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Scientific Method Research Project
What Is This project?
In chapter one you learned the basic parts and functioning of the scientific method. You also learned that scientists publish their work in peer-reviewed journals. In this project you will plan, conduct, and write up a research project just like professional biologist do when working at colleges or universities. The project will start in BIO 211 and be completed when you are in
BIO 212. While in this class (BIO 211) you must complete the planning and literature review sections of the project and develop your research hypotheses. You will then design your experiment so it will be ready to perform while you are in BIO 212.
You will conduct a literature review to make sure you understand Allelopathy and know what work has already been conducted on this area of biology. From the information you find you will develop a problem statement that will allow you to identify hypotheses capable of being tested to answering your problem. In order to answer your problem statement you will develop both a testable research hypothesis and a null hypothesis. You will also develop a method to test your hypotheses by performing an experiment. This experimental design will include a description of the materials and methods you will use, and a mechanism to quantify your data and statistically analyze the validity of the results.
Remember that next quarter you will actually perform your experiment, collect the data, conduct the statistical analyses, and “publish” your work by writing a formal lab report. The lab report will be produced in the same format that scientists use to publish their work.
As you write up your report you should review the rubric posted on the class Moodle site. The rubric lists the criteria used to grade your project and will allow you to make sure you have covered all necessary items in your project.

The Topic Introduction : Allelopathy
It is not the aim of this paper to fully explain to you what Allelopathy is, nor is it going to tell you what experiment you have to conduct and how to do that experiment. Rather, the paper will introduce Allelopathy and then, as part of the assignment, you must endeavor to understand the topic by searching for, and reading, published scientific papers. Once you have developed your knowledge of the subject, you will develop your own problem statement that will allow you to study the effects of allelopathy.
Allelopathy is a biological phenomenon by which an organism produces one or more biochemicals that influence the growth, survival, and reproduction of other organisms.
Allelopathic interactions are an important factor in determining species distribution and abundance within plant communities. Plants that produce Allelopathic chemicals will reduce the germination or growth rates of their neighbors and so gain a competitive advantage. The success of many invasive plants may be due to allelopathy.

The possible application of allelopathy in agriculture is an area of important research.
Understanding the effects of weeds on crops, crops on weeds, and crops on crops, may lead to the possibility of using allelochemicals as natural herbicides and promote the use of sustainable agriculture. Your Assignment
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Conduct a literary review so you understand what Allelopathy is and what research has already been conducted on this topic. Make sure you use peer-reviewed literature for this and follow the guidelines given on the class web site for doing citations.
Define a question on the topic of Allelopathy that you can answer with an experiment.
Produce your Hypotheses (H1, H0) and show them to me for approval.
Use your hypotheses to state a prediction and design an experiment to test that prediction. Develop the materials and methods sections for your experiment and write up these sections of the lab report.
Hand in a report containing all of the following items (make sure you read the document on “How to write a lab report” on the class web site for more detailed instructions on this):

I. TITLE
This must explain the experiment that you plan to carry out. It can be a sentence so be descriptive.
II. INTRODUCTION
A. Introduction of topic/project
Include the rationale for the study of allelopathy. Start with a description of the subject (in your own words), and then provide a historical perspective on the work already done. You should also include potential benefits, uses, and examples. You should include background information on the plants species you are using together with any information on the allelopathic potential of these plants. The introduction should not express your personal views or thoughts; instead it should summarize in your own words the work already done on this topic. You must use at least four primary references (peer-reviewed original articles). See the Works Cited section in the “How to write a lab report” document so that you cite your references correctly.
B. Problem statement
Describe the problem that your experiment is designed to answer. What is it that your work will tell us about? Your problem statement should be clear, insightful, and relevant to the study of biology.

C. Hypotheses
The research hypothesis (H1) will be derived through inductive reasoning
(specific observations and knowledge) used to develop a general explanation of an observation. The use of deductive reasoning takes the general explanation to a specific result; a “prediction” of what will happen when the hypothesis is tested. You will then explain the null hypothesis (Ho)
Remember that good experimental design means that your prediction and hypothesis can be falsified (shown to be wrong), or supported, by the results.
At this point get your instructors approval for your project (if not approved, repeat above steps)
III. METHODS
A. Materials
List the equipment that will be used.
B. Methods
Describe how your experiment will be conducted. Your plan should demonstrate an understanding of controlled experiments, the variables that must be considered, and the use of experimental controls. Make sure to explicitly describe the dependent variable versus the experimental (or independent) variable. Your experiment must be repeatable by you and others therefore, your descriptions must be clear, specific, well sequenced, and leave no detail to the imagination. Precise weights, sizes, times, temperatures, or other variables must be described and must be consistent with the intent. Be concise. For example, you should not describe the collection of five dandelion plants to produce a given concentration of an extract, instead say that a “suspension of 50 grams of plant leaf per 100 mL of water” was produced.
Make sure that within the methods you explain what data you will collect and how it will be analyzed (what statistics will you use).
IV. LITERATURE CITED
You will provide a works cited list. These are the papers you have read and where the ideas in your introduction came from. You must cite these works to show where your information came from. Make sure to use the correct format to list all of the literature you used when writing your report. Information on how to do this is in the “How to write a lab report” document on the class web site.

More Detailed Information:
Completing The Literary Review Needed To Write Your Introduction
Allelopathy is not a new area of science. Biologists have been investigating the chemicals released by plants for many years. Your job is to find out what is already known about the

subject and then develop your own problem statement. You can only decide what to study after you understand what allelopathy is and what we already know about it. For example, if published journal articles show that Privet (Ligustrum sp.) has no allopathic effects it would be pointless for you to design your research to discover if the decayed leaves of Privet act allelopathicaly on our native water oaks.
To get you started on your literary review you will find one research paper and one review article on the topic of allelopathy on the class Moodle website. You will support your review of current knowledge on allelopathy with minimum of two more experimental research articles and two more review articles from the scientific literature. In order to gain insight into growing techniques and methods for setting up your experiment you may also use articles from the internet, gardening magazines, and university agricultural reports. However, these are only secondary sources and you must still demonstrate your understanding of the topic and the research methods used to study it by reporting on, and citing, peer-reviewed scientific papers.
Constructing The Hypotheses
Before generating your hypotheses make sure you read the “How To Write Hypotheses” document on the class web site. Use the information contained in that document to help you create your hypotheses. You may wish to create several hypotheses and then select the best one for testing.
Remember that your research does not have to lead to you accepting your H1 for you to earn a passing grade for this assignment. It is perfectly acceptable to create a hypothesis that with testing is shown to be false. The purpose of the experiment is to determine if the hypothesis is true or false, not to back up your initial thoughts.
Once you have created your hypothesis you should share it with me and get my approval before moving on to the next section. If your hypothesis is not approved you will have to redo this step!

Designing The Experiment
You would like to know if your hypothesis is true so you must design an experiment that can be conducted at home to test your hypothesis. Remember that you must identify and control all the variables involved in your experiment. You also need to consider the number of treatments, and replicates, needed to produce a data set that can be investigated using the appropriate statistics to determine whether to accept or reject your null hypothesis.
Lastly remember that you will have to run your experiment during Bio 212. That means that you have limited time to complete the experiment so plan accordingly. Do not design an experiment that takes 10 weeks to return any results as you have to complete the entire project (including the write-up) in only 8 weeks!

Statistical Analysis
A number of statistical tests are available for testing your data. As this is not a statistics course and we have limited time you will analyze your results using a t-test. This commonly used statistical test calculates the probability that the mean of one group is not different than the mean of a second group. Your experimental design should therefore fit the basic requirements of the t-test. We will have done work on t-test work in the class and an Excel spreadsheet for ttests is available on the class Moodle website.
The following documents can also be found on the class web site and will be helpful when planning on how to conduct a t-test on your data.
“Descriptive Statistics, Graphing, Statistical Analysis” - Scroll down to the heading "Statistical
Analysis" near the bottom.
“Some Examples of Statistical Analysis Using a t-test”

Turning In Your Paper And Grading
Your paper will require three stages of review.
1. Published papers check.
On the date listed on the class calendar you will submit into Moodle the scientific journal articles that you have found on the topic of allelopathy. This is an all or nothing grade as you will bring in the required number of acceptable articles, or you will not. Failing to have the correct number of articles (minimum of two more experimental research articles and two more review articles from the scientific literature), or having articles not from peer reviewed journals, will lead to you earning a zero on this part of the assignment.
2. First draft uploaded to Turnitin.com
The first draft must be uploaded to Turnitin via the class Moodle page by the date given on the class calendar. Remember that you need to have your hypotheses approved before this date!
Your first draft will consist of fully completed title page, introduction, and literature cited section of the report (Sections I, II, and IV of the write-up). Basically you will turn in everything but the methods section.
You will not be graded on this draft. My intention is to determine if you have given sufficient thought to the process and to critique your writing style. I will not to tell you how to write your paper, but I will provide hints and tips on corrects that need to be made. Failure to turn in a first draft will mean that your final score is reduced by 4 points and that I will not review your paper prior to final submission.
Please note that I am looking at your draft report to correct major error, omissions, and mistakes. I am not going over it with a fine tooth comb and correcting everything. If you correct everything I point out it does not automatically mean that your paper will then be a

good or passing paper. That will depend on the starting point of your submission. If your paper is excellent then I can make more nuanced comments than if your paper required major revisions. 3. Final Draft
Your completed report will be submitted to Turnitin via the class Moodle web site by the date given on the class calendar.
Be sure you understand the meaning of plagiarism and carefully correct any mistakes before the final due date. Direct quoting of material and copying and pasting will lead to a recorded grade of “F.” Turnitin will point out problems of similarity (plagiarism) and grammar so you should check this prior to the due date and make corrections as needed. You will be able to review, repair, and resubmit any time before the due date. I will leave the site open for resubmission until the due date. After that, you own what you get. Failure to submit, review, revise and resubmit before the due date will result in a failing grade.