How to Do A Lab Write Up
Most scientific work if useless if you don't present and communicate it to others, so an effective lab report format is essential for clear presentation of your research data and results. The general lab report format consists of six basic sections: Introduction, Materials, Methods and Procedures, Data Analysis, Discussion and Conclusion and References.
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Instructions
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Begin the paper with a general statement of the problem you investigated for your Introduction section. You should also include a general background of problem, investigatory methods and expected results in your introduction.
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Provide a list of materials that you used in the experiment for the Materials section. You can write this section in either list or paragraph form. It's also helpful to provide origin of materials if you purchased them from a commercial source.
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List experiment procedures in chronological order for your Methods and Procedures section. You can also write this section in list or paragraph form. It's best to write this section so that the reader can understand and repeat the experiment based on the information you provide, so be as clear and detailed as possible.
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Display all data and results obtained from experiments in the Data Analysis section. It's helpful and more visually pleasant to display your data in the form of tables and charts with a brief description of which results the data represents.
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Provide your interpretation of data and research conclusion in the Discussion and Conclusion section. It's also helpful to reference other conclusions from similar experiments, if any exist.
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List all sources in the reference section. There's no set number of references required for any lab report. The number can range from zero to over 100, depending of the depth and originality of the study.
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Add headers in before each of your sections to make it easier for your readers to find the information they're looking for.
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Tips & Warnings
View a lab report template before you write up your report so you can understand what it should look like. If your instructor doesn't provide a template, you can find one online at Biology Corner.
