PRACTICAL REPORT

WRITING WORKSHOP
FOUNDATION IN SCIENCE
1 June 2017
 What is a lab report?
• An account of an experiment and what was
discovered during the experiment
 Why do we write lab reports?
• Communicate exactly what occurred in an
experiment by presenting data
• Discuss the results
• Provide conclusions
• So that someone else could read the report &
understand exactly what you did; repeat the
experiment and get the same results
 Keep accurate notes during
the lab. Include: title, Produce a clear,
objective, details of any concise account of
changes to method, accurate the lab exercise.
results & any additional
information.

As with all submitted Read around the

coursework, it must subject & include
be your own work. in your report.

Do not use
abbreviations, General
naïve Principles for
terminology / Lab Reports Be concise & write in
personal past tense.
pronouns.
Source: University of Brighton
 Outline of a Lab Report
• Title
• Objective
• Apparatus
• Materials
• Procedure
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• References
 Title
• What you did
• Can be obtained from lab manual
Eg:
 Rate Law of an Iodine Clock Reaction
 Microscopic Examination of Cells at Various
Stages of Plant Mitosis
 The Use of Vernier Caliper and the
Micrometer Screw Gauge
 Objective
• What is supposed to be accomplished through
an experiment
• Can be obtained from lab manual
 Materials & Apparatus
• Simple list of everything needed to complete
the experiment
• Be sufficiently detailed
Eg: 10A, 24V DC Power Supply
: Water bath, 95oC
: 0.5 M sulphuric acid
 Procedure
• Describes the process in chronological order
• Includes all the information necessary to carry out the
experiment
• May include diagrams / images to illustrate the apparatus
used & how it was set up
• Should be written as a description of “what you did”, not as a
“set of instructions”
Eg:
- 10mL of dilute H2SO4 is added into the beaker and
stirred for 1 minute.
- The length of the spring, l, is measured and the mass of
the load, m, is recorded.
- An electric water bath is set up at 37oC.
 Procedure
• Write in complete, grammatically correct
sentences.
• Limit use of personal pronouns (Eg: I added
2cm3 of water), emotionally loaded words
(The reaction is stopped after it produced
beautiful blue powder) and ambiguous
expressions (The reaction carried on for 10
minutes).
 Results
• Observations (what you saw, heard, felt, etc.
during the experiment
• Do not state any interpretations of the results
 Description of Solutions
CLOUDY /
SUSPENSION???
MURKY???

SOLUTION/
EMULSION??? CLEAR???
 Description of Solutions
TYPES OF APPEARANCE EXAMPLE
SOLUTION

SUSPENSION - Heterogeneous -Juice

mixture containing with pulp
solid particles that can - Italian
be evenly distributed dressing
(eg: by shaking), but
the components will
sediment after some
time

CLOUDY / - Haziness of - Smoke

MURKY a fluid caused by large in air
numbers of
particles that are
invisible to the naked
eye
 Description of Solutions
TYPES OF APPEARANCE EXAMPLE
SOLUTION

EMULSION -Mixture of two or - Milk

more liquids that - Mayonnaise
are normally - Lotions
immiscible
- Exists as one
layer

SOLUTION / CLEAR -Homogenous - Salt and water

mixture of 2 or
more substances
that exist in a
single phase
- Coloured or
colourless
 Qualitative Results
Experiment Mistakes by Students Correct Observation

Solubility of Ethanol in - No reaction. - Colourless solution formed.

- No changes.
water
Tin in Concentrated - Yellow solution with brown - Yellow suspension formed.
gas. - Brown gas released.
HNO3
Hexane with KMnO4 - No changes. - Purple colour of KMnO4
- Two layers formed. remains.
- 2 layers formed: Top layer =
colourless solution; bottom
layer = purple solution.

I2 with Hexane - Top: Purple - 2 layers formed: Top layer =

Bottom: Reddish-brown purple solution; bottom layer
= reddish-brown solution.

Emulsion Test - Translucent liquid formed. - White emulsion is formed.

Millon Test - Red ball is formed. - Red residue with meat-like

Qualitative Results (Biological Drawings)
• Use a sharp, pointed HB/2B pencil.
• Drawings should be as large as possible and made to fit into the space
available.
• The final outline should be drawn with clean firm lines (not sketchy
broken lines).
• Clear and accurate line drawings are needed.
• Shading and colouring should be avoided.
• Labelling should be done neatly in pencil without arrowheads.
• Each drawing must always have a title. The title should specify whether it
is a transverse section, longitudinal section, whole mount, etc.
• Magnification of drawing should be stated if necessary.
• For annotated drawings, brief description about the structure and
function should be stated beneath the labels.
Graph for Biology Informative title

Average mass of precipitate of standards at various

concentrations of glucose solutions
Ave. precipitate mass (g)
20
18
responding variables,
16 including units
14
12
10
8
6
4
Manipulate variables,
2
including units
0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0

Concentration of glucose solution (%)

Qualitative Results
 Quantitative Results
Must state units and
uncertainty for the
physical quantity Label data table
Table 1

Data must present in the correct decimal based on the apparatus used
 Graph Scale
Graph name x axis: 1 cm = X units
Label Graph Axes y axis: 1 cm = Y units

Centroid (Lable the point)

y-intercept
(If applicable)

Graph Origin (If applicable) Label Graph Axes

Table 1
If you need the
y-intercept value
for calculation,
why is it wrong to
take the y-intercept
value from this
graph?
 Discussion
One to three sentences to introduce what had
been done.

Do not rewrite the procedure. More than that

is wasting your time and the lab instructor’s
time.
 Discussion
A brief explanation of the physics/chemistry/biology concept used in the
experiment

Explains how the result demonstrated these principles. Use the important data
and results (Table) to demonstrate the these principles.

Explain how the manipulated variables affected the responding variables, you
may use equations provided and show the dependent/independent variables.

Manipulated Variables:
Factors that can change the results or manipulator

Responding Variables:
The Results.

Do not include all the list of each and every number on the data sheet.
Physics

Biology
Chemistry
 Discussion
Analysis of graph: shape of curve, for a
straight line, the meaning of slope and
intercept for your graph. You do not have to
explain how they agree if you show the
numbers or refer to a Table; but do not write
that values agree without some reference.
Physics
 Discussion
Sources of error are offered that are
consistent with the experimental results.

You may offer a suggestion for improving the

experiment, but it must focus on the most
prominent error and be consistent with the
sources of errors.

This is not a place to “trash” the experiment.

Notes:
1. Separate sources of errors and precautions into 2 paragraphs.
2. List at least 3 points for each one.
3. Biology reports must be in paragraph.
Chemistry
Do not use personal
pronouns like we, us,
their, they…

Poor english
 Conclusion
• A brief conclusion.
• To answer the objective(s).
• Questions given in lab manual served as a
guidance to do discussions.