MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

Audience:
This manual will be read by researchers of any level in Dr. Diana Bianchi’s Prenatal Genomics Lab at the NIH. This includes summer interns, post bacs, post docs, and staff scientists.

Context:
I have been working as an intern in Dr. Bianchi’s lab for many months now, and my primary project has been to create and run a protocol for mouse behavioral analysis using the video tracking software ANY-maze. I am currently the only person in the lab who is familiar with using the software, which includes (a) knowing what the software can do, (b) creating a protocol, both from scratch and from a previously existing file, (c) running an experiment using said protocol, (d) collecting and exporting the relevant data, and (e) troubleshooting for many of the common issues that come up.

Purpose:
The purpose of this manual is to create a comprehensive guide that teaches the reader how to use the software (brief overview, as it is very overwhelming) explains how to recreate the specific protocol that I made, how to run additional experiments in said protocol, and how to troubleshoot in ANY-maze. Although much of the background information regarding ANY-maze basics can be learned by searching the online manuals, this is time consuming—especially for an individual who is unfamiliar with the basics of the software. Thus, after reading this manual, the reader should be able to successfully recreate the protocol and run videos through the experiment without in-person instruction. This is especially important because I will only be in the lab for about 18 months, and the lab plans to continue using this software for future experiments.

Document Type:
Lab Manual/Protocol

Design/Format:
1. Background information on the purpose of the experiment, what the protocol is being used for, and what information/data ANY-maze will give us.
2. Overview of the overall organization of the software (tabs, structure, ordering) and a glossary of what specific terms mean
3. Step by step instructions for protocol creation, with images (specifically the Neonatal Motor Development: Baseline Protocol)
4. Step by step instructions for running the experiment, with images (also for the above protocol)
5. Step by step instructions for collecting the data and running the selected statistical tests, with images (also for the above protocol)
6. A list of common problems I ran into, and the solutions I came up with (like an FAQ page for troubleshooting). Some of the troubleshooting will be included in the step by step instructions

Citation Styles:
APA format for the background parts, and referral links for the procedure parts.

E, GOOD PROPOSAL!
I really love when writing helps people work better on a team. I like your outline. My caution is that you only need to write a portion of this for my class. I expect your team will want MORE as you describe.

Please DO pay attention to the opening section, where you will provide a paragraph-based overview of the lab's research goals, define key concepts, and perhaps summarize some key publications. Looking forward to this. Two to four double-spaced pictures? You could move the summarized publications to your annotated bibliography.

Mb