Chemistry 117

University of Massachusetts Boston

Lab Report Writing

Lab Report Writing Style Guide

Full Lab Reports
Lab reports contain a presentation of the information learned in lab. They are usually presented
in discrete sections as shown below. Our lab formatting is based off of what is used in scientific
journals with a few minor changes to adjust the content to be more classroom-based instead of
for the research lab. If you follow this basic guide as you write your lab report, you should be
able to write a decent report for the chemistry lab course. Remember though that every lab is
different and you should still make choices about the content which make sense.
Title (Max ~10 Words)
What is this lab about?
Try to have some fun with it; an interesting title can be a breath of fresh air. It should
identify the lab in a meaningful way as well, usually by major concepts involved.
Abstract (1 Paragraph)
Summarize the essence of the report.
1 introductory sentence with the purpose (objective) identified.
1-2 sentences of theory and background information.
1-2 sentences of method.
1-2 sentences of results and error.
1-2 sentences of conclusions.
Introduction (1-3 Paragraphs)
Examine the purpose and background information relevant to the report.
Define and explain the key concepts involved with the experiment.
Explain how key concepts are applied to reach a goal.
State overall purpose (objective) and briefly how you will achieve it.
Discuss the interest in and significance of this work.
State potential barriers to success and plans to address those issues.
Methods (1-2 Paragraphs)
How was the experiment carried out?
Brief summary of the method (strategy) used to complete the lab.
Another scientist should be able to conduct your experiment based on your explanation.
Be concise! Methods sections dont have to be long to be effective.
No numbered or bullet point formatted procedures.
Results (Data Tables, Graphs, Charts, Calculations)
What relevant data was collected? How were final calculations performed?
Include relevant data tables and graphs.
Figures (data tables, graphs) should be labeled with a title, caption, units, axis labels, etc.
Report the important data, not data which will not be discussed.
Show a sample calculation for each major calculation used in the lab.
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Chemistry 117

University of Massachusetts Boston

Lab Report Writing

Discussion (1-3 Paragraphs)

What do the results show? What questions can the results answer?
Discuss and explain the results of the experiments.
Answer the questions asked in the lab manual (support answers with data).
Discuss error and uncertainty, indicating how the experiment might be improved.
Identify and discuss trends that appear in the results (trends can appear in error too).
Support discussion statements made with data and observations from the experiment.
Conclusion (1 Paragraph)
What is learned from the experiment?
Repeat final results, stating final key data values or observations obtained.
Restate any trends and explain their importance.
Conclude: identify the major take home messages from the experiment.
Review major errors and how future experimenters might be able to avoid them.
Keep it to 1 paragraph, this should be a dense and concise section.
Note that there is some flexibility to these basic guidelines per lab. What makes sense for
that report should always take precedence.
Abbreviated Lab Reports
A Short Report
The above guidelines apply to full lab reports. Full lab reports are similar to scientific journal
articles and require much work and revision to complete. In this course, we will write two of
them during the semester due to time constraints; labs 1 and 6. For the other lab reports we will
be writing abbreviated reports. Abbreviated reports are just the data and discussion sections, and
the discussion section will simply have numbered answers to the questions asked. Those
answers should still be in paragraph form and have the same kind of detailed explanation, but
much of the window dressing of the long lab report will be omitted. Abbreviated reports focus
more on the answers whereas full lab reports focus on the writing.
Tips and Tricks
How do I make my reports better?
The abstract is most wisely written last, as it takes elements from the whole report and
reduces them to their most basic level.
The abstract may feel repetitive. Thats ok. Its summarizing the report section by
section and will have a bit of a repetitive feel to it. In science we write abstracts so that
not everyone necessarily needs to read our entire report to understand what is going on in
it. As such, the abstract should communicate the big picture information from the
experiment quickly and at a glance.

Chemistry 117

University of Massachusetts Boston

Lab Report Writing

The intro can be tough, make sure you understand the key concepts yourself before you
try to explain them here. Try to think about answering the question, How is all weve
done in lab related to the core ideas of chemistry?
The methods should be easy. In fact you should be able to write it before you even come
to lab if you really understand what you will be doing. Dont spend your time writing a
hyper-detailed method; it wont get you any more points! Enough detail so that the
reader can understand exactly how the experiment was done is fine.
Make those data tables and graphs pretty! Youd be surprised how much better a well
ordered table or graph communicates the data to the reader (or to yourself).
Its all about the discussion at the end of the day, if you dont understand the report it
really shows there!
Back up any statements you make in the discussion with hard proof from the lab data.
Also make sure your data is consistent to any statements you make.
A lot of people forget to answer those questions in the lab manual and blow some points!
Dont do it, thats a lot of points! Answer the questions asked.
The conclusion should frame the discussion points in a different way. Thinking about the
question What does this lab show us in the greater context of chemistry? is helpful.

Common Mistakes in Lab Report Writing

What should I never do?
Never make a list of terms or concepts mid paragraph. It looks unprofessional and shows
that you understand the lab only as a disconnected group of ideas. Try to string together
a narrative which explains how the experiment is structured to determine or demonstrate
a scientific fact.
Never write in first person; third person passive voice is the proper tense. First person
voice might read something like I added four mL of solution to the flask whereas
third person passive would read Four mL of solution were added to the flask. The
latter is much more professional.
Never use a numbered procedure in a methods section.
Never write a multi-paragraph abstract. Its not necessary and hurts the flow of the
report. If you feel you have to break the paragraph up, you have probably gone far
beyond a reasonable amount of detail already.
Never make an unsupported statement. Back up all thoughts with logic, reasoning,
data whatever is available to you. This is what shows your understanding.
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Chemistry 117

University of Massachusetts Boston

Lab Report Writing

Writing the Abstract

Scientific Abstracts
The scientific abstract is a bit like a movie preview or the back cover of a book in that it is
designed to help the reader decide whether the rest of the paper is worth reading. The abstract
summarizes each of the sections in the report briefly. Therefore, you have to write the rest of the
lab report first; otherwise how will you be able to summarize it? A simple recipe for writing an
effective abstract is to start with a sentence that summarizes the experiment and then form a
paragraph by adding summary sentences from each of the other sections of the lab report.
Here are examples of a poorly-written and a well-written abstract for the sample full lab report.
Poorly-written abstract:
Melting point can be measured experimentally with a melting point apparatus set-up. Using two
known solid acids, the error of the melting point set-up will be determined. Once we have done
that, the instrument was used to determine melting points for three unknowns A, B, and C. A
was determined to be maleate, B was more uncertain but probably fumaric acid. C was neither
known compound. The experiment shows how to use a melting point set-up, how to calculate
error, how intermolecular forces affect melting point, and how students are able to complete a
scientific experiment of melting point.
What is wrong with the above abstract?
Well-written abstract:
Melting point is an intensive physical property of chemical compounds in the solid state.
Melting point can be measured experimentally and sometimes used to help identify unknown
compounds. The melting point apparatus consists of a heated heating chamber with a view port
where the observer can observe and record the temperature at which melting occurs. The
melting points of maleic acid and fumaric acid were measured and compared to known values
(135C and 287C respectively) in order to determine the accuracy of the technique. It was
found that the apparatus provided melting points that were accurate to within 1 % of the known
values. In addition the apparatus was used to measure the melting points of three unknown
solids. The measured melting point of one of these unknown was determined to be 135C,
matching that of maleic acid. The measured melting point of another of these unknowns was
determined to be 282C, which is close to the melting point of fumaric acid, although lower by a
bit more than 1 %. As a result, further experimentation would be needed to confirm this
identification. The data for third unknown suggests that its melting point is near 162C, which
does not match that of maleic acid or fumaric acid. The experiment illustrates the advantages
and drawbacks of using melting point determination as a means of identifying an unknown
compound, as well as illuminating the role of structure in determining physical properties, given
that fumaric acid and maleic acid share the same chemical formula.