer. But you should
include the spoilers (i.e., how does it end)
Literature Cited: Use the APA format for citations within the paper and in your reference list.
Consult http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
if you are unfamiliar with this format.
BIOL 203 Lab Report Grading Rubric
Item
Possible Points
Introduction (8 pts total)
Purpose – Give a statement the of overall purpose of the study
Background
Provide a general description of cranial nerves
Identify the cranial nerve(s) that carry sensory information
to the brain
Identify the structures which each sensory nerve innervates
Identify the cranial nerve(s) that carry motor commands
from the brain
Identify the structures which each motor nerve controls
Hypothesis – Predict which cranial nerve(s) is/are damaged in Aria’s case
(Use the information from Aria’s case to make your prediction)
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
Procedures (2 pts total)
Briefly explain how the function of each of the cranial nerves
was tested in the laboratory
2
Results (2 pts total)
Report data in table or graph format
Include proper labels and titles
1
1
Discussion (8 pts total)
Summary and interpretation of data
For each test performed, compare the results between the
control and experimental subjects
Relate the results to the background information in the
introduction
Analysis of results
State whether the hypothesis is accepted or rejected
Explain how the results support the hypothesis -ORExplain how the results contradict the hypothesis
Describe any points of uncertainty about the study and
conclusions or any further questions
2
2
1
2
1
Abstract (2 pts total)
Give a brief overview of the study and the conclusions that
can be made from it
2
Literature cited (3 pts total)
Provide and APA style list of references and in-text citations
Use the correct format for the entire report (see the format
instructions above)
Total:
2
1
25
Your Score
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