HOW TO WRITE A LAB REPORT

A major goal in this course is the development of effective technical writing

skillswhile you have the opportunity to learn basic rules of scientific writing
and recognize how scientists work to make new discoveries and find solutions
to a given problem. You will prepare several lab reports based on work
completed in the lab.
Keep in mind that a lab report is like the essays you might write for non-
science course. Remember to apply the same standards rules of grammar and
sentence and paragraph structure that you are learning in your English class.
Keepin mind that in the lab report you must organize your ideas according to a
particular format to communicate your observations. You must do an analysis
of the data obtained and offer conclusions with clarity and precision. Good
writing isan essential skill for scientists to communicate their scientific
findings in the appropriate format.

Guidelines:

1. All lab reports must be typed using 12 pt font size, 1” margins all
aroundand double space.
2. Label each section of the report and place the ideas and findings in
theappropriate section.
3. Proofread your report to check spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
4. Cite all sources of information and references you use to write your report.
5. Present sufficient and relevant background information
6. Explain coherently all your procedures, present all your data and
analyzethem extensively
7. Discuss all your results thoroughly and exhaustively. Report not only
the good results but also try to understand and explain when you do
obtain theexpected ones
8. Each student must write an individual report. Most of the times
students are working in teams of 2-3 students may get together to
organize results and the analysis. However, each one is responsible of
writing a completely independent report. Please avoid plagiarism to
avoid a failinggrade
Format: A lab reports usually consists of the following:

1. Title
2. Introduction
3. Materials and Methods
4. Results
5. Discussion
6. Literature cited

Title

The title should reflect the content of the paper. Scientific titles are straightforward
and uses keywords that researchers use in a particularfield

Introduction

The introduction explains the subject of the report. It outlines the scientific
purpose(s) or objective(s) for the research performed and give the reader
sufficient background to understand the rest of the report. Care should be
taken toinclude a background that is only pertinent to the experiment. This
background information can be found in the lab manual or handout used to
carry out the lab work. A good introduction mentions why the study or
experiment was performed.The introduction should also include the specific
hypotheses and experimental design pertinent to investigating the topic.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is the possible outcome to be obtained with the design of the
experiment being performed. If you were using a hypothesis in the exercise
you are reporting be sure to include it in your report. Be sure to explain if
your hypothesis was correct or not. Your grade depends on the explanation
you give ifthe hypothesis was correct or incorrect.

Materials and Methods

As the name implies, the materials and methods used in the experiments
should be reported in this section. The difficulty in writing this section is to
provide enough detail for the reader to understand the experiment without
overwhelming him or her. When procedures from a lab book or another
report are followed exactly, simply cite the work, noting that details can be
found in that particular source.
Generally, this section attempts to answer the following questions: What
materialswere used? How were they used? Where and when was the work
done?
Remember to use passive voice in this section as well in the one on Results.
Examples
• Instead of saying “we added 10 ml of saline solution to each test tube “
you should say: Ten ml of saline solution was added to each test tube.”
Please note that the sentence begins with the number in letters rather
thanin Arabic number (10).
• Avoid using imperative forms. For example, instead of saying: “cover
thetest tubes with foil” you should say, “the test tubes were covered
with foil.”

Results

The results are presented in this section. You should summarize the data from
theexperiments without discussing their implications. The data should be
organized into tables, figures, graphs, photographs, and so on. But data
included in a table should not be duplicated in a figure or graph. Use
appropriate units for the numbers representing quantitative measurements (3
ml, 6 grms etc).

All figures and tables should have descriptive titles and should include a
legendexplaining any symbols, abbreviations, or special methods used. Figures
and tables should be numbered separately and should be referred to in the text
by number, for example:

1. Figure 1 shows that the activity decreased after five minutes.

2. The activity decreased after five minutes (fig. 1).

Figures and tables should be self-explanatory; that is, the reader should be able
to understand them without referring to the text. All columns and rows in
tables and axes in figures should be labeled. This section of your report should
concentrate on general trends and differences and not on trivial details. Many
authors organizeand write the results section before the rest of the report.

Discussion
This section should emphasize interpretation of the data, relating them to
existingtheory and knowledge. Relate the data to your hypothesis, explaining
if they confirm or reject it. Suggestions for the improvement of techniques or
experimental design may also be included here. You should also be able to
suggest future experiments that might clarify areas of doubt in your results.
If there were mistakes that prevented you from getting the expected results,
explain these mistakes in detail and make suggestions to avoid them. A good
rationale about this could give you a better grade than if you get the expected
results and you did not explain them.
Work Cited/ Bibliography

This section lists all articles or books cited in your report. It is not the same as
a bibliography, which simply lists references regardless of whether they were
citedin the paper. We use the APA Format. The listing should be
alphabetized by the last names of the authors. Different journals require
different formats for citing literature. The format that includes the most
information is given in the following examples:

For articles:

Fox, J.W. 1988. Nest-building behavior of the catbird, Dumetella

carolinensis.Journal of Ecology 47: 113-17.

For Books:
Bird, W.Z. 1990. Ecological aspects of fox reproduction. Berlin:
GuttenbergPress.

For chapters in books:

Smith, C.J. 1989. Basal cell carcinomas. In Histological aspects of cancer, ed.
C.D. Wilfred, pp. 278-91. Boston: Medical Press.

When citing references in the text, do not use footnotes; instead, refer to
articlesby the author's name and the date the paper was published. For
example:

1. Fox in 1988 investigated the hormones on the nest-building

behavior ofcatbirds.
2. Hormones are known to influence the nest-building behavior of
catbirds(Fox, 1988).

When citing papers that have two authors, both names must be listed. When
three or more authors are involved, the Latin et al. (et alia) meaning "and
others" may be used. A paper by Smith, Lynch, Merrill, and Beam published in
1989 would becited in the text as:

Smith et al. (1989) have shown that...

This short form is for text use only. In the Literature Cited, all names
would belisted, usually last name preceding initials.
 Literature

Cite the article use in your assignment. Use the format I an suggesting in the
document for the Lab on “How to Write a Lab Report” which is included here.

For articles:
Fox, J.W. 1988. Nest-building behavior of the catbird, Dumetella carolinensis. Journal
ofEcology 47: 113-17.

For Books:

Bird, W.Z. 1990. Ecological aspects of fox reproduction. Berlin: Guttenberg Press.

For chapters in books:

Smith, C.J. 1989. Basal cell carcinomas. In Histological aspects of cancer, ed.
C.D.Wilfred, pp. 278-91. Boston: Medical Press.

When citing references in the text, do not use footnotes; instead, refer to articles by
theauthor's name and the date the paper was published. For example:

1. Fox in 1988 investigated the hormones on the nest-building behavior of catbirds.

2. Hormones are known to influence the nest-building behavior of catbirds
(Fox,1988).

When citing papers that have two authors, both names must be listed. When three or
more authors are involved, the Latin et al. (et alia) meaning "and others" may be
used. Apaper by Smith, Lynch, Merrill, and Beam published in 1989 would be cited
in the text as:

Smith et al. (1989) have shown that...

This short form is for text use only. In the Literature Cited, all names would be
listed,usually last name preceding initials.

Online Documents:

The basic structure for referencing online documents is very similar to other
references, but with the addition of a retrieval source. Provide the exact URL for
where the document can be found.

Author, A. A. (2000). Title of work. Retrieved from

sourceFor example:
Cherry, K. (2006). Bird, W.Z. 1990. Ecological aspects of fox reproduction.
Berlin:Guttenberg Press. Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/apastyle/guide

Online Journal Article:

Online journal articles should be cited much like print articles, but they should
includeadditional information about the source location. The basic structure is as
follows:

Author, A. B., Author, C. D., & Author, E. F. (2000). Title of article. Title of
Periodical,Volume number, page numbers. Retrieved from source.
For example:

Janet, B. L. (2006 A meta-analysis on online social behavior. Journal of Psychology 4.

Retrieved from http://www.journalofinternetpsychology.com/archives/volume4/
3924.html
Psychology, 4. Retrieved from
http://www.journalofinternetpsychology.com/archives/volume4/ 3924.html