Case Study
Literature Review
Reflective Writing
Lab Report
Prepared by University of Waterloo
Section D: Parts of a Lab Report
In this section, you should learn the specific requirements of each section of a lab report.
What will I learn?
By the end of this section, you should be able to
- explain what each section of a lab report does, and
- understand the expectations of each section.
What do I need to include?
- The title of the report
- Your full name and the names of any co-authors
- Your instructor’s name
- The date
Develop an effective title
Keep your title to a single line of text, and write your title in the form of a phrase, not a complete sentence. Include key words from the report.
Title Comparison
Below, compare a title as a phrase with a title written as a complete sentence:
Title written as a phrase
“Effects of Water Deprivation on House Plants”
Title written as a complete sentence
“The Death of House Plants is Caused by Extreme Water Deprivation”
What Should It Look Like?
Here we provide a brief breakdown of the Do's and Don'ts of what your Abstract should look like.
Do's
Keep your title to a single line of text and write it in the form of a phrase. Include key words from the report.
Don’ts
Don't write your title in the form of a complete sentence.
Example: Annotated Lab Report
Learn more about writing strategies for the Title Page section of your paper.
Interactive Activity
Launch the Annotated Example: Title Page (Interactive Version) that you can review in your browser.
Download PDF
Download the Annotated Example Title Page (PDF) section of the complete Lab Report (PDF) that you can review and print.
Preview: Interactive Version
Preview: PDF Version
What do I need to include?
- The lab’s purpose
- Theory and methodology behind the lab
- Key findings/results
- The significance of the findings
- The primary conclusions
Before you write
Abstracts are summaries of a document and are usually no longer than 100-200 words. They include one or two-sentence summaries of all the parts of your report.
Piece-by-Piece Strategy
Prepare a table with 5 rows and 3 columns.
In the first column, label each row with one of the five parts needed for an abstract—purpose, method, findings, significance, and conclusions.
In the first row of the second column write down all the sentences from the report that relate to purpose. Continue this process for the method, findings, significance, etc.
In the third column, summarize (in your own words) each set of sentences in column two.
Bring your summaries from column three together in a single paragraph.
Write-and-Condense Strategy
Rather than begin with a one-paragraph summary, try writing a few paragraphs that summarize the report.
Revise those paragraphs, condensing them into one or two paragraphs for the abstract.
Continue revising until you have a 100-200 word paragraph for your abstract.
While you write
Use transition words and phrases
Transition words help guide a reader from one point to the next. They also show the relationship between ideas.
What Should It Look Like?
Here we provide a brief breakdown of the Do's and Don'ts of what your Abstract should look like.
Do's
Write the abstract in your own words, and include a brief summary of the lab’s purpose, background, methodology, results, significant findings, and key conclusions.
Don’ts
Don't include quotations in the abstract, or write more than 100-200 words.
Example: Annotated Lab Report
Learn more about writing strategies for the Abstract section of your paper.
Interactive Activity
Launch the Annotated Example: Abstract (Interactive Version) that you can review in your browser.
Download PDF
Download the Annotated Example Abstract (PDF) section of the complete Lab Report (PDF) that you can review and print.
Preview: Interactive Version
Preview: PDF Version
What do I need to include?
- Discussion of scientific concepts being studied through the lab
- Background information about the concepts or previous research in the topic
- The objective for the lab
- The lab’s purpose
- Your hypothesis(es) for the lab
- Your reasons for the hypothesis(es)
Before you write
Understand the difference between a lab’s objective, purpose, and your hypothesis.
Objective
Answers what main action(s) is being done in the lab.
Example: “The objective of this experiment was to determine if lowered pH levels in water induce greater fruit fly respiratory movements.”
Purpose
Answers what you expect to gain from the lab (the learning you hope to achieve).
Example: “The purpose of this experiment was to learn about pH as a measurement and how to measure pH with a digital instrument.”
Hypothesis
Answers what you expect to find in your experiments.
Example: “We hypothesize that, under uniformly cool temperatures, fruit flies in lower pH water will display a greater number of respiratory movements.”
While you write
Use the following sets of questions to help you write your introduction:
Explain the scientific concepts
What is the lab about? What problem is being investigated, and why is the problem important to investigate? What scientific concepts are you meant to be learning?
Provide background information
What is the history behind the problem you are studying? What is the theory behind the problem or subject being studied? What has other research said about this problem?
Earlier in this guide we discussed pre-lab research, which covers evaluating, organizing, and integrating research in your report. Be sure to go back through previous sections if you need help understanding these areas.
Present the objective for the lab
What do you need to accomplish? What will you test, measure, analyze and/or determine?
Discuss the lab’s purpose
What do you want to understand by completing this experiment? What questions do you want to answer? What are the lab’s activities designed to teach you?
Propose a hypothesis
What results do you anticipate for this experiment? Usually a hypothesis is written to show the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Here’s a basic template for a hypothesis:
"If A (independent variable) is related to B (dependent variable) in a particular way (X), then... (prediction)."
Give reasons for your hypothesis
Why do you expect the result you mentioned? What do you already know that leads you to guess this outcome? Why does the result you suggested make sense logically?
What Should It Look Like?
Here we provide a brief breakdown of the Do's and Don'ts of what your Introduction should look like.
Do's
Include background information, the lab’s objectives and purpose, your hypothesis, and reasons for that hypothesis. Use transition words and phrases to connect each point you include.
Don’ts
Don't include details such as the methods, materials, or results, which will be discussed in later sections.
Example: Annotated Lab Report
Learn more about writing strategies for the Introduction section of your paper.
Interactive Activity
Launch the Annotated Example: Introduction (Interactive Version) that you can review in your browser.
Download PDF
Download the Annotated Example Introduction (PDF) section of the complete Lab Report (PDF) that you can review and print.
Preview: Interactive Version
Preview: PDF Version
What do I need to include?
- Descriptions of the materials and equipment you used
- Descriptions of the procedures you followed
- Descriptions of your methods for analyzing the data you collected
Before you write
Organize your lab notes
Earlier in this guide, you learned strategies for organizing. Make a plan for what you will discuss first, second, and so forth.
Find or create sketches of more complex equipment
Sometimes a picture is needed for a reader to understand the complex equipment being described. Place these images as figures inside the text of the paper. See the Results section of the lab report below for more information on formatting figures and other visuals.
While you write
Provide an account of your experiment.
Think of the methods and materials section as a historical record. You want to tell a story of your lab work, from beginning to end: what steps you followed and what materials you used in each stage of the lab. Use transition words and phrases to help your readers follow the story. Since this section should accurately reflect what you did in the experiment, make sure that you describe the materials you used and the methods you followed, even if these were slightly different from your lab manual.
Be detailed but efficient
Good historical documents give plenty of detail. To keep your methods and materials section focused, here are two good rules to follow:
- Provide only those details needed for recreating the experiment.
- Avoid writing lengthy descriptions of procedures that most readers would be familiar with.
What Should It Look Like?
Here we provide a brief breakdown of the Do's and Don'ts of what your Methods and Materials should look like.
Do's
Write in paragraph form, and include descriptions of your equipment, the procedures you followed, and methods of your analysis. Describe changes made to the experiment that differ from the original lab report, and pay attention to detail.
Don’ts
Don't write about your materials separately from your methods, or include lengthy descriptions of procedures or equipment that most of your readers won't be familiar with. Do not use bulleted or numbered lists.
Example: Annotated Lab Report
Learn more about writing strategies for the Methods and Materials section of your paper.
Interactive Activity
Launch the Annotated Example: Methods and Materials (Interactive Vesion) that you can review in your browser.
Download PDF
Download the Annotated Example Methods and Materials(PDF) section of the complete Lab Report (PDF) that you can review and print.
Preview: Interactive Version
Preview: PDF Version
What do I need to include?
- A summary of your overall findings in 1-2 sentences
- Visuals (graphs, tables, figures) that represent your observations/analyses
- Written introductions for each visual describing relevant observations, both quantitative and qualitative
Before you write
Understand the difference between raw data and information
When presenting your results, you don’t simply present the data unprocessed to your readers. Rather, you present the trends and relationships that data reveal. In other words, you report the information you have gained by analyzing the data. To understand this difference, see the following explanations and examples.
Important Note: Some instructors may ask you to include the raw data in the results section. At other times, you will be asked to place the raw data you have in the appendix at the end of the report.
What is raw data?
Raw data are unorganized facts that need to be analyzed. Without analysis, data appears random. Often, the data are useless until the facts are processed and organized.
Example: In a study of student test score trends in high school math, students’ individual scores are the raw data.
What is information?
When you analyze data—process, organize, and present the facts in a way that is useful—then you have created information.
Example: Information gained from the raw data might include the following:
- a high school’s average scores
- average scores for women across the province
- average scores for men across the province
Determine what kind of data you have
Knowing what kind of data you have will help you determine the best way to present that data visually.