SBA Instruction (With Sample)

Writing up an experimental report
In general, an experimental report will include:

1. Date
2. Title: (optional)
This should indicate the broad purpose of the experiment, e.g. Enzyme activities.
3. Objective:
This should give the precise aim of the experiment,
e.g. “To determine the rate of starch breakdown by amylase at temperatures in the
range of 0-80oC”.
or
“Investigation of the effect of temperature on enzyme activity”.
4. Hypothesis: (optional)
A tentative answer / explanation for your observation. e.g. pineapple juice can tenderize
meat because pineapples contain protease.
5. Principle: (optional)
The underlying principle(s) for the design of the experiment.
6. Method or Procedure:
This is an account of the activities carried out during the performance of the experiment.
It should be concise, precise and presented logically in the order in which the apparatus
was set up and the activities performed during the experiment. Students are encouraged
to use diagrams to show the experimental set-up and to use reported speech in writing up
the report.
7. Results:
These may be qualitative or quantitative and should be presented as clearly as possible in
some appropriate form or forms, such as descriptive account, tables of data, graphs,
histograms, fully labelled diagrams and so on.
8. Discussion:
This should relate known biological knowledge to the results in trying to explain them.
The significance of the findings should be highlighted. It might also include criticisms of
the method employed, possible sources of error in the results and suggested
improvements to the experiment.
9. Conclusion:
This may be included if there is a clear-cut verification of the stated aim, e.g. “The
optimum temperature for the breakdown of starch by amylase was found to be 45oC”
Notes: (1) In writing up the method, students have to state the exact volume of extracts and
reagents/ concentrations/ sizes/ weight/ temperature used where appropriate. We
merely say “equal amounts”, “a known volume” or “a few drops” is not
sufficient.
(2) In presenting results in table form or graphs, a proper title should be given and
key for curves or notation used should be clearly stated. In plotting a graph, the
choice of co-ordinates should be correct with the abscissa (X axis) used for
independent variables and the ordinate (Y axis) for dependent variables. Both X
and Y axes should be properly labelled with units.
Sample for writing experimental report for Biology SBA
Objective: To determine the effect of light intensity on the rate of photosynthesis

of a water plant.
Hypothesis: N/A
Principle: Different light intensities are illuminated on a water plant by varying

the distances between the plant and the lamp. The oxygen given out
during a fixed time interval is collected and compared. The more the
oxygen collected, the faster the rate of photosynthesis. The
independent variable is the light intensity (which is varied by changing
the distance between the lamp and the plant). The dependent variable is
the rate of photosynthesis (which is measured by the rate of oxygen
production). The controlled variables include temperature of the plant,
carbon dioxide concentration around the plant.
Assumptions:
 The temperature of the plant is not affected by the light intensity.
 The rate of photosynthesis is limited by light intensity but not other factor during
the experiment.
Procedures:
1. Set up the experiment according to the diagram below:
Distance (d)
2. Vary the distance (d) with time according to the table below:
Periods I II III IV
Time (mins) 0-10 11-20 21-30 31-40
Distance (cm) 50 40 30 20
3. Record the initial and final pipette readings of each experimental periods (I to
IV), and hence find out the rate of production of oxygen in each period.
Precautions:
The temperature of water should be carefully monitored and controlled (e.g. adjusting
the air conditioning of the room).
Results:
A Table showing the rate of oxygen production at different experimental periods
Periods I II III IV
Time (mins) 0-10 11-20 21-30 31-40
Distance (cm) 50 40 30 20
Temperatures (oC) 25 25 25 26
Initial pipette reading (cm3) 1 0.95 0.88 0.7
Final pipette reading (cm3) 0.95 0.88 0.7 0.5
Rate of oxygen production (cm3/min) 0.005 0.007 0.018 0.02
Discussions:
From the results, it can be observed that the shorter the distance between the lamp and
the plant, the higher the rate of oxygen production.
Photochemical reactions of photosynthesis require light to supply energy for the

production of ATP as well as for the photolysis of water to produce NADPH. Both of
them are raw materials for dark reactions and hence the increased production of them
can lead to an increase in the overall photosynthetic rate. Oxygen is also produced in
photolysis as a by-product and therefore its production rate can act as an indicator of
light reaction and also the overall photosynthetic rate. According to the inverse square
law, light intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the
light source and the object. A shorter distance (d) means a higher light intensity and
hence the plant carried out photosynthesis at a higher rate as it received a greater
amount of energy.
One of the main errors of this experiment was that the temperature of water in the
beaker is not constant because the lamp heated up the water inside when it was placed
near to the beaker. In order to minimize this error, the beaker should be put in a water
bath with thermostat. In addition, the assumption that the oxygen production rate is
only affected by light intensity may not be true as the concentration of carbon dioxide
may change during the experiment and also the physiological response of the plant to
light may change when metabolites accumulated. To achieve better results, groups of
plants of similar state and weight should be used to carry our experiments at different
light intensity for the same period of time in stead of using a single plant.
Apart from light intensity, the effect of different light colour on the rate of
photosynthesis is also an interesting topic to be studied. It can be investigated using
the same setup but change the colour of light by applying a colour filter in front of the
lamp.
Conclusion:
Rate of photosynthesis increases with light intensity.

SBA Instruction (With Sample)

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SBA Instruction (With Sample)

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Writing up an experimental report

In general, an experimental report will include:

Objective: To determine the effect of light intensity on the rate of photosynthesis

Principle: Different light intensities are illuminated on a water plant by varying

A Table showing the rate of oxygen production at different experimental periods

Photochemical reactions of photosynthesis require light to supply energy for the

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