Lab reports form essential components of laboratory courses in universities. If your professor gives you the report outline, stick to it. If you are not sure of how to write a good report, follow a specified format.
A scientific lab report follows a structured and simple procedure. You need to understand that each part of the report is important. There are eight sections of the report, as we are going to see below. Take your time and complete every section carefully.
Title for the lab report
The lab report title describes what you did. Your report’s title should describe the experiment well. It should also reflect the experiment you analyzed. Create a title with a maximum of ten words. Your focus should be on describing the investigation or experiment. Learning how to make a lab report should be your priority. Sometimes it may be difficult to start writing. When I am not sure how to write a lab report, I ask EduBirdie “help me write my lab report”, and I get the right assistance. The writing service has a team of professionals who understand how to format a lab report. After getting several reports done, you will be able to learn how to do a lab report on your own.
Abstract
An abstract summarizes your experiment. It aims to inform the reader about the purpose of your research. Write the abstract after completing the other sections of the report. However, it forms the initial part of the lab report.
Some lab reports do not need an abstract. But you need to include it in your upper-level reports. When writing the abstract, address the question of why you experimented. State carefully the problem you are addressing. Additionally, state the results of the experiment and how readers can understand the problem better.
Purpose or introduction
The lab report’s introduction discusses the problem and any theory supporting your findings. Always state the research motivation and the experiment’s hypothesis in this section.
Use your own words to write the introduction and ensure that it is brief. Avoid copying from guidelines or lab manuals. Instead, show the readers that you understand the experiment. The best way to do so is by explaining the problem briefly.
Methods
The methods section of your report describes the procedure you used in the experiment. Describe this section in detail such that a person reading it can understand and duplicate your experiment.
If you write it well, another researcher should get similar results. Write this section as if you are directing someone to the lab. List the steps as they happened and not how they ought to have happened. It may be important to support this section with a figure relating to your experiment.
Results
Use this section to illustrate the data used during the experiment. Use words to explain the data in detail. If you are using charts or graphs, present them under the report’s results section. Sometimes you may combine the results with the discussion.
Discussion/ analysis
The discussion or analysis section is an important part of the lab report. Use this section to analyze the results of your experiment. For any unexpected results, explain the reasons for this and how this influenced your data.
Analyze the experiment’s strengths and weaknesses and compare the results with similar experiments. Remember to analyze any experimental errors. Explain and discuss the results using specific theories and relevant terms.
When analyzing your results, answer the following questions:
- Have I identified any knowledge gaps?
- Are there new questions to raise?
- What do the experiment results show?
- What is the relevance of these results?
If you like, include ways of improving your study.
Conclusion section
Just like an essay for college, a lab report should have a conclusion. The conclusion section summarizes the experiment. Briefly and clearly state the lesson you learned and its significance. Include any further research work that needs to be done in this section. Present this section in one paragraph while specifying whether the hypothesis was accepted or rejected.
References
The final section of the lab report references. If you supported your claim with outside sources, cite those sources. If you never used any outside sources, leave out the references section.
Conclusion
Writing a scientific laboratory report is fairly simple. You only need to fill in the details under the above sections. Following this guide will enable you to write a good report for your course. Don’t allow your inability to write a good report shutter your academic dreams. Find professional help and learn how to create one. Practice more until you become a pro.
Author’s Bio
Sven Eggers loves to pack his bag and get his passport stamped to travel to places that can inspire him to write, help him get new ideas and provide him with mental relaxation. He loves both his jobs – traveling and making money online through his experience sharing and writing essays for students who need academic assistance in terms of writing.
