8/3/2019 Enzyme.study.guide

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Some thoughts about the preparation of the two introductions you will be writing this quarter with particularemphasis on the Enzyme lab.

While the lab manual provides a lot of instruction about the preparation of these write-ups, the strategy forassembling two of the sections perhaps needs more explanation. The problematic ones are the Supporting Factsand, to a lesser degree, the Experimental Strategy sections.

SUPPORTING FACTS. The biggest problem here is that many students make false assumptions about who is theaudience for this document. They think they are writing this for their TA or the course faculty. This is definitelynot the case . The correct target for this writing should be for someone who is not a scientist, but who is someoneyou want to enlighten about the topic. This means that you have to be very systematic about the way you developthe relevant scientific theory in support of your hypothesis and also to be careful to define all of the terminologyused. In short, you want to prepare a document that any intelligent and curious person could pick up andunderstand. This requires that your argument be organized in a logical progression from general to specific. Thiscan be challenging, but do-able for the science student.

Where to start? Start by carefully reading the questions so that you know what is being asked. Continue by reading the entire exercise in the lab manual. This will further clarify the question. Now that you have an idea about the question, it is time to learn about what is known about the subject of the

question. To this end you must read your text, your lab manual, and your lecture notes for information

pertaining to the question . When you come up with a piece of factual information that you think isrelevant, write this down on a separate note card along with where you got it.

Now you can FORMULATE A HYPOTHESIS based upon the facts you have collected this should not betoo difficult for this lab. Hypotheses should be presented in the language of the question.

You are now ready to assemble your argument for your hypothesis. This is where the note cards come in.These can be ordered in many different ways until you arrive at a progression that makes sense to you. Atthis time it can be seen what facts might be missing or what definitions might be necessary. These can thenbe inserted where necessary.

The last bit of advice here is to put this aside for a while. When you come back to it, any remaining problemsshould be evident and easily corrected.

Supporting Facts for Question 1

Define the term enzyme and each component of an enzymatic reaction. Define and describe the catalytic cycle of enzymatic reactions. Establish the active site as the part of an enzyme that binds substrate. Evaluate each step in the catalytic cycle to determine which step of the cycle is rate limiting. Establish how the variable in question 1 could influence the rate limiting step determined above.

Supporting Facts for Question 2. These will be much the same as for question 1. The difference lies in how thevariable for question 2 influences the rate limiting step. Here you will probably need to broaden your factsearch in the text.

EXPERIMENTAL STRATEGY (ES) FOR BOTH QUESTIONS. Remember that ES is intended to make theconnection between the actual data to be collected and your hypothesis. As stated in the lab manual, the key

concern for the enzyme lab ES is: How does the rate of color change in the reactions run in the enzyme labrelate to the activity of the alkaline phosphatase? So, for this lab you will need to:

Establish the basis for the color change. Describe how the color change will be monitored. Relate how the data collected is processed in order to come up with a value for reaction rate (v 0)

While this sounds like a lot of work, the ES prepared for the first question is identical to that for the second question!!