wk5FinalK

Thank you for putting in the hard work of producing this week 3 final paper rough draft.  Overall, you made some great points in your final paper rough draft and you had some good content in some sections. 

 

Please see the Waypoint feedback for specific comments on what needs to be added in each section.

 

Make sure that for the final paper you use and cite more credible and scholarly sources in your introduction and discussion sections. 

 

For the final version I would also recommend doing some editing and adding to the introduction, results, discussion, and conclusion sections of your paper. 

 

Make sure you meet the resource requirement of 2 scholarly sources (the textbook does not count), 2 credible sources, plus the lab manual.

Please see this video to learn more about finding and using appropriate sources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdawR_nmYuw

 

I am confident that if you put in the required work that you will be able to craft a truly excellent paper. Please make sure to double and triple check your paper against the grading rubric to avoid missing points for required content in the final paper. 

 

Don't forget to include a thorough abstract for the final paper!

 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email me.

 

~Marc

( 0.19 / 0.25) Title Page

Basic - Provides a title page that is missing two required components.

Comments:

Good use of a title page, but there are a few components missing.  Before you begin your Final Lab Report make sure to click on the template linked to the instructions as it will illustrate all of the proper components necessary for the paper.

( 0.95 / 1.25) Introduction

Basic - Includes an introduction that discusses the background into the topic supported by scholarly sources, an objective of the study, and a hypothesis for the experiment along with an explanation of how the student arrived at that hypothesis. Moderate improvement is needed through additional detail, improvement of source material, and/or rewording of hypotheses.

Comments:

Good attempt here, but you do need to do a better job providing background that sets up the rest of the paper. This section should provide an introduction to why the study is being done with multiple scholarly sources to illustrate previous studies done in the area. Before you begin your Final Lab Report, I would suggest that you read the instructions carefully and utilize the template attached to the instructions to help you understand what should be present in each section of the introduction.

( 1.00 / 1.25) Materials and Methods

Proficient - Describes the materials and methods providing enough detail to repeat the experiment. Minor details are missing, or extraneous information is present.

Comments:

Overall this is a good start concerning the materials and methods section.  There were some parts that I was not familiar with like the pH probe which is not part of the week 2 experiment.  Also, make sure you mention all of the materials used in your experiment at the beginning of the section. These should still be in paragraph form and not simply listed. Make sure that these are included in the Final Lab Report.

( 0.75 / 1.25) Results

Below Expectations - Includes a results section that attempts to address the tables utilized in the laboratory as well as explain the data; however, significant errors are included in the data tables, details are missing in the data explanation, and personal opinions are stated.

Comments:

For the Final Lab Report make sure that you include all of the data tables that you generated during the Week Two lab in with the report. The best way to do this is to simply copy and paste all of the completed tables from the Week Two lab into your Final Lab Report. If you do this, it will ensure that all the data is present.

( 0.50 / 1.25) Discussion

Below Expectations - Includes a discussion section; however, does not explain one or more of the required components. Many improvements are needed through additional detail, inclusion of source material, and correction of significant errors.

Comments:

For the Final Lab Report, make sure that you begin by addressing whether or not the hypothesis that you presented in the introduction was confirmed or rejected and detailing how you know this. This is one of the most important parts of the report as it illustrates what you actually found and needs to have considerable discussion surrounding how you decided to accept or reject your hypothesis.

In your Final Lab Report you should discuss the consequences and real world context of your results by utilizing some scholarly and credible sources to help drive these points home.

 

Again, make sure that the sources are scholarly, not popular. Scholarly sources can be located in the Ashford Library or by using the Google Scholar search engine.

You needed more content to address any outside factors or confounding variables that may have affected your results. For instance, perhaps water temperature plays a large role in contamination levels and was not accounted for in the experimental design. There are always at least a few potentially confounding variables, so in the Final Lab Report, make sure to address some that may have skewed results.

Make sure in your Final Lab Report that you also address some future experiments that may have arisen from your results. Results of scientific experiments always bring up new questions. What might some of these questions be and how might you do another experiment to address these questions?

( 0.50 / 0.75) Conclusion

Below Expectations - Includes a conclusion section that summarizes all facets of your experiment. Significant improvement is needed to accurately summarize the report.

Comments:

Good attempt here, but a few changes will need to be made on your Final Lab Report. This is one of the most often confused sections as people think it should just be a general closing sentence or two. While this should close out the report it should do so by summarizing your entire report. You should very briefly (still only a paragraph) sum up the objective, experiment conducted, the results, and what these mean to any future work or society.

( 0.00 / 1.00) Submits Grammarly Report

Non-Performance - A screen shot of the Grammarly report is nonexistent.

( 0.38 / 0.50) Written Communication: Control of Syntax and Mechanics

Basic - Displays basic comprehension of syntax and mechanics, such as spelling and grammar. Written work contains a few errors, which may slightly distract the reader.

Comments:

The paper contains a few mechanical errors that makes it difficult for the reader to understand the writer's intent and analysis.

The Ashford Writing Center offers resources to assist in developing writing skills.  Grammarly is also a helpful, free service offered through Ashford.

( 0.44 / 0.50) APA Formatting

Proficient - Exhibits APA formatting throughout the paper. However, layout contains a few minor errors.

( 0.38 / 0.50) Page Requirement

Basic - The length of the paper is equivalent to at least three quarters of the required number of correctly formatted pages.

( 0.90 / 1.50) Resource Requirement

Below Expectations - Uses inadequate number of sources that provide little or no support for ideas. Sources used may not be scholarly. Most sources on the reference page are not used within the body of the assignment. Citations are not formatted correctly.