Wednesday 14 November 2012

What Should Be Included In Your Lab Report

If you want to write a lab report or just want to overview some of the essentials, then bear in mind that there are different formats and styles, depending upon different types of the lab reports. Although you should follow a specific format for your report, some of the elements are same for each type of report.

Let’s have a look at the below elements in your mind while composing a perfect lab report:

• One of the most important things is to select a suitable title for your work piece. Keep it clear and concise so that the reader can easily determine what your experiment is all about.

• Now, design an abstract for your work piece. An abstract is a content summary of each section that should be described in one or two sentences. Usually, there are some restrictions on the length of the abstract. An ideal abstract should not be longer than two hundred words.

• Write an impressive introduction of your lab report. It should contain the main idea, what is known about the lab, its objectives and the hypothetical statement. Explain your ideas in one or two paragraphs so that the reader can easily understand the further discussions of the report.

• State the methods which you will use during experiments. This section should be as short as possible. Provide the measurements, procedures and materials so that the experiments and the results can be depicted by the readers.

• Now, report what you have gained by the experiment. Your result section should describe the findings of your study in a concise and clear manner. This section contains visual representations such as graphs or tables to explain the given information. Remember don’t discuss the conclusion of your results in this section.

• Discuss the results of the lab report whether they support or do not support the initial hypothesis. This section uses particular data as the evidence. Also, it explains the other factors that played a vital role in your results and how the lab can be improved in the future.

• Design your conclusion in a convincing manner and tell the readers what you have gained or learned from this lab experiment.

• Add references and cite all the references that are used in the lab including lab manuals and textbooks. Make sure to provide the required citation style by your instructor.

Writing a lab report is one of the difficult tasks, but you can make it simpler and easier by following the above essential steps.

1 comment: