MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED BIOSCIENCES AND
BIOTECHNOLOGY

Practical Report Writing: A Handbook for HABB 135 Students

Compiled by Mr G. M. Dowo
 Learning Objectives
 Demonstrate an understanding of the proper writing style for a practical report
 Distinguish between the type of information needed in each section of a lab report

1. Writing a Practical Report

If you're like most students, by the time you graduated high school you had written dozens of
essays, short stories, and even poems. But many students have never been asked to
perform technical writing. This is a different style of writing that is used very often in the
sciences, engineering, and other technical fields. Although technical writing is similar to
other types of writing you have done, there are some very important differences, which you
will learn about as you work through the following pages.

Technical writing is used to generate many different kinds of written products, such as
textbooks, magazine articles, and computer manuals. The goal of this module is to acquaint
you with one specific type of technical writing: the prac write up or report. Most science
courses require you to write at least one prac report during the semester. By the end of this
module, you will have a more thorough understanding of the style of writing required by lab
reports.

2. Practical Report Style

2.1 Concise Language
The main reason for writing a lab report or scientific paper is to communicate the results of a
scientific study to the public (or your teacher). Keeping this purpose in mind, there are some
important things you want to remember when writing your lab report.

Use concise language that clearly communicates what you are trying to say. Scientists like to
get straight to the facts without any distractions, so there is no need for the kind of "flowery"
language you might use in a short story, poem, or personal essay. The sentences should
provide enough detail so the reader knows what happened, but not so much detail that it gets
overwhelming.

Answer the quiz question below to see if you can spot good scientific language.
Which of the following examples do you think best illustrates the concise language you
should use in a lab report?
a. The plants exposed to full sunlight showed amazing amounts of growth after a couple
weeks.
b.The entire lab group laughed when the water spilled out of the test tube.
c. The plants exposed to full sunlight grew an average of 3 cm in 14 days, while the plants
left indoors grew only 0.5 cm on average.
d. The plants grew.

Answer: C. (Did you get it right? If yes then good!)

2.2 Third person past tense

Another important point about lab reports is that they should usually be written in third
person, past tense. This means you should not use personal pronouns like "I" or "we." And
all the procedures you used in your study should be written about as if they happened in the
past. It can be a little awkward writing in the "passive voice" like this because most English
classes teach that this style of writing is incorrect. But in science, we try to use language that
is impersonal and objective.

Test yourself to see if you can spot the best use of third person, past tense.

Test Yourself (Third Person, Past Tense)

You did an experiment in which you added 20 mL of water to a test tube. How would you
describe this in your lab report?
a. I added 20 mL of water to a test tube.
b. 20 mL of water is added to a test tube.
c. 20 mL of water was added to a test tube.

Answer = C.

3. Practical Report Format

One really nice thing about writing lab reports is that they almost always follow a very
specific format, so there's no question about what information goes first, second, third, etc.
Lab reports generally have seven main parts:

Title (You put this on your title page)

Abstract – 5 marks
Introduction – 10 marks
Materials and Methods – 10 marks
Results -10 marks
Discussion and Conclusions – 10 marks
References – 5 marks

3.1 Title
The title is a brief summary of the main ideas in the paper. It should be between 5 and 12
words long. The title should have enough details that any person could read it and know just
what the study was about. But you don't need too many details, since you'll be talking about
them in the paper itself.
For example, a study on the numbers of bird species found in Gweru parks might be called
"Species of birds in Gweru city parks." It's very simple and to the point.
N.B. Do not write aims and objectives under the title. They form part of the introduction.

3.2 Abstract
The abstract is a short summary of the main ideas found in the lab report. It should include 1)
the purpose of the study or the question being addressed by the study, 2) the procedures used
in the study, 3) the major results of the study, and 4) any conclusions drawn by the author(s).
The abstract should generally be between 100 and 200 words in length. To make it easier to
write an abstract, you can use the following formula:
Purpose or aim of experiment – one sentence
The procedures used – two sentences
Results or observations – two to three sentences
Conclusions reached – one sentence
Using this simple formula, one can write an abstract in 7 sentences more or less. However, it
should be noted that even though the abstract comes first in the report, it is actually written
LAST! This is because it summarises the whole experiment or study, so you can only write it
after you have finished everything else.

3.3 Introduction
The introduction of your lab report is a chance for you to "hook" the reader and preview the
important details you'll be talking about in the later sections of the paper. It's kind of like the
first paragraph in a short story or the first act of a play.

While the abstract was a very short summary of the entire paper, the introduction will be a
longer section with more detail. In a practical report we expect it to be at least 3 paragraphs
long. However, for the sake of conciseness and time, it should never exceed one full page.
Here are some tips for organizing your introduction:

Start off with a very broad introduction to the topic. For instance, let's say you are writing a
lab report about an experiment where you tested the effect of temperature on the enzyme
catalase. You should start the introduction by talking about what enzymes are and how they
work.
Next, narrow down the introduction to talk more specifically about the topic you are
investigating, and why the study you did was so important. In the catalase example, you
should now talk specifically about what the catalase enzyme does, where it is found, how it
works, and why it is important enzyme to study how temperature affects this enzyme.
The introduction should also include a brief literature review that discusses what is already
known about the topic. This where you will summarize the research you have done about
your topic. Make sure you properly cite all of the sources you used in your research. For a
practical report, make reference to at least three books in the introduction. When citing in text
use the following format:
Enzymes are proteinaceous catalysts which speed up metabolic reactions in cells (Smith,
2014).
If the book had two authors you cite as; Enzymes are proteinaceous catalysts which speed up
metabolic reactions in cells (Smith and Morton, 2014).
If it was written by three or more authors, then use the abbreviation et al. which is underlined
when writing by hand or italicised when typewritten. e.g. Enzymes are proteinaceous
catalysts which speed up metabolic reactions in cells (Smith et al., 2014).
Most students love to say, “According to Smith (2014) enzymes are proteinaceous catalysts
which speed up metabolic reactions in cells.” This is unnecessary. Just state the fact and cite
the source at the end e.g. Enzymes are proteinaceous catalysts which speed up metabolic
reactions in cells (Smith, 2014).
Finally, state the aims and objectives of the study
The introduction should not include details about the procedures you used in your study. Save
these for the Materials and Methods section. You should also leave out the results, which will
go in the Results section.

3.4 Materials and Methods

The Materials and Methods section is often the easiest part of a lab report to write because
the procedure is either written in your lab manual/ practical schedule, or you took notes on
your procedure as you performed the study. Just make sure you write it in paragraph form
with complete sentences, rather than just a list of your methods. This section should be
written in the third person past tense with no personal pronouns (I or we).
However, you can list the apparatus used.

It's very important that in the Materials and Methods section you write only what you did,
not what results you got. Save those for the next section.

Please note this section is not called METHODOLOGY but Materials and Methods.

Brief example
An onion was sliced into two pieces using a sharp blade. The outer layer was then peeled off
using the fingernails. Upon cutting it into two pieces, the outer peel was then mounted on a
glass slide and a drop of distilled water was added using a pipette. Furthermore, 500ml of
sugar solution was prepared in a beaker.

Note that this section is written in such a way that someone else can repeat exactly what you
did, so never skip any detail!

3.5 Results
This section is not called Observations but Results section.
Use the Results section to summarize the findings of your study. The text of this section
should focus on the major trends in the data you collected. The details can be summarized in
tables and/or graphs that will accompany the text.

In this section, just tell the reader the facts. Don't try to interpret the data or talk about why
they are important. Save your interpretations for the Discussion/Conclusion section.

3.5.1 Figures, Tables and Drawings

One of the best ways to represent the results of your study is by using graphs and tables (in
lab reports, graphs and other images are usually known as "figures"). This is because they are
easy to read and convey a lot of information to the reader in an efficient way. Here are some
of the things to keep in mind when including tables and figures in your lab report:

 Tables and figures should be self-explanatory and should include enough information
to be able to "stand alone" without reading the entire paper
  All columns in the tables and all axes on graphs should be clearly labelled, including
units of measurement (cm, °C, etc.)
 All tables and figures should be given a number and should include a caption that
explains what they are trying to convey. For example, in a paper on the effects of
increased phosphorus on oxygen content of pond water, you might include a graph
with this caption: "Figure 1. Oxygen concentration of pond water is determined by
phosphorus content."
Any time you include a figure or table, you must mention it in the text, usually in the Results
section. There are two ways to cite your figure or table in the text:

1. Mention the figure directly in the text, like this: "Figure 1 shows the impact of
phosphorus enrichment on pond water oxygen concentration."
2. Add a citation in parentheses at the end of a sentence, like this: "Oxygen
concentration of the pond water decreased with an increase in phosphorus (Fig. 1)." In
this case, Figure is abbreviated to Fig., but you would not need to abbreviate the word
Table.
Most students make the mistake of just attaching their drawings from the Lab without making
any reference to them. This is bad practice. Under the Results section mention something
about your drawings before referring to them e.g. “Onion cells were viewed at different
magnifications that is X40 and X100. At X40 only cell walls were observed. However, at
X100 the nuclei, nucleoli and cell membranes were also observed. Figures 1 and 2 (attached
on next page) show the onion cells as drawn under these magnifications.”

Diagrams should be well labelled in pencil. Do not make them too artistic. It is preferable to
keep all labels on one side to avoid clutter. Label lines should not cross each other.

3.6 Discussion and Conclusions

Once you've stated the most important findings of your study in the Results section, you will
use the Discussion section to interpret those findings and talk about why they are important.
You might want to talk about how your results agree, or disagree, with the results from
similar studies or from books you have read. Hence, you MUST cite some literature!
Here you can also mention areas ways you could have improved your study or further
research to be done on the topic.

Do not restate your results - talk about why they are significant and important.

Examples
The cell membranes could not be viewed at X40 magnification. This is because of the low
resolution at such a magnification. Campbell et al (2014) defines resolution as the ability to
distinguish two objects that would normally be seen as one.

Air bubbles prevented the researcher from observing the cells. The experiment could be
improved by using filter paper to remove the air bubbles.
It can be concluded that onion cells can only be viewed after staining with a dye. The X40
magnification is not sufficient to view most organelles. The X100 magnification allows for
viewing of membrane and nucleus.

3.7 References
The References section is where you will list all the sources you used in researching your
topic. Properly documenting sources used for research is important because it ensures that:

Credit for information originally provided elsewhere is given,

Others can find the same information again, and
Plagiarism (passing off the ideas or words of another as one's own) does not take place.

ONLY list those sources which you cited in the text! Failure to cite sources in text or citing
sources in text but forgetting to list them in the references section attracts a penalty.

In Science, the Harvard citation style is preferred. Follow this link to see many examples of
how to cite using this style.
https://guides.library.uwa.edu.au/harvard/examples

Also, consult your lecturer if you are facing problems with citations.

I wish you all the best in writing scientific reports. Remember, this is your first step in
becoming an established scientist for writing and communicating is now a key feature of
science. Imagine if Charles Darwin had not written about his Theory of Evolution in an
understandable way, God forbid! As the saying goes, publish or perish!
Reference:
Phoenix College 2018, Lab Report Writing. Available from
https://phoenixcollege.libguides.com/c.php?g=225738&p=1496126 [Accessed 9 April 2019]