Biology Research: Microbiology and Microscopy Lab Report

Biology Lab Report
Your Name
Subject and Section
Professor’s Name
March 9, 2022
Question 1:
* What is the main difference between primary and secondary journal articles?
One of the main differences between primary and secondary journal articles is their source. On the one hand, Primary Journal Articles (PJAs) are those that were written during the event, and the one who wrote it is also a witness of the said events. In most cases, these articles have the usual parts such as Introduction, review of related literature, methodology, results, and Discussion, especially in the case of quantitative methods.
On the other hand, secondary journal articles use the PJAs as their primary source of information. These kinds of journal articles are usually reviews of what has been taken on the ground, field, or the public by other researchers. While these kinds of articles may also contain the same structure as PJAs, the most common types of these articles are meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and review articles, to name a few CITATION Dre21 \l 1033 (Drexel University, 2021).
* What is the purpose of an Abstract? Methods? Results? Discussion?
Each of these sections has varying purposes.
First, an Abstract has the purpose of summarizing the whole article to serve as a guide for the reader. It includes an overview of the methods, results, Discussion, and even the recommendation for its readers. In other words, its primary purpose is to appraise the reader whether the research is fit for what they are looking for as well as guide them as they browse through the article.
Second, the Methods section aims to show how the problem statement would be answered. It usually includes the sampling method, experimental design, analytical tools (i.e., statistical tools for quantitative studies), and analysis. Its primary purpose is to show whether the problem statement methods are credible enough.
Third, the Results section has the primary purpose of objectively showing the results or output of the study. This section could include graphs and tables to improve the presentation of the results. However, since its main purpose is to show the actual raw output of the experiment, then there are usually no interpretations in this section.
Finally, the Discussion is the part where the study results are synthesized and analyzed to give sense of how it relates to the hypotheses outlined at the beginning of the research. Thus, its main purpose is to show whether the results were able to justify the hypothesis or not. Sometimes, researchers also place the recommendation portion here to apprise the readers of further research to supplement the study.
* In Lab 1 (Part I), you were asked to write a paragraph that summarized the Introduction of the journal article you downloaded. Edit that paragraph again and submit it as the answer to this question. Be sure to cite the original source (not yourself).
Phototaxis is one of the processes that are most commonly used in studying unicellular systems. Despite this, however, little is known about the photobiology of dinoflagellates, which is one of the most critical marine protist lineages. Previous research on the photobiology of dinoflagellates has shown that opsins constitute ...