Guidelines for Writing a Lab Report

These are the guidelines you should use when you write your lab reports for this course. Occasionally you have a lab that requires a different format, but these guidelines will be appropriate for most labs. Always keep in mind that the primary purpose of a lab report is to communicate the details of your work clearly, accurately, and concisely to a reader who may not be familiar with your experiment.

Sections of the Report: Your lab report will consist of several different sections, each with its own unique function. Be sure that you include each section, clearly labeled, with the appropriate information.

1. Cover Page: This should include your name, a title, the date the report was due, and the names of your lab partners.

Feel free to be creative with pictures, designs, etc.

2. Introduction: It should contain enough information to let the reader know what she will find in the main body of the

Report. The introduction should include the following:

A. A very brief summary of what you did in lab. Avoid details that belong in the Methods and Materials section.

B. A brief discussion of the major concepts or principles studied during the lab exercise and why they are important.

C. A concise statement of your hypothesis

D. A brief summary of your major result and conclusion. Again, avoid details that belong in the Results or the Conclusion sections.

3. Methods and Materials: There are two parts to this section. In the first part simply list the materials you used in

this experiment. The second section should be an outline of the steps you followed to complete the experiment. The

Methods and Materials section should be detailed enough to give the reader a clear picture of how this experiment was conducted. Avoid trivial and irrelevant details

4.. Results: This is where you put all your data. Organize this material in a clear manner so the reader can easily review the results of your experiment. Use tables and graphs whenever appropriate. Be sure to include the appropriate units and calculate averages. Avoid making conclusions in this section.

5 Conclusions: In this section you need to review your hypothesis and decide if the data support them. Your discussion should always use examples from your results to support your conclusions. Refer to the tables and graphs to explain your conclusions. If you got unexpected results, suggest reasons why. If you were assigned any additional questions, answer them in this section.

6. Work Cited: If you needed to use citations in your report, the last page should be a list of works cited in the correct format.

Additional Points:

• Lab reports should be typed. Handwritten reports will not be accepted.
• Be sure to label each section clearly with a heading and include only the information appropriate
• Be sure graphs and tables are correctly constructed and clearly and accurately labeled.
• Proof read your work for spelling and grammatical errors
• Don’t use personal pronouns (e.g. I, We, Our, etc. ) in your discussions.