Final Report Submission:

Lab 8: Formal Lab Report Instructions

Your formal lab report should be 5 double-spaced pages, Times New Roman, and font size 12.

How to Write Up Your Formal Lab Report

A good report includes an abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion/conclusion/recommendations, and

citations. Remember the goal is to clearly describe what your question was, how you went about answering it,
what your results told you and what this all means.

Abstract

An abstract is a brief summary of what this report is all about. The reader should be able to attain the most crucial
aspects of each segment of the report within this paragraph.

Introduction

The introduction should begin with the general topic and then narrow the focus of the details pertinent to the
research. Discuss what is currently understood about the topic and this ties into the study. This is where you want
to get across the interesting points of the field that led you to develop your hypothesis and your experimental
design. You want to use as many sources, particularly primary sources such as journal articles. Ensure your
information is cited appropriately (use your plagiarism activity). You should have a clear hypothesis stated at the
end of this section. This section will be the lengthiest section of your report. Ensure you reader has no doubt
where the source of your information comes from.

Science writing is an art. Unlike English style writing, technical science is clear-cut and lacking in artistic en-
hancements. Do not quote your sources but rather read through the information and write it in your own words
and cite it. It is a good idea to read an article once all the way through without making any notes. Then come
back and read it again this time making notes in the margins or on some scrap paper. This will help ensure you
not only understand the material you are reading but that you are able to describe it in your own words and avoid
issues of plagiarism which so often become in issue for students.

Laboratory Manual Prepared by Catalyst Education, LLC for University of British Columbia, Okanagan FR.1
Department of Biology
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Methods

This section of your report involves producing a written description of the materials used and the methods in-
volved in performing your experiment. Under no circumstances should you provide bullet points or list one by
one the materials used. Rather you need to describe each step clearly enough that someone else could replicate
your experiment exactly. You should also include a section outlining what statistical measure you used and how
you transformed your data if need be.

It is highly recommended you show this to someone not in your class and see if they can follow along. If they
can’t you need to ask them where they get stuck and re-write to make sure it’s clear. Think of this like following a
recipe while cooking. Don’t leave anything out that isn’t obvious or the recipe will fail for the next person trying
to cook.

Results

The results section should include all averaged data from observations during your experiment. This should not
include any raw data. This includes charts, tables, graphs, and any other illustrations of data you feel best repre-
sents the information you would like to convey. If you are keen to add raw data or other data related information
you may do so in an appendix but this is not required of this assignment. Depending on the information you wish
to convey you may feel that a box plot, bar graph or line graph is most descriptive. Whichever way you decide
think about what message you are trying to convey and ask yourself if an audience was to quickly look at your
graph would they get that messaging easily. If not, you should look at an alternative way to display your graph.
Your TA will be able to help you sort this out as well.

Be sure to provide any relevant labels, legends and axes where necessary and a caption which informs the reader
of what they are looking at. Remember anyone who is not familiar with your research should be able to quickly
look at your figure and understand what message you are trying to show.

This section is where you will describe what you saw. That is what the response was to your variable. This is
should be the driest and easiest section to write as you are just stating what you found and nothing more. There
should be no mention of what you did to attain this data or how you went about doing it (that’s for your methods).
This is not where you describe why you saw what you saw nor is it where you try and tie in other research to your
research. We save that for the end!

Laboratory Manual Prepared by Catalyst Education, LLC for University of British Columbia, Okanagan FR.2
Department of Biology
 FR

Discussion/Conclusion

This section is where you will discuss what you saw. Were you able to answer the question you set out to answer?
Why or why not? In either case try and explain and interpret your results. This is where you will want to go back
to the journals you found and see what they found. Is it similar or not? Why or why not? Did they do something
different from you? You can often explain results you may not have anticipated seeing by looking at what others
in the area have found. Think about the why? Remember your job here is to try and explain what you found and
how it relates to what others have found.

Bibliography

All references used should be included at the end of your report on a separate page. That includes any books, ar-
ticles, lab manuals, etc. that you used when writing your report. APA citations are required. Ensure you provide
a properly formatted list with sufficient references. At least 3 primary source papers should be listed.

Below is a proximate breakdown of what you can expect when writing your report

• Provide a brief literature review (~1 page):

– What do you know about the organisms involved?
– What do you know about the variable being considered?
– What is the problem?
• Provide clear hypotheses. What is the question you are addressing?
• Outline the major methods and data collection (including what statistical analyses to be used, when
appropriate and a list of materials required). There should not be any bullet points here (1/2–1 page)
• Results—Clearly describe your results and ensure you do not make any interpretations of your results
in this section. Any tables or graphs should be found here. Absolutely no raw data here. (1/2–1 page)
• Conclusion/Discussion—interpret the results previously described. What does this mean? What kind
of recommendation, if any, can you make to your client? (~1 page)
• References must be provided and on its own page (1 page). You should have at least 3 papers you are
citing.

Laboratory Manual Prepared by Catalyst Education, LLC for University of British Columbia, Okanagan FR.3
Department of Biology
 FR

Ideas on preparing a formal report

• Read a lot! It is important that you have a thorough understanding of the topic. At the very least you
should have at least 3 primary source papers you are referring to throughout your report to provide
further credibility to your recommendation.
• Someone reading your report should be able to tell what question(s) you addressed, why the topic is
important, how you tackled the problem, the types of data you will collect, and how your research
helps to inform your client.
• Start writing early! Students often make the mistake of starting the night before the lab report is due.
This more often than not results in poor submissions and thus lower grades. You should expect that
you will have at least 3 rounds of revisions before you submit.

Laboratory Manual Prepared by Catalyst Education, LLC for University of British Columbia, Okanagan FR.4
Department of Biology