Laboratory reports state the purpose, methods, results, and conclusions of scientific experiments. The primary purpose of a lab report is to demonstrate an understanding of the scientific method by performing and assessing actual laboratory experiments. These types of assignments are usually shorter than research papers. Laboratory reports are commonly used in the STEM field (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). In this article, the penmypaper help will discuss how to create and organize lab reports.
Structuring a Lab Report
The laboratory report is divided into eight sections: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Methods and Materials, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, and References.
- Title
The title of the report should describe the experiment and state what the experiment analyzed. Example: Comparing the viscosity of common liquids used in kitchens.
- Abstract
Abstracts condense lab reports into short summaries of approximately 150-300 words. It should give the reader a concise version of the purpose of the study, the methods and materials used, the main results, and the conclusions. The abstract is a summary of the entire experiment and should introduce the reader to the purpose of the study.
Abstracts are always written last, even if they are the first paragraph of a lab report. Not all lab reports require an abstract, however, they are often included in high-level laboratory reports and require careful study, says the best assignment helper.
As you write the abstract, answer the following questions:
- Why was the research or experiment conducted?
- What issues are addressed?
- What were the findings?
- What does the result mean?
- Introduction
The introduction to the research report describes the problem under investigation and other theories involved in understanding the results.In this section, the hypothesis of the experiment and the motivation of the study is presented. Write the introduction in your own words and show your understanding of the experiment by briefly describing the problem.The introduction should not be long, but may need to be divided into several paragraphs or subheadings, such as ‘research objectives’ or ‘research context’.
- Methods
The Methods section of the lab report describes the steps taken to collect and analyze the data. This part should be written in the past tense. Provide enough detail for others to perform or evaluate your procedure. If you need to include a longer list of procedural steps or materials, place them in the Appendix section, but refer to the text here. The experimental design, subjects, materials, and specific procedures used for data collection and analysis should be described.
- Subjects
Demographic characteristics describe human subjects and genetic environments describe animal or plant subjects. Record both the total number of subjects and the number of subjects per condition or group. It also shows how you came up with the research topic.
- Experimental design
Briefly describe whether the experiment has a between-subjects or within-subjects design and, if so, how the sample units are assigned to the conditions.
- Procedure
The experimental procedure should describe the specific steps taken to collect the data in chronological order. You should provide enough information to others so that the process can be repeated, but be concise.
- Materials
List the equipment or materials used to collect the data and include the model name of the particular equipment.
- Result
The results section of the report displays descriptive statistics along with inferential statistics. It represents data collected or discovered during an experiment.
- If you use charts, graphs, or other figures, include them in the Results section of your experiment report.
- You can also display calculations in the results to understand the data.
- Discussions
According tohttps://essaywriterhelp.org/, this is one of the pivotal sections of a lab report. The analysis of the results is presented in the Discussions section. If there are unexpected results, please explain why the unexpected results occurred and how or if they did not affect the data obtained. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the experimental design and compare the results with other similar experiments. Analyze any experimental errors and interpret and discuss the results using appropriate terminology and theory.
When writing a discussion, answer the following questions:
- What do the results show?
- Is there any knowledge gap?
- What does the result mean?
- Does it raise any new questions?
- Conclusion
The conclusion is a summary of the experiment. He must state clearly and concisely what he has learned and its importance. If you need to work in the future, you can explain in the conclusion.
- References
If external sources are used to support claims or provide background information, these sources should be cited in the References section of the lab report. In case you are not using an external source, you can skip the reference section.