Writing Lab Reports
Writing lab reports follows a straightforward and structured
procedure. It is important to recognize that each part of a lab report
is important, so take the time to complete each carefully. A lab
report is broken down into eight sections:
Title, abstract, introduction, methods and materials, results,
discussion, conclusion, and references.
Title
The title of the lab report should be descriptive of the
experiment and reflect what the experiment analyzed.
o Ex: "Determining the Free Chlorine Content of Pool
Water"
Abstract
Abstracts are a summary of the experiment as a whole and
should familiarize the reader with the purpose of the
research.
Abstracts will always be written last, even though they are
the first paragraph of a lab report.
Not all lab reports will require an abstract. However, they are
often included in upper-level lab reports and should be
studied carefully.
When writing an abstract, try to answer these questions:
o Why was the research done or experiment conducted?
o What problem is being addressed?
o What results were found?
o What are the meaning of the results?
o How the problem is better understood now than before,
if at all?
Introduction
The introduction of a lab report discusses the problem being
studied and other theory that is relevant to understanding the
findings.
The hypothesis of the experiment and the motivation for the
research are stated in this section.
Write the introduction in your own words. Try not to copy
from a lab manual or other guidelines. Instead, show
comprehension of the experiment by briefly explaining the
problem.
Methods &materials
The methods and materials section provides an overview of
any equipment, apparatus, or other substances used in the
experiment, as well as the steps taken during the experiment.
If using any specific amounts of materials, make sure the
amount is listed.
o Ex: pipette, graduated cylinder, 1.13mg of Na, 0.67mg
Ag
List the steps taken as they actually happened during the
experiment, not as they were supposed to happen.
If written correctly, another researcher should be able to
duplicate the experiment and get the same or very similar
results.
Results
The results show the data that was collected or found during
the experiment.
Explain in words the data that was collected.
If using graphs, charts, or other figures, present them in the
results section of the lab report.
o Tables should be labeled numerically, as "Table 1",
"Table 2", etc. Other figures should be labeled
numerically as "Figure 1", "Figure 2", etc.
Calculations to understand the data can also be presented in
the results.
Discussion
o The discussion section is one of the most important
parts of the lab report. It analyzes the results of the
experiment and is a discussion of the data.
o If any results are unexpected, explain why they are
unexpected and how they did or did not affect the data
obtained.
o Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the design of
the experiment and compare your results to other
similar experiments.
o If there are any experimental errors, analyze them.
o Explain your results and discuss those using relevant
terms and theories.
o When writing a discussion, try to answer these
questions:
o What do the results indicate?
o What is the significance of the results?
o Are there any gaps in knowledge?
o Are there any new questions that have been raised?
Conclusion
The conclusion is a summation of the experiment. It should
clearly and concisely state what was learned and its
importance.
If there is future work that needs to be done, it can be
explained in the conclusion.
References
If using any outside sources to support a claim or explain
background information, those sources must be cited in the
references section of the lab report.
In the event that no outside sources are used, the references
section may be left out.
