About
Your job in writing a lab report is to relay the results of a factual inquiry and explain how you obtained those results. You may write the report for a class or for your employer. A lab report written for a class deepens your understanding of scientific method. A lab report written for your employer may simply be added to an archive, or it might become the basis for making company decisions or generating press releases. Regardless of its purpose, a lab report is a specialized document that must follow certain rules.
Writing Tips
Write for your audience.
Who will read your lab report, and why? Who your readers will be determines the structure of your report. Reports can be formal or informal. If you are reporting your results for a class, you probably need to write a somewhat formal report. Reports written for internal corporate use only are usually short and informal. Such reports are often written as memos to keep others informed about your work or to support company policies and procedures. No matter the format, follow the basic rules of technical writing, particularly as they apply to scientific language.
Present a professional document.
Above all, a lab report is a professional document. Each report you write must reflect well on your abilities and on the organization you write for. Ensure that every statement is accurate and factually correct to the best of your knowledge, and that it reflects the best scientific work you are capable of doing. Be sure it fulfills all the requirements of the assignment. Before you submit your report, grammar-check and spell-check the report. Then read it one more time to ensure that you have not missed anything.
Elements of a Lab Report
IMRAD is an acronym for the basic standard structure of a scientific paper: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. The simplest reports may require only these sections. Because lab reports vary tremendously in length and purpose, they may include other sections as well. It depends on your scientific field and the requirements of your class or organization. Always be sure to find out which parts your instructor or supervisor wants you to include.
Title
The Title is a label that tells potential readers what is in the report. Briefly describe exactly what you studied. Use straightforward language and keywords that researchers and Internet search engines will recognize. Most lab reports have a title.
Abstract
The Abstract helps the reader judge whether to read the whole report. Abstracts are useful when reports are long or especially complicated. Condense the entire lab report into a brief summary of no more than 200 words. Summarize each major section — Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion — in one or two sentences. Use those sentences to construct the Abstract, putting them into the same order in which the reader will encounter them in the final report.
Introduction
The Introduction tells the reader why your work is important. Explain why and where the study was done. What knowledge already exists about this subject? If you quote or cite previous work, number it in the text. What is the specific purpose of the study? Include this information in every report.
Materials and Methods
The Materials and Methods section helps the reader understand how you arrived at your results. Describe your study procedures. What protocol did you follow? What reagents, organisms, populations, assays, statistical conventions, and instruments were used? Why and how? For field studies, say where and when the work was done. Give readers enough detail to understand your procedure so they can repeat it. If you followed procedures from a lab book or another report exactly, just cite that work and note that details can be found there. Include this information in every report.
Results
The Results section is the core of your report, where you report your findings. Use tables (see Tables) as needed to summarize your findings. Title all tables; include a legend to explain symbols, abbreviations, or special methods. Number tables separately, if you have more than one, and refer to them in the text by their numbers. Summarize the overall findings in a sentence or two. Include this information in every report.
Discussion
The Discussion (sometimes called the Conclusion) is where you try to place your findings in a larger context and relate them to the goals stated in your Introduction. Lab reports rarely include a Discussion or Conclusion section. If you need to include one in your reports, see Discussion in Independent Research Papers.
References
The References is the place to credit any information sources you used when writing your report. List any papers, books, websites, and other sources you cite within your report. Arrange them either alphabetically by the authors’ last names or numerically in the order in which you cited them in the text. Follow the format for citations recommended by your teacher or supervisor.
Appendices
The Appendices is where you put helpful background material that doesn’t belong in the main body of your report. Put any additional or supplementary material here. Make sure you reference material included in the Appendix where it is relevant in the body of your report.
Further Reading
The Further Reading section alerts interested readers to other related publications that they might also want to see. List these works here, alphabetized by the last names of the authors.
See a Model: Lab Report
This lab report is an example of a report written as a brief memorandum. Despite its brevity, it relays the results of a factual inquiry and explains how those results were obtained. See the numbered items to learn more about components of this type of document.
MEMORANDUM
To: B. Lambert, Facilities Manager
From: M. Delaney, Analytical Group
Date: 01/26/07
Subject: Analysis of Cleaning Solution Used in the KSA-1 Boiler (Item 1)
Objective (Item 2)
The following sample of cleaning solution was analyzed to determine its fluoride, magnesium, nitrate, and sulfate content.
Methods (Item 3)
A 15% solution of the sample was prepared, filtered, and analyzed. The anions (SO4 and NO3) were analyzed by the automated method (GLP Methods 11037-A and 11038-A) using the RoboAnalyzer 1000 system. Because of the sample’s high sulfate content, the sample had to be diluted 1:250. The fluoride content was determined using the electrode method (Procedure B4UR2L-7). The metals (Ca and Mg) were analyzed by flame atomic absorption (Procedures G3035-F and G3045-F) using Perkin-Elmer Model 3300. An aliquot of shaken sample was dissolved in 0.5% nitric acid and 5% hydrochloric acid before the metals were analyzed. (For details of the RoboAnalyzer 1000 and Perkin-Elmer Model, see Appendix A: Tools and Methods) (Item 4)
Results
The following amounts of the substances were found in the sample:
(For the complete results data, see Appendix B: Results Data) (Item 5)
References (Item 6)
Arnoldo, B. Phys. Chemistry, 2004, 11, 57-75.
Juke, V. Nat. Chem. Journal, 2000, 65, 20-42.
Appendix A: Tools and Methods (Item 7)
- RoboAnalyzer 1000
- Perkin-Elmer Mode 3306 Spectrometer
What’s wrong with this lab report?
The notes below explain more about specific components of this type of document.
Item 1. The subject is the Title of the lab report. It explains briefly and precisely what the investigators did. The wording is unambiguous and straightforward. This short form of lab report does not need an Abstract because it is short and uncomplicated.
Item 2. The objective (Introduction) succinctly states the purpose of the experiment.
Item 3. The level of detail in the Methods section of the report specifies all dilutions, standard methods, and equipment models used so that another chemist could repeat these tests if necessary. Also note that the writer has organized the analytes into categories, which makes the procedure easier to follow.
Item 4. In-text notations indicate where information in the Appendices is applicable. This information is too detailed for the body of the report but is important to fully understanding the methodology.
Item 5. The Results section is presented as a table. A table is a good choice for reporting these data because they are simple and straightforward. If multiple analyses had been run on this sample to determine whether it changed over time, a graph might have been more appropriate.
Item 6. ACS Style of formatting is shown in this example of a reference list.
Item 7. Appendices provide additional information that does not fit in or is not appropriate to the body of the report. Appendix A for this report provides more information about particular tools used.
Revision Checklist: Lab Report
Focus/Purpose
Does your lab report remain focused exclusively on what you used to perform the experiment, the steps you took, what you learned from the experiment, and why your findings matter?
Content/Development
Does your lab report have a Title?
- Use a title unless you have been told that your report does not need one.
- Describe your investigation precisely but briefly.
- Use common terms that other scientists and search engines will recognize.
Does your lab report need an Abstract?
- Include an Abstract if your report is long or especially complicated.
- Summarize each section of the report in a sentence or two.
- Arrange the sentences into a paragraph according to IMRAD organization.
- Be sure that your abstract is no longer than about 200 words.
Have you included an Introduction to your report?
- Tell the reader why you conducted your investigation.
- Give the reader some background about the problem you investigated.
Does your report explain your Methods and any Materials you used?
- Describe your investigational protocol.
- List the materials and equipment you used.
- Give readers enough detail so that they can repeat your work.
Have you reported all of your major Results?
- Summarize your overall findings in a sentence or two.
- Use tables, graphs, and figures as necessary to display important trends.
- Ensure that tables, graphs, and figures are fully labelled and mentioned at an appropriate place in the text.
- Report all findings, even if they are not what you expected.
- Do not attempt to analyze or explain your findings, unless your instructor or supervisor requests that you do.
Does your report need a Discussion or Conclusions section?
- Omit this section unless your professor or supervisor tells you to include one.
- Open with the answer to your research question.
- State whether or not the overall results support your hypothesis.
- Give the central conclusion that can be drawn from your data.
- Note any possible reasons for unexpected results.
Have you credited all of your sources in a References section?
- Ensure that all previous work that you cited or quoted in your report is listed.
- Arrange the list of sources alphabetically by last name of the author or numerically in the order in which you cited them in the text.
- Follow the format for citations recommended by your teacher or supervisor.
Does your report need Appendices or suggestions for Further Reading?
- Put all material that does not fit into the main body of your report in Appendices.
- List any publications that the reader might find useful in a list of suggested readings.
Organization
Is your lab report well-organized and professionally presented?
- Use bold headings to separate sections of your lab report.
- Follow IMRAD (see the Elements section above) to structure your paper.
- Arrange your writing in paragraphs by topic.
- Follow a clear logic when presenting information. Use chronology when discussing methods and inductive reasoning when discussing and making conclusions.
- Use transitions to reinforce the logic and coherence of your report. More on transitions
- Label all tables, graphs, and charts with a number and name. Check that you refer to these graphic resources consistently by number only.
Language/Style
Do you use formal, technical language and style?
- Write formally, using proper grammar.
- Use the active voice as much as possible.
- Avoid contractions (didn’t, wasn’t), slang, and abbreviations.
- If you must use abbreviations or acronyms, write out the full name the first time and note the abbreviation/acronym in parentheses after.
- Define all technical terminology succinctly and in terms your audience will understand.