Communication Skills in the Pharmacy Profession Assignment

Assignment Task

Overview

The ability to effectively communicate research findings is a necessary skill for a career in the biological sciences. Early career researchers are required to publish regularly, and professional scientists are commonly evaluated by the quality and number of articles published during their careers. Outside of the research lab, there are many opportunities for professional writers in pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology start-ups and publishing houses. It is therefore important to understand the requirements for a scientific report

Your assessment

You will write a formal report to communicate the findings from your laboratory sessions. You will be required to submit two reports (in one file) for the algae and the penicillin experiment (which you will complete in the following week). Each report should be approximately words long, and follow a standard format of Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion. You should cite relevant scientific literature.

Introduction

The Introduction sets the tone of the paper by providing relevant background information and clearly identifying the problem you plan to address. Begin with description of the broad context that someone outside of the field would understand, and then narrow the scope until you reach the specific question that you are trying to answer. To support this text, perform a thorough investigation of the literature. However, do not simply cut and paste sections of text, use your own words to describe the research findings within these papers and explain how that knowledge contributes to you project and hypothesis. Remember to include in-text citations (according to the guidelines provided) but avoid using the author's name as the subject of the sentence. To conclude this section, present the aim and hypotheses you intended to investigate and provide a brief description of your experimental design.

Methods

The goal of the Methods section is to provide evidence that you used scientifically valid techniques and protocols. Each description should provide the reader with sufficient information to recreate your experiment. Do not simply transcribe the methods from the manual, use your own language to communicate how the experiments were conducted and how the measurements were taken.

Discussion

The Discussion section is where you interpret your results. This should form a stand-alone piece of text which ties the rest of the manuscript together - integrating the information provided in the introduction and the results obtained. The typical sequence for this section is to begin by explicitly presenting the main finding from your research. Remind the reader of the knowledge gap identified in the Introduction to re-ignite enthusiasm about your hypothesis. Then, explain in-depth, with reference to the literature, how your experiment addressed this hypothesis and how the findings contribute to the field in general.

Consider the following tips:

Present a summary of your primary findings.

• Explain the rationale behind your experimental design. What were the strong points, where were the weaknesses?
• For the algae experiment, consider the following: ○ Describe the differences between the algae. How did you try to use these differences to encourage one to grow more than the other?
• Compare the effect of different cultivation conditions on the ratio of algae and the total growth of the algae. Which conditions caused the mixed cultures to become dominated by one over the other? Why do you think these conditions were effective?
• Consider how you would scale-up to a commercial scale algae farm. Which strategy do you think is most viable for keeping diatoms like tricornutumfrom colonizing a pond of green algae like D. tertiolecta, and vice versa.

For the penicillin experiment, consider the following:

• What incubation temperatures produce the most penicillin? Is this related to cell mass? etc..
• Is there a correlation between optimum temperature and pH in your culture systems compared to what is reported elsewhere? Can you explain any differences?
• Is the strain of Penicillium relevant/important to the outcome?
• A critical evaluation of the experiments and its design should be considered. What were the limitations (if any) of your experiment?
• How would you re-design the methodology or approach to improve the results?
• Finally, a summary statement will conclude the report.

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