Writing Lab Reports

Writing Lab Reports Purpose of a lab report Format Available resources This is the mapping slide.

Consider the writing situation Audience: Other students Purpose: Discuss significance of experimental results

Engineering needs reliable knowledge Use what you can support with evidence. Report only the results of your specific trial, not general ideas Avoid claims that are beyond your evidence.

Analyze experiment, not yourself Do not report what you “learned”: your data is not the results of a quiz! Report whether you reached your experimental objective

Practice writing like a professional Write complete sentences in passive voice When using graphics, label and describe Do not “cut and paste” from another source, even the Lab Manual Print and proofread before you upload Hand in report on time

Writing Lab Reports Purpose of a lab report Format Available resources This is the mapping slide.

Standard format conserves effort Title page Abstract Introduction Materials/Methods Data/Observations Discussion/Conclusions Works Cited

Logic, not time, organizes the report Abstract Brief trajectory of the report Introduction Background information to understand the hypothesis you test in the experiment Procedure The steps you took to test the hypothesis Data/Observations What you saw when you used the procedure Discussion/Conclusions Based on the Introduction, did the Procedure produce the expected results? What is next?

Logic, not time, organizes the report Abstract Brief trajectory of the report Introduction Background information to understand the hypothesis you test in the experiment Summarizes the experimental objective (“what you did”) – tells result and its significance Procedure The steps you took to test the hypothesis Data/Observations What you saw when you used the procedure Discussion/Conclusions Based on the Introduction, did the Procedure produce the expected results? What is next?

Logic, not time, organizes the report Abstract Brief trajectory of the report Introduction Background information to understand the hypothesis you test in the experiment Procedure The steps you took to test the hypothesis Data/Observations What you saw when you used the procedure Presents concepts and equations that come up later Discussion/Conclusions Based on the Introduction, did the Procedure produce the expected results? What is next?

Logic, not time, organizes the report Abstract Brief trajectory of the report Objective, without evaluation or calculations Allows an outsider to verify results Introduction Background information to understand the hypothesis you test in the experiment Procedure The steps you took to test the hypothesis Data/Observations What you saw when you used the procedure Discussion/Conclusions Based on the Introduction, did the Procedure produce the expected results? What is next?

Logic, not time, organizes the report Abstract Brief trajectory of the report Introduction Background information to understand the hypothesis you test in the experiment Analyze and interpret how well the hypothesis was supported Procedure The steps you took to test the hypothesis Data/Observations What you saw when you used the procedure Discussion/Conclusions Based on the Introduction, did the Procedure produce the expected results? What is next?

Learn to excel within this format Abstract: State experiment clearly, avoiding educational goals Introduction: provide important knowledge needed to understand what should happen Data/Observations: Explain what happened so well that the report is like a movie Conclusion: Analyze your data to explain close your test came to the ideal case in the Introduction

Writing Lab Reports Purpose of a lab report Format Available resources This is the mapping slide.

Writing Lab Reports Purpose of a lab report Style and format Available resources This is the mapping slide.