Chapter . Case 1: Using the Measures of Excellence in Evaluating a Résumé

You are a biology major at the University of Minnesota. Because you have a very good undergraduate record, you have been invited to be a lab assistant in GC1135: Human Anatomy and Physiology, an introductory course taken by students from many majors across the campus. GC1135 has a laboratory component, and your job is to assist the lab instructor.

At the first organizational meeting for new lab assistants, the course instructor, Dr. Murray Jensen, discusses the philosophy, the methods, and the materials that make up the lab component. He distributes a sample lab report (Document 19.1).

“I use this in the first meeting,” he explains. “Believe it or not, a lot of the students in 1135 never took a lab course in high school, or their high school labs were so different from the way we do them here that they don’t really understand what we’re asking them to do. So I use this sample lab report as a bridge from high school to college-level labs.”

As you look at the sample lab report, you remember reading about the topic: the belief during the seventeenth century that maggots spawned spontaneously on rotten meat.

“In this lab report, I’m trying to reinforce some basic principles of the scientific method that underlie all lab work, as well as start to establish principles of writing up labs,” Dr. Jensen continues. “But as you can see, this report exemplifies only some of the components and principles of a college-level lab report. So what I want to do is create a handout that explains what this lab report does and what it doesn’t do. I’d like to package this handout with the sample lab report so that we don’t have to spend class time discussing it.”

“How do you want us to write this handout?” you ask.

“I haven’t really thought it through,” Dr. Jensen says. “It will be addressed to students who are not science majors, so don’t assume anything about what they know—either about the experiment or about college-level labs. But organize it however you want. You can write the material so that students read it before they read the sample lab report, or after. Or you can put the information in marginal comments. Do whatever you think will work best.”

Download the document below, and then begin your assignment.

Download a copy of Document 19.1.

Your Assignment

Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the case background and document, complete the assignment below. Your instructor will tell you how he or she would like you to submit your work.

1. Write a handout explaining what the sample lab report does and does not do. In the handout, help students understand the objective of college-level labs and how lab reports relate to this objective. Describe how students will use the elements shown in this sample lab report when they write their own lab reports in this course. Briefly describe elements that they will write but that are not shown in this sample report. (Annotate the sample report if you wish.)

2. Did you find basing your handout on this sample lab report effective, or would you have preferred to create a new lab report from scratch? Explain the reason for your answer. What were the challenges of “filling in” the report components that the sample didn’t cover? What methods did you employ to explain these components without a specific sample to which you could refer?

Reflecting on Your Work

Once you’ve completed your assignment, write a reflection about your work using the prompt below.

Question