1. Effective Communication
Writing a Lab Report

2. Abstract An overview of the lab technique and results. What was done?
Why was it done?
How was it done? (method)
What were the results?

3. Background
What does the reader need to know to follow your experiment?
What concepts are important for the reader to understand?
What references did you use?
Good paragraph form; good sentence structure.

4. Procedure Step by step procedure. What was key about the procedure?
How many times should things be repeated?
What instruments were used?
How accurate are the instruments?
Only include if you designed it.

5. Results Present the data. Graphs Tables Calculations
Captions and brief explanations

6. Discussion Restate the results in paragraph form.
What does the data imply?
What did you learn?
What was good or bad about your technique?
What extrapolations can you make?
Not question and answer.

7. References What sources were used?
Make parenthetical notations in the background and discussion sections.
Make true citations at the end of the report in a section labeled “references”
Must be alpha by author.

8. General Comments Use passive voice. Use third person. Be concise.
Be complete.
Avoid “machine gun” method