Recreate those you may find valuable based on your own understanding. Instrument: What are the origins of the instrumentation? How does the instrument work? What are the different components of the instrument, in what order are they connected, and what do they do? What physical variables can be changed and why are those practical? Theory Breakdown: How are the results for the instrumentation obtained and interpreted? Is there an associated equation that governs the quality of analysis that can be expected from this method? Write out the equation, explain the terms, and explain any limitations relative to other instrumental techniques. Application: What are the analytes being investigated and why is this instrumental technique applicable to their analysis? Summary: State again in 2-3 sentences the objective of your experiment (i.e. what are you trying to determine). Briefly outline what was done, in what order, and why. Experimental (1 Mark) Concisely summarize what you did during the lab period in approximately 1 page. If the experiment has multiple parts, the experimental section should have appropriate sub-headings. There needs to be enough detail that another scientist could reproduce this experiment on their own instruments (i.e. operating conditions) but should not be diluted by extraneous/irrelevant information. Consider that other scientists replicating your work have instruments that might not have the same software as you did, so specifics about the exact software (or file names) may not be useful. If there are any deviations from the written procedure, this is the place to note them. You should also note the number of replicates analyzed, if any. Results (5 Marks) and Analysis (4 Marks) This section should briefly state, in paragraph form, the result obtained from each section of the experiment (again using subheadings as appropriate). You will expand on these in the ‘Discussion’ that follows. This means that, in addition to the criteria below, the various tables, graphs, calculations, etc. that form your results need to be joined with written paragraphs that summarize the most important findings. For example, “The UV absorbance of the iron tablet was measured X times at 260 nM returning a range of measurements from XX-XX (Table 1).”. Figures and tables need to be referenced in the main text (e.g. (Table 1) in the prior example) and should not appear in your report without supporting written statements about their contents. 2 Data Tables: Data should be organized using Excel into tables. The data recorded in the labs should be presented clearly in properly labelled tables with captions appearing above them (e.g. ‘Table 1. Absorbance measurements of iron extracted from three commercial tables, each analyzed three times by UV-Vis spectrophotometry. Average measurements and their standard deviations were calculated for each replicate and for all of the tablets combined.’) Tables should be contained on a single page (or less). Each column should have a clear desсrіptive heading and include units for measurements, when applicable. When presenting recorded measurements and calculated values, careful attention must be paid to reporting the correct number of Significant Digits (Sig. Digs.). Graphs: Some data you collect (e.g. calibration curves) will need to be presented in titled graphs. The axes need to be labelled, along with the units of what is being measured (when appropriate). When a trend line is appropriate, it should be clearly shown on the graph as well, along with the equation of the trend line and the associated correlation coefficient (R2). Note that R2 values should NEVER be reported as 1.0. Increase the significant digits for this value until you stop getting 9s. Terms in the regressed line (e.g. slope) should be reported with an appropriate number of significant digits. Follow the directions provided in the LINEST document provided in class to properly perform linear regression analysis of calibration curves and to calculate the uncertainty in unknown concentrations. Ensure your graphs are large enough that all text can be read easily (as a general rule, these should occupy at least half of a page or a full ‘landscape’-formatted page). Like tables, graphs also require desсrіptive captions (below them) stating what is being depicted and other relevant details (e.g. ‘Figure 1. The calibration curve for the UV-Vis spectrophotometer for external standards of iron, measured at 260 nm. The equation for the line of best fit was determined by linear regression and error bars represent 1 standard deviation from the mean measurement of three replicate analyses of each standard solution’). Example Calculations: For any calculations you perform, you will need to demonstrate how you generated the numbers presented in your tables and figures. Thus, a sample calculation for each type of calculation needs to be shown. This includes calculations performed when propagating error, where relevant. For example, if you found the concentration and its uncertainty of multiple samples, but the method of determining the concentration and uncertainty was the same, you would only need to show each calculation once. You should clearly show the equation that was used and define each term, constant, or variable in it without any numeric values inserted at first. For example: ‘To determine if the energy of the photon used to quantify iron by UV-Vis was breaking its bonds with the ligand reagent, the following equation was used and compared to the published bond strength: Where E is the photon energy in Joules (J), h is Planck’s constant (6.626×10-34 m2 kg s-1), c is the speed of light (2.998×108 m s-1) and λ is the wavelength of the photon (m)’
