Scientific Lab Report Structure

Title: Precisely identifies the focus of the lab.

Purpose: Clearly state the research question that the experiment is designed to address.
Background/Introduction: Provide context and motivation for the experiment/study. Briefly explain
relevant theory in sufficient detail and introduce any relevant laws, equations or theorems.
Hypothesis: Predict the outcome of the experiment/study based on your background information. This
can be stated as an if/then statement.
Procedure: Describe your experimental design and what you actually did. A procedure includes:

• how apparatus and equipment were set up (e.g. experimental set-up), usually including a
diagram, dependent variable, independent variable and any controls/constants used,
• a list of materials used,
• steps used to collect the data,
• number of trials/replicates, and
• any experimental difficulties encountered and how they were resolved or worked around.

Results: 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.

• Most numerical data (quantitative/numbers) are presented using tables or graphs. These need
to be labelled appropriately to clearly indicate what is shown. They should also have a caption
that gives a quick description of what they are showing the reader.
• Your report should include at least one data table and one graph.

Discussion: Demonstrate how well you understand what happened in the experiment. You should:

• comment on the results you obtained and identify any trends/patterns in the data
• compare the experimental results with any predictions (accept/reject hypothesis)
• reflect on your methods and identify how any sources of error might impact on the
interpretation of your results
• suggest explanations for unexpected results, and
• where appropriate, suggest how the experiment could have been improved.

Conclusion: 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, and
• summarize what the experiment has contributed to your understanding of the problem.
Modified from https://www.monash.edu/rlo/assignment-samples/science/science-writing-a-lab-report