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Writing A Science Lab Report
Writing A Science Lab Report
Many of your Science units will require you to write a formal laboratory report. The
purpose is to report on what you did, what you learned from an experiment and why the
findings matter.
Disclaimer:
Please note that many units require students to record notes and observations in
logbooks in the laboratory. These have their own purpose and conventions and are
different from lab reports.
Lab report structure
Lab reports can vary in length and format. These range from a form to fill in and submit
before leaving the lab, to a formal written report. However, they all usually follow a
similar basic structure.
Title
Your title needs to reflect the purpose of the experiment. Check with your demonstrator
or lecturer for specific requirements.
PHS1022Week 5 Laboratory
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Abstract
An abstract provides a brief overview of the experiment, including its findings and
conclusions. In general the abstract should answer six questions:
The most important thing to remember when writing the abstract is to be brief and state
only what is relevant. No extraneous information should be included. It also must be
clear enough so someone who is unfamiliar with your experiment could understand why
you did what you did, and the conclusions you reached, without needing to read the rest
of the report.
An abstract should be written last (even though it appears as the first section in your
report), as it summarises information from all the other sections of the report.
Pendahuluan
The Introduction should:
Tip
Always write the introduction in your own words; don’t just copy from the lab
notes.
Always check with your lecturer/demonstrator if you’re not sure what is expected.
Metode
The method section is where you describe what you actually did. It includes the
procedure that was followed. This should be a report of what you actually did, not just
what was planned. A typical procedure usually includes:
1. How apparatus and equipment were set up (e.g. experimental set-up), usually
including a diagram,
2. A list of materials used,
3. Steps used to collect the data,
4. Any experimental difficulties encountered and how they were resolved or worked
around.
If any aspects of the experimental procedure were likely to contribute systematic error to
the data and results, point this out in sufficient detail in this section.
Procedure
When you carry out an experiment, you usually follow a set of instructions such as
these, which may include extra information to guide you through the steps.
Procedure
Procedure
25.0ml HCl(aq) was pipetted into a 100ml conical flask. A burette was clamped to a
retort stand and filled with standardised NaOH(aq) and the initial measurement
was recorded. The conical flask was placed below the burette, on top of a piece of
white paper. Five drops of universal indicator solution were added to the flask...
Figure 2. Experimental set-up for titration (taken from Carroll 2017)
Tip
When writing up the procedure, you must report what was actually done and what
actually happened, and omit any extra information such as helpful hints included in the
instructions. Your goal for this section should be to include enough detail for someone
else to replicate what you did and achieve a similar outcome. You should also explain
any modifications to the original process introduced during the experiment.
Tip
While most science units require that you report in the passive voice, some require
the active voice. In the example below, the first person is used e.g. "we initiated". This
is accepted in some disciplines, but not others. Check your unit information or talk to
your unit coordinator.
Initiate the bicarbonate feed pump. We initiated the bicarbonate feed pump. (active voice)
In this section, you present the main data collected during your experiment. Each key
measurement needs to be reported appropriately. Data are often presented in graphs,
figures or tables.
This section often also includes analysis of the raw data, such as calculations. In some
disciplines the analysis is presented under its own heading, in others it is included in the
results section. An analysis of the errors or uncertainties in the experiment is also
usually included in this section.
Most numerical data are presented using tables or graphs. These need to be labelled
appropriately to clearly indicate what is shown.
Also, it is always best to draw figures yourself if you can. If you do use figures
from another source, indicate in the citation whether you have modified it in any
way.
When showing calculations, it is usual to show the general equation, and one
worked example. Where a calculation is repeated many times, the additional
detail is usually included in an appendix. Check the requirements given in your
unit information or lab manual, or ask your tutor if you are unsure where to place
calculations.
Lecturer's comment
In some schools, like Biology, calculations that are too detailed to go into the main body
of the report can be added in an appendix. The purpose of such appendices is to
present the data gathered and demonstrate the level of accuracy obtained.
Results
A chromatogram was produced for the unknown compound U, and each of the
known compounds, A-E. Rf values for each substance are listed in Table 1.
Table 1: Rf values for known compounds (A-E).
A 0.95+/-0.03 Y
B 0.75+/-0.10 Y
C 0.88+/-0.04 N
D 0.45+/-0.06 N
E 0.33+/-0.05 Y
Discussion
Your discussion section should demonstrate how well you understand what happened
in the experiment. You should:
The discussion example below is from a first-year Biology unit. The aim of this
experiment was to identify decomposition rates of leaf breakdown to establish rates of
energy transfer.
Discussion
It was expected that the leaves would show a far higher rate of decomposition in
the shore zone, where there are more chances for sediments to rub against them.
However the two zones show no significant difference in leaf breakdown,
although these results are non-conclusive due to the limitations of this
experiment. The two zones of leaf decomposition were physically too close, and
over the incubation period reeds were observed growing close to the limnetic
zone. This may have negatively affected the accuracy of the results by reducing
the differences in habitat at these sites, as seen in other experiments (Jones et al.
2017). The results also had large standard deviations, possibly due to these
physical constraints or human error in weighing leaves. Further studies with
more diverse zones and precise procedures should be undertaken in order to
explore leaf decomposition and rates of energy transfer more effectively.
Conclusion
The conclusion section should provide a take-home message summing up what has
been learned from the experiment:
Briefly restate the purpose of the experiment (the question it was seeking to
answer)
Identify the main findings (answer to the research question)
Note the main limitations that are relevant to the interpretation of the results
Summarise what the experiment has contributed to your understanding of the
problem.
Lecturer's tip
In brief lab reports, the conclusion is presented at the end of the discussion, and does
not have its own heading. This type of conclusion can also be thought of as the
sentence that answers the question “So what?”. Note that a conclusion should never
introduce any new ideas or findings, only give a concise summary of those which have
already been presented in the report.
Click the icons next to each paragraph to show the lecturer’s comments. Click again to
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References
It is quite possible that you may have in-text citations in your lab reports. Typically these
will be included in the introduction to establish evidence of background for current
theories or topics. Your discussion section will often include in-text citations, to show
how your findings relate to those in the published literature, or to provide evidence-
based suggestions or explanations for what you observed.
When in-text citations are incorporated into your lab report, you must always have the
full citations included in a separate reference list. The reference list is a separate
section that comes after your conclusion (and before any appendices).
Check your lab manual or unit information to determine which referencing style is
preferred. Carefully follow that referencing style for your in-text references and
reference list.