Writing a Formal Lab Report

1. The Cover Page Centre of Your Page Underlined Lab Title Your title should be descriptive in nature It usually includes the variables studied in your experiment Example – “Effects of Nitrogen Concentration in Soil on Green Bean Plant Growth” At the bottom right Your name: Partner(s): Date Class Code (SNC1D1) Submitted to: teacher’s name

2. The Introduction Purpose: What is the purpose of your experiment?  The purpose of this experiment is to… (identify the variables to be tested in your purpose) Hypothesis:  IF … (identify independent variable), THEN (identify your hypothesized effect on the dependent variable) Example: If nitrogen is removed from the soil, then the green bean will not grow at all.

3. The Body *Never use words like: we, I, us, our, his, her, him, he Materials: List materials you used. Apparatus: Draw and label a diagram of your setup. Procedure: Give a step by step procedure of the steps you followed in carrying out the lab. *Never use words like: we, I, us, our, his, her, him, he These are personal pronouns and are not appropriate in experimental reports. *Everything should be written in past tense!

Which ones are qualitative, which are quantitative? 4. Data Collection Observations and Data: A chart, list, or diagram of any values collected. Some possible observations are: Scientific diagrams Trial # Material mass or temperature measurements Time measurements Average values calculated Which ones are qualitative, which are quantitative?

5. Ending Discussion and Data Analysis: What did your data indicate? (This may also include responses to a set of questions) The highest value in the data was…. __________ was excessively  high with a value of __________.   It is important to note the value of……

Evaluation: Where were your sources of error? How would one change the experiment to make it more accurate? How could one expand this experiment to study something else? Conclusion: Reflect on your experiment The green bean plant showed optimal growth when the concentration of nitrogen in the soil was about 4%. Higher concentrations caused the plant to burn, and lower concentrations produced smaller leaves. This supports my hypothesis because….