Read, Write, and Cite for Biology 1 Lab

1. Be prepared. Bring your general chemistry textbook, syllabus, and any pertinent materials related to your class. Any forms of research material are extremely helpful.
2. Be on time. Sessions are one hour in length. While workshops consist of 10-15 students, our tutors need all of this time in order to provide each participant with the necessary attention and detail to his/her progress.
3. Be consistent. Your professor may provide an extra credit incentive. In order to receive the possible extra credit, be consistent in your session attendance. If you miss the first week or two consecutive weeks later in the semester without notifying your tutor, your spot in the session will be reopened to other students.
4. Be receptive. You will receive a variety of strategies, organizers, handouts, and study rubrics throughout the sessions. Keep these in your ‘metacognitive bank’ and ask your tutor questions.
5. Be responsible. Once you register for a workshop at the Center for Academic Success (CfAS), you are reserving a place that no other student can take. Be considerate of these workshops. Keep your Panther ID handy when you arrive to the center. You must enter your information at the front area of our center, and make sure that your tutor records your attendance. At the end of the semester these records will be submitted to your professor.

Session 1: Intro. To Lab Logs

This session will focus on discussing how to write a lab log by reviewing each section, discussing requirements, and tips to keep in mind. Students will also learn about bias and how it can be avoided in a lab log.  

Session 2: Citing APA format

Students will have a deeper understanding of APA formatting and how to correctly incorporate in-text citations in a lab log. The session will provide tips and strategies on how to correctly paraphrase and summarize. Students will also learn the different types of plagiarism, and how it can be avoided.

Session 3: Economy of Writing

This session will focus on different components in writing such as, redundancy and wordiness, passive/active voice, and grammar and punctuation.

Session 4: Research Variables & Descriptive Statistics

The objectives for the session are to understand data, and how it is incorporated into lab logs. Students will learn about quantitative / qualitative data, variables, different types of scales, and central tendency.

Session 5: FIU Resources

In the final session, students will be exposed to FIU resources that is readily accessible to them (FIU Library and IntelliWriter).