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Writing Lab Reports

To ensure that you can communicate findings


of laboratory investigations in standard format
Contents
Purpose
Structure
Appendices
Citations
References

Difference between a report


and an essay
conveys specific information such as findings to reader
whereas essay - a theoretical answer based on
understanding of a specific question
Report usually contains description of results of an
investigation, whereas essays usually require some form
of argument in response to question
Reports may often contain conclusions and
recommendations, whereas essays although may contain
conclusions but rarely contain recommendations.
(Blake and Bly, 1993)

Report Structure.
Must be formal and impersonal
Use the third person e.g. 2 grams of the
chemicals were weighed and put in a flask.
AVOID writing in the first person e.g. I or we,
weighed 2 grams ....
AVOID instructions e.g. weigh 2 grams of..
AVOID slang terms and contractions (didnt,
wont etc)

Purpose of Report

Record of an investigation undertaken


Communication of results or findings
Presentation of conclusions or
recommendations
Ensure investigation can be repeated by
another person using only your report

Structure of Report

Heading
Aim
Introduction
Materials, reagents and equipment
Method/s
Results
Discussion
Conclusion/Recommendation
References
Appendices (if applicable)

Heading and Aim


Heading:
clearly indicate what the whole report is about
(copy heading from the laboratory practical
handbook)
Aim:
Statement of specific goals of the practical
session i.e. the purpose of the investigation or
the hypothesis (if applicable)

Introduction ..
theoretical background to present study /
experiment
Start with general principles to place
current study into perspective
relevance theoretical principles must clearly
come out
Cite appropriate references

Materials
Reagents & Equipment
What materials were used in the
experiment/investigation?
List of reagents and equipment used
If list given the cite where and mention only
any special equipment or modifications

Methods / procedures
If procedures provided in handbook, simply
cite the work. e.g., Basic Microbiology for
Biomedical Science Module Handbook,
BIOM1005/1095, page 1-3
If there were any modifications during the
practical session then these must be stated.

Results

presentation of findings of experiment


limited comments on validity of controls used
limited comments to draw attention to
significant parts of the results.
usually presented as tables, graphs, figures,
photographs
should have descriptive titles, for example:

Table 1: Indicates the effects of paracetamol on rats


Figure 1: Shows that the effects decreased in 40 minutes

Table titles written on top of the tables and


figure titles just below the figure.

Figure caption

Figure 1: Structure of a Gram-negative cell wall

Source: Kaiser (2005)

Discussion

Restate and comment on results and controls


logical and cohesive
?unexpected results - Justify!
to controls or standard values
Compare findings with literature
Relate to theory e.g. lecture topics
comment on suitability of method/technique used.
Suggest any improvements of techniques or
experimental design

Conclusions/Recommendations
could be part of discussion or separate
Summarised discussion and provide
comments on success, significance, and any
implications of the experiment.
Suggestion of any further investigations
leading on fro this one..

References
separate sheet listing all the articles and
books cited in report
entries must conform to the conventions of
the referencing system used, example, the
Harvard system.
arranged in alphabetical order
Bibliography is a list of all reference material
consulted such as articles, books, journals
etc, include all references cited in report .

Appendices
Figures, tables, graphs, charts, photographs
that are supportive rather than essential to
explanation of the report placed in this section
to avoid breaking up continuity of the writing
(Weaver and Weaver, 1977).
Each separate appendix should be lettered, e.g.
Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C etc.
NB: The order they are presented in is
dictated by the order they are referred in the
report (ie Discussion).

Citation

When citing references in a report or essay, do not use


footnotes.
Refer to articles, journals, books etc by authors name
and the published date e.g. The immune system has
evolved to protect individuals from infectious
microorganisms (Brostoff and Male, 1994)
If the authors are more than two, the Latin et al (et alia)
meaning and others may be used. For example a paper by
Grant, Tortora, Smith and Kofi in 2004 would be cited in
the text as:
Grant et al (2004) showed that
Cited references should be at least within the last five
years?

Reference- Books
e.g. SAX, N.I. (1974) Industrial pollution, 2nd Ed, London,
Van Nostrand. pp. 46-50 Hilton and Robinson (1995)
Name of author/s (surname in capitals, followed by initials)
Date of publication (in bracket)
Title of publication (underlined if writing by hand or in
italics or emboldened)
Edition (if not first edition)
Place of publication
Publisher
Page number/s (abbreviated to pp.)

Reference:-

Parts of a book

e.g. JONES, J.L (1982) Acid rain in Sweden. In: TOCKWITH, A. ed.
Acid rain review, 3rd ed. London, Butterworths. Pp. 4-7

author/s (surname in capitals, followed by forename)


Year of publication (in brackets)
Title of contribution (followed by In:)
Names of author/s or editor/s of books (if editor put ed.
after the name)
Title of book (underlined or italics or emboldened)
Edition (if not first edition)
Place of publication
Publisher
Page number/s of contribution (abbreviated pp.)

Reference:-Journal articles
E.g. TURNER, A.C. (1983) Airborne mercury
concentration. Air pollution, vol. 12 (pt. 4), pp. 13-17
Hilton and Robinson (1995)
Name of author/s (surname in capitals, followed by
forename)
Year of publication (in brackets)
Title of article
Title of periodical or journal (underlined, in italics or
emboldened)
Volume number (underlined; may be abbreviated to
vol.)
Part number (in brackets; may be abbreviated to pt.)
Page number/s (abbreviated to pp)

Reference:-Internet sources
E.g. SPURGEON, D. (2001) Canada legalises the
medical use of cannabis, [www] Available from:
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/323/7304/68.h
tml
[Accessed 23rd November, 2001]
Name of author/s (surname in capitals, followed by
forename)
Date of publication/updated date indicated on site
Title of article (underlined or italics or emboldened)
Give full details of the URL address/information of
the article, beginning with [www] Available from:
Provide date by which the article was accessed (in
square bracket)

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