Planning your research: Work Flow DIagrams

As you can see, from the picture on the left, some things require planning and organisation.  I want to introduce you to the concept of the Work Flow Diagram which is a popular way for experimental scientists to organise an experiment and, in addition, provide you with a framework for noting down any observations as you go through a typical day's protocols. I want to avoid a rush to get started, which can lead to wasted time and effort: something that must be avoided. Starting any experiment without any serious planning is a recipe for disaster!

Constructing a Work Flow Diagram should form the first activity in the morning.

You will begin to get familiar with my approach of never running lab work like a structured class practical, in which all reagents and solutions are provided, rather you have to plan your experiment and obtain the materials for yourself. To help you with this we shall make use of the Work Flow Diagram (WFD for short) in every lab session and it must be approved before you get started. The suggestions are based on a Biologically oriented experiment, but apply just as well to any experiment. The diagram right shows a procedure for purifying a protein, carried out in a series of eppendorf tubes. Each step is clearly labelled and key information incorporated.

What should a good WFD look like? The diagram left is a WFD for preparing an

essay or dissertation. The same rules apply. In an experimental situation, the WFD should include a brief title, the overall aim of the experiment(s), the sequence of steps which should include any key pre-incubations (e.g. pre-heating agar plates, thawing frozen samples, preparing fresh reagents, ensuring you have tubes ready for aliquoting samples etc.) You might construct a Table to help you organise the composition of multi-component assay mixtures (where appropriate), and you might work out the dilutions of samples in order to ensure the data that emerge cover the appropriate numerical range.

I am keen for you to develop a style of your own, but as you will appreciate, a typical WFD will have some common features and some specific features that relate to the experiment and the materials. There should also be space on the WFD for noting observations, which may include suggestions for improvements, or steps that can be eliminated etc. It should be a live document! I will be asking you to produce a WFD in all experimental sessions, so start thinking about the way you will approach this. For your first induction project, you will be given help in constructing your first WFD before you start your experimental work.

I look forward to discussing the outcome with you when we get together, but why not have a go in advance? Perhaps you could produce a simple WFD to carry out one of these familiar school lab classes.

• An acid base titration  
• The synthesis of aspirin
• The separation of plant pigments by paper chromatography
• Isolating single colonies of bacteria from an environmental samples on nutrient agar.

For those of you more Physically minded

• Measuring the strength of a magnet using a simple balance  
• Demonstrating the relationship between light intensity and power using a small solar cell connected to a simple motor  
• Demonstration of the concept and determination of the rate of diffusion of a simple dye in liquids of different viscosity.