How to Write Lab Reports

How To Write Lab Reports

It is important to be able to write a technical document that details the steps in an experiment, the method of statistical analysis and the conclusions that can be drawn from the data. A laboratory report is a document and so must be written in the third person, past tense, in complete, grammatically correct sentences following the APA format. The parts of a lab report are the abstract, an introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusions. These sections should be clearly labeled. Your essay should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5" x 11") with 1" margins on all sides. You should use 10-12 pt. Times New Roman font or a similar font. Include a page header at the top of every page. Title Page The title page should contain the title of the paper, the author's name, and the institutional affiliation. Include the page header (described above) flush left with the page number flush right at the top of the page. Pages after the title page should have a running header flush to the left margin with the page number flush to the right margin.

Abstract An abstract is a summary of the hypothesis, a brief description of the experiment, results and discussion. The abstract does not go into detail but does give the reader a general idea of the experimental design. The purpose of an abstract is to allow the reader to judge whether it would serve his or her purposes to read the entire report. A good abstract is a concise (100 to 200 words) summary of the purpose of the report, the data presented, and the author's major conclusions.

Introduction Under this heading should be an overview of what the experiment was about including a general summary of the background information, overview, purpose and hypothesis. The introduction defines the subject of the report. It must outline 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 to limit the background to whatever is pertinent to the experiment. A good introduction will answer several questions, including who, what, when, where and why.

Materials and Methods This section should contain a description, in the student’s own words, of the experimental procedure that was followed in the performance of the experiment. The materials and methods section should be complete enough so that another student with the same background, but unfamiliar with the experiment, could perform the same experiment without additional instructions. List the materials with amounts, how they were used and where and when the work was completed. The steps should be clearly defined and numbered. The independent and dependent variables with the control group should be identified and the method of data analysis.

Results The results section presents the data in a discussion format. All data should be properly displayed in a graph or chart format and referred to by title in the results discussion section. If there are any calculations involved with the data analysis, they should be complete with units and descriptive title. Identify each variable and overview the data citing trends, variations, and/or anomalies. Statistical analyses may include mean, median, mode, regressions, chi- square, t-tests and anovas. Discussions and Conclusions This section should not just be a restatement of the results but should emphasize interpretation of the data, relating them to existing theory and knowledge. Speculation is appropriate, if it is so identified. Suggestions for the improvement of techniques or experimental design may also be included here. In writing this section, you should explain the logic that allows you to accept or reject your original hypotheses. You should also be able to suggest future experiments that might clarify areas of doubt in your results. This is the interpretation-and-conclusion of your report. This section should include.

References List only the references cited in the laboratory report using APA format. . When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, E.g., (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper. . If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number (although it is not required.) . If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and the page number for the reference (preceded by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses. . Authors' names are inverted (last name first); give the last name and initials for all authors of a particular work if it has three to seven authors. If the work has more than seven authors, list the first six authors and then use ellipses after the sixth author's name. After the ellipses, list the last author's name of the work. . Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work. . If you have more than one article by the same author, single-author references or multiple- author references with the exact same authors in the exact same order are listed in order by the year of publication, starting with the earliest. . When referring to any work that is NOT a journal, such as a book, article, or Web page, capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a dash in the title, and proper nouns. Do not capitalize the first letter of the second word in a hyphenated compound word. . Capitalize all major words in journal titles. . Italicize titles of longer works such as books and journals. . Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles or essays in edited collections. . Example periodical: o Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. . Example book: o Berndt, T. J. (2002). Friendship quality and social development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 7-10. Experimental Design

Title: ______Purpose: ______Hypothesis: ______Experimental Design Independent Variable: ______Dependent Variable: ______Experimental Treatment: ______Control Treatment: ______Constants: ______Measurements: ______Data & Analysis Data Table: ______Graph (include type): ______Statistics (include method): ______Expected Results: ______