SCIENCE LAB REPORT FORMAT Science 9 & 10

PARTS OF A LAB REPORT: 1. TITLE PAGE 2. INTRODUCTION 3. METHODS (PROCEDURE) 4. RESULTS (DATA) 5. DISCUSSION (CONCLUSION) 6. LITERATURE CITED

TITLE PAGE ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER: Name of experiment or exercise Your name Name of lab partners Name of class Date experiment done Date report submitted

Color variation in M&M's By: Heather Fogell Group Members: Olive Science, Itza Greatclass Science 10 Experiment Date: Sept. 8, 2015 Submission Date: Sept 9, 2015

INTRODUCTION The Introduction… supplies background information needed to understand the study. may provide a theoretical basis and historical context for the work done in the lab. Specifies the problem/question and hypothesis. To write the introduction… Give background information on your topic and more specific information on the exact areas that you are studying Cite information that has been published in research articles or books related to your study. Clearly SPECIFY THE PROBLEM being investigated or the objective of the study. Toward the end of this section you should EXPLICITLY STATE YOUR HYPOTHESES!!

INTRODUCTION M&M’s are a popular snack food made by M&M Mar’s Company. First developed in 1941 and famous for “Melting in your mouth and not in your hands,” each candy consists of chocolate covered with a hard colored coating (1). In the 1980’s variations were added that contained peanuts, pretzels, coconut, and coating colors were added that mirrored traditional holiday colors (2). This study explores the proportion of coating colors within the king-size packages of peanut M&M’s. Specifically, is the same amount of each color in each package?. It is hypothesized that color assortment is random and the same amount of each color is present in each king-size package.

METHODS (PROCEDURES) List your materials and describe your steps Include details that would permit someone to repeat your work based on their reading of this section For most labs, the methods will come from a lab handout. It is understood that the materials section will be quite similar. To avoid plagiarism, be sure to cite your handout as a reference. AVOID insignificant details such as the name of the company that made your pipette or the day of the week on which your lab occurred. Write in the past tense and in the third person. HELPFUL TIP: This section is often the most straightforward to write and is therefore a good place to begin your report.

METHODS Ten bags of traditional M&Ms® were purchased and the candy within each was separately divided by color. Conjoined twin M&Ms® were counted as a single candy and pieces smaller than 1cm were not counted. Results were then gathered and analyzed for variation of color frequency within the sample bags.

RESULTS (DATA) PRESENT FINDINGS: USE TABLES OR FIGURES: usually in the form of numerical data Provide data that have been condensed to some degree rather than raw data. USE TABLES OR FIGURES: DO NOT simply refer readers to tables and figures!! Results must also be verbally expressed in this section. Draw the reader's attention to particularly noteworthy data or the presence of meaningful trends Present the data only, do not explain what they mean. HELPFUL TIP: The text of this section should summarize the data, but stop short of interpreting their meaning or drawing major conclusions about their importance.

Results As seen in Table 1, none of the bags have the same amount of each color. Figure 1 shows brown is the most frequent in bag one and orange is the least. Figure 2 shows blue is the most frequent in bag two and green is the least. Figure 3 shows red is the most frequent in bag three and yellow is the least.

TABLES *May be used to organize large groups of numbers 1) Include a table heading at the top, summarizing the table’s contents. It is usually a SINGLE sentence fragment and may lack a verb. 2) Be sure to label the columns appropriately

FIGURES (GRAPHS/ CHARTS/ PHOTOS) FIGURE LEGENDS 1) Every figure requires a separate figure legend at the bottom. 2) Figure legends should provide just enough information to allow the reader to interpret the figure. Unlike table headings, figure legends may consist of several sentences. The first sentence is often a sentence fragment (a conceptual title). FIGURES 1) Each figure should be centered on its own separate piece of paper or neatly integrated into the end of the results section. 2) All axes should be labeled. The letters and numbers on the X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) axes should be large enough to clearly read. 3) Include a key inside complex figures to identify symbols, lines, or bars.

4 5 3 7 4 4 Figure 1 Number of M&M’s of each color in bag 1

DISCUSSION (CONCLUSION) Interpret your data and evaluate the meaning of your results. The Discussion includes the following… Briefly summarize trends or important results Was your hypothesis, as stated in the Introduction, supported by the data? Do your results contradict, reaffirm, or extend previously published findings? Answer the problem. When writing this section… Don't be afraid to report "negative" data (e.g., lack of relationships among variables). If your data seem unreasonable, provide reasons that might help explain this. If possible, connect your findings with the results from published studies by using literature citations. DO NOT discuss every aspect of your data and DO NOT provide every conceivable explanation for the obtained results. Speculation should be limited and clearly identified as your own speculation. The last paragraph should be a STRONG STATEMENT of the TAKE-HOME MESSAGE.

DISCUSSION

LITERATURE CITED All citations that appear in the body of your lab report must be listed in this section. To cite your source, write its title, author, and year of publication. If your source is a website, include the URL at the end. Example: Soap Lab. Koreen Klassen. 2015 List your sources in alphabetical order