5.5: Developing Lab Reports
Learning Objectives
- Determine when lab reports are used
- Examine the format of lab reports
When Are Lab Reports Used?
Whether your research takes place in Centennial College’s labs or on some remote worksite, you will often have to write up the results of your work in a lab report. Most basically, this report will describe the original hypothesis your work attempts to test, the methodology you used to test it, your observations and results of your testing, your analysis and discussion of what this data means, and your conclusions.
In an academic context, especially in early courses, you are often asked to replicate the results of others rather than conduct your own original research. This is usually meant to instil an understanding of the scientific method into students, and teach students the proper use of instruments, techniques, processes, data analysis, and documentation. Once you demonstrate your ability to understand and apply the scientific method in these contexts, you will be able to design your own research studies and develop new knowledge. Your reports then become the way you pass on this new knowledge to the field and to society at large.
For scientists and engineers to make valuable contributions to the sum of human knowledge, they must be able to convince readers that their findings are valid (can be replicated) and valuable. Thus, the way that you write these reports can impact the credibility and authority of your work; people will judge your work partly on how you present it. Careless writing, poor organization, ineffective document design, and lack of attention to convention may cast doubt on your authority and expertise, and thus on the value of your work.
Your report will be based on the work you have done in the lab. Therefore, you must have a plan for keeping careful notes on what you have done, how you have done it, and what you observed. Researchers often keep a notebook with them in the lab, sometimes with pre-designed tables or charts for recording the data they know they will be observing (you might be given a lab manual to use while completing a particular experiment to record your observations and data in a pre-organized format). Try to plan ahead so that you can capture as much information as possible during your research; don’t try to rely only on memory to record these important details.
What Is the Format of a Lab Report?
How you choose the content and format for your report will depend on your audience and purpose. Students must make sure to read lab manuals and instructions carefully to determine what is required. Lab reports typically contain the elements outlined below.
Example: Lab Report Elements
Title: Craft a descriptive and informative title that will enable readers to decide if this interests them and will allow keywords to be abstracted in indexing services. Ask your instructor about specific formatting requirements regarding title pages, etc.
Abstract: Write a summary of your report that mirrors your report structure (Hypothesis, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion) in condensed form—roughly one sentence per section. Ideally, sum up your important findings.
Introduction: Establish the context and significance of your work, its relevance in the field, and the hypothesis or question your study addresses in the Introduction. Give a brief overview of your methodology for testing your hypothesis and why it is appropriate. If necessary for your readers, provide a specialized theoretical framework, background or technical knowledge to help them understand your focus and how it contributes to the field.
Materials and Methods: This section will generally include 1) a list of all materials needed (which may include sub-lists, diagrams, and other graphics), and 2) a detailed description of your procedure, presented chronologically.
Results: The Results section presents the raw data that you generated in your experiment and provides the evidence you will need to form conclusions about your hypothesis. Present only the data that is relevant to your results (but if you omit data, you may have to explain why it is not relevant). You can organize this section based on chronology (following your methodology) or on the importance of data in proving (or negating) the hypothesis (most important to least important). Present data visually whenever possible (in tables, graphs, flowcharts, etc.), and help readers understand the context of your data. Make sure you present the data honestly and ethically; do not distort or obscure data to make it better fit your hypothesis. If data is inconclusive or contradictory, be honest about that. In the Results section, you should avoid interpreting or explaining your data, as this belongs in your Discussion section.
Discussion: The Discussion section includes your analysis and interpretation of the data you presented in the Results section in terms of how well it supports your original hypothesis. Start with the most important findings. It is perfectly fine to acknowledge that the data you have generated is problematic or fails to support the hypothesis. This points the way for further research. If your findings are inconsistent, try to suggest possible reasons for this.
Conclusion: In one or two short paragraphs, create the Conclusion to review the overall purpose of your study and the hypothesis you tested; then summarize your key findings and the important implications. This is your opportunity to persuade the audience of the significance of your work.
Acknowledgments: In a brief Acknowledgements paragraph, formally express appreciation for any assistance you have received while preparing the report (financial/funding support, help from colleagues or your institution, etc.).
References: In References, list all references you have cited in your report. Check with your instructor or publication guidelines for which citation style to use.
Appendices: Any information that does not fit within the body sections, but still adds valuable information to your report, can be placed in an appendix. Whereas your Results section may present summarized data, the full data tables may appear in an appendix. You may also include logs, calculations, or notes on analytical methods. Be sure to refer to your appendices in the body of your report to signal where readers can find additional information. You may include more than one appendix: Appendix A, Appendix B, etc. They are not numbered.
TRY IT
Exercise 5.5.A: Critique a Lab Report
Utilizing the Lab Report Elements listed on this page, critique the effectiveness of lab report you have written for a course at Centennial College (if applicable).
References & Attributions
Attributions
Content is adapted from Technical Writing Essentials by Robin Potter, adapted from the OER by Suzan Last, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
