Advanced microbiology
This task involves a lab report (3000 words) to investigate a particular microorganism (E.coli/S. aureus) and how it impacts on personal and public health, as a causative agent in the development of major pathophysiological causes of morbidity, mortality and sickness absence; as well as its prevention and treatment, and obtain primary data from an individual experiment for interpretation and statistical analysis.
Data will be collected during a laboratory-based practical.
ENSURE THAT YOU CONFIRM DETAILS FOR YOUR RESEARCH TOPIC WITH THE MODULE TUTORS AND PROVIDE A LIST OF REAGENTS TO THE LABORATORY MANAGER.
The following sections need to be included within your report:
Title – To be concise and reflect the factual content of the paper.
Introduction – Provide a rationale, aim and hypothesis for your choice of topic.
Literature Review – Provide the wider background and context of the experiment; a review of current and up to date scientific knowledge on your choice of topic should be included, in which credible sources should be used and cited.
Methodology – Describe what was done to carry out your laboratory experiment and list the equipment.
Results – Provide data collected from conducting laboratory research in a table and/or graph format and include statistical analysis. All tables and figures should be appropriately labelled and referred to in text and all presented results should be contextualised in the main text prior to their presentation.
Discussion – Support and/or contrast (critically analyse) your data with the literature provided in the introduction/literature review section. Suitable alterations and improvements to the procedure to be presented, as supported by relevant literature.
References – Full reference list in APA style.
Ensure that you write the report in third person and past tense.
Include in-text citations and a reference list at the end. Coventry University now uses the APA Referencing Style. For support and advice on this, see the online referencing guidance or contact the Library.
You MUST support your work consistently with good academic/literature resources. A lack of evidence of sufficient reading and referencing will result in a reduction in the marks achievable.
Resit Task
For this assignment, you are required to make improvements and changes to your initial attempt. It is highly recommended that you use the feedback, rubric and comments provided when correcting your re-submission. Note that this attempt will be capped at a maximum mark of 40%.
Completion of this assessment will address the following learning outcomes:
1 Critically assess the contribution of ‘behaviour’ to microorganism survival, growth and reproduction, and appreciate the principles and processes governing interactions of microorganisms with each other and their environment, including other microflora.
2 Critically analyse the significance of internal and external influences, such as antimicrobials, on growth and reproduction of microorganisms, and their contribution to solving global challenges facing humanity.
3 Demonstrate awareness of the applied significance of vectors and the associated pathogenic microorganisms that they transmit.
4 Display competent ability in the application of a range of laboratory techniques, including aseptic technique, data collection, analysis and interpretation of those data, and testing of hypotheses.
5 Be able to design, plan, conduct and report on a hypothesis-driven investigation, within a supported framework in which qualities such as working independently, time management, and organisation are evident.
