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Writing Lab Reports

I. Writing Objectively1

Do not Fear the Passive Voice: The passive voice is often used in formal scientific writing because it draws attention to the action of the sentence, not the one who performs the action. EX: “Bacterial samples were collected and weighed.”

Acknowledge Mistakes and Failures: In all realms of scientific research, it is extremely important to be honest about what occurred during an experiment. For obvious reasons, maintaining a degree of transparency is paramount in scientific fields. Scientists incorporate others’ findings into their own research, and a falsified conclusion may have disastrous results. Furthermore, a negative result (if the scientist doesn’t find what he or she was looking for) may prove just as useful as a positive result because it eliminates options.

II. Writing Precisely

Don’t be funny: Lab reports are not the place for humor; instead, they are factual.

Easy on the figurative language2: Lab reports are not stories. The purpose of these documents is to present the method of the experiment and the results in a cut-and-dry fashion. The creativity of this assignment lies within the experiment and the interpretation of the results, not the language of the report.

No extraneous detail: While it is important to provide plenty of detail for the process, instrumentation, backgrounds, and results of a lab report, don’t load the paper down with details that don’t directly relate to the experiment. Scientific communication is often space-limited, so let your reader know what they need to know as concisely as possible.

III. Writing with Clarity

Simplicity of language: Wherever possible, use the “boring” word that gets your point across rather than a “flowery” word that may confuse or distract your reader.

1 Diana Hacker, A Writer’s Reference (Boston: Bedfords/St.Martins, 2009), D-9. 2 “Writing in the Sciences,” University of North Carolina Writing Center, 2007, http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/sciences.html

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Simplicity of Sentence Structure: Make sure the subject and the action of the sentence are close together, and eliminate redundant verbs.

Tenses: Scientists use the past tense to describe their own methods and results, but they use the present tense when referring to published findings of other studies. 3

The General Structure of a Science Lab Report4

The specific style and order of a lab report varies from discipline to discipline. This handout is a general guide to negotiating scientific structure, so please use it only in addition to class instructions.

I. Abstract

The abstract is essentially your experiment in a bite-sized form. It is a full but brief summary of the resources, research, procedures, and outcomes of the experiment. From the abstract, the reader should be able to determine what the objectives of the study were, how the study was done, the obtained results, and the significance of the results. Since the abstract is an overview, it will probably be the last part of the paper that is actually written, but it should be placed at the front. Many readers will only read the abstract in order to decide if they want to read the entire article, so it is imperative that this section is accurate and succinct.5

Qualities of an Effective Abstract 6

1. Relates work to the field: How does the applied research fit in with the work of comparable scientists? What does the reader need to know about this experiment that isn’t common knowledge within the field?

2. Concise: An effective abstract should be one or two unified, coherent paragraphs which are independent from the rest of the paper.

3. Chronological: The abstract should present the experiment in the order that it was conducted.

3 Diana Hacker, A Writer’s Reference (Boston: Bedfords/St.Martins, 2009), D-9. 4 In addition to the other resources mentioned, this handout was created by Kelly Izlar. 5 “A Guide to Writing in the Biological Sciences,” Department of Biology George Mason University, http://classweb.gmu.edu/biologyresources/writingguide/index.htm 6 “Scientific Writing,” University Writing Center Texas A&M University, 19 Aug 2009, http://writingcenter.tamu.edu/how-to/science-technical/scientific-writing/

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4. Adds no new information: The abstract should stay within the bounds of the experiment.

5. Intelligible to a wide audience: The abstract should be the least technical part of the entire document. They are designed to entice the reader or at least supply them with an understandable idea of what was accomplished.

II. Introduction

The introduction is a way for the writer to move from general information to specific information. This section should quickly narrow the scope of the research to a particular topic. Limit the introduction to research that relates to the experiment at hand and guide the reader through this information to the objective. The last sentence should be a definitive statement of this objective and the hypothesis.

Qualities of an Effective Introduction

1. Establishes context of the work: The introduction should provide primary research literature with citations and detail what they contributed to contemporary understanding of the issue at hand.

2. Explains rationale behind experiment: Why is there a need for this experiment to be done? What information is missing in the research?

3. Clearly states objective and hypothesis: The reader needs to know the purpose of the experiment and the expected results.

III. Methods

The methods section is a step-by-step walk though of the scientific proceedings in the experiment. This section should be written so that another scientist with the same basic skills as the experimenter would be able to follow along without confusion.

Qualities of an Effective Methods Section

1. Does not include any calculations: Save manipulation of data for the results section. Just the facts here.

2. Glosses over commonly-used procedures: Don’t spend half a page talking about how to use a ruler. The reader just needs to know that something was measured.

3. Does not quote or cite lab manual

IV. Results The results section presents the reader with explanation of findings through text, tables, and figures. It should include a very brief summary of the methods which will

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give context to the results. The information is concise, and the raw data is not presented here.

Qualities of an Effective Results Section

1. Points out trends in the data: Displays analytical skills and leads to the discussion section.

2. Does not present same data on both a table and a figure

Example of Figure:

Figure 2: High resolution CO2 record from Taylor Dome of Indermuhle et al (Graph from Ruddiman (2003))

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Example of Table:

Table 1. Data for the Time and Associated Voltage.

V. Discussion (There are many variations of this section from discipline to discipline, so check the syllabus.)

The discussion section is where the experimenter determines whether the data obtained supports the hypotheses. It draws conclusions from the results, explain what the results mean, and, if they differ from other findings, why this occurred.

Qualities of an Effective Discussion Section7

1. Relates the topic back to the objectives: Connect what you found to the questions you raised in the introduction section.

2. Limits conclusions to what the data can support: Resist the temptation to make

overarching claims about the implications of your findings.

3. Notes problems with methods and explains anomalies in data: If necessary, provide thoughtful commentary on how possible errors in the process or instrumentation may have affected the conclusion.

VI. References

This section provides a list of the sources you cited. Typical style recommended (again, check with instructor.)

7 “A Guide to Writing in the Biological Sciences,” Department of Biology George Mason University, http://classweb.gmu.edu/biologyresources/writingguide/index.htm

T +/- 0.02 s V (mm) δV(mm) Vo(mm) v/v0 δ(V/Vo) ln(V/Vo) δln(V/Vo) 0.00 195 2 195 1.00 0.02 0.00 0.02 0.10 182 1 195 0.93 0.01 0.07 0.02 0.20 167 1 195 0.86 0.01 0.16 0.01 0.30 153 2 195 0.78 0.02 0.24 0.02 0.40 140 1 195 0.72 0.01 0.33 0.01