How to write Lab Reports

Sessional Lab Reports are a significant part of experiments conducted in the laboratories and should be written in a manner so that they contain sufficient technical information and conclusions drawn from the experiments which will enable the instructor to evaluate the students more effectively. A lab report is how you explain what you did in experiment, what you learned, and what the results meant. A good Lab Report should contain the followings: Formatting: 1. Paper: a. Size: A4 b. Type: Offset c. If reports are printed, you should you use Standard Fonts (Times New Roman, Arial), Standard Font Size (Size 12 for main body, Size 16-18 for titles.) etc. You should not colorize or illustrate the report unless it is absolutely necessary. 2. Language and style a. A lab report is a piece of formal writing: you will be penalized for spelling mistakes, bad grammar and poor style. There are two reasons for this. First, bad English often makes it difficult for your readers to understand what you mean. The aim in writing a report is to communicate the results clearly and effectively, so even an ambiguous meaning is unsatisfactory. b. Scientific reports are usually written in impersonal language: Correct: The yield strength was measured Incorrect: We measured the yield strength; Correct: Figure 2 shows that or it can be seen from figure 2 that Incorrect: You can see from figure 2 that. The reason for it is probably that it focuses attention on the results themselves, and not on the person who did the work. c. Tense in scientific reports is a bit confused: normally you use the past tense when describing what you did (the yield strength was measured), so the experimental procedure and analysis sections should be in the past tense. On the other hand, the background information, the theory, the implications of the results and the discussion section are presumably still true, so they are normally in the present tense. Likewise, comparisons of results and descriptions of features of the data should be in the present tense

Correct: The measurement of yield strength of mild steel is a key factor in understanding. Correct: The results are shown in figure 2 Correct: The points in figure 2 lie on a straight line; Correct: The measured value is in good agreement with the prediction 3. Note on Plagiarism a. Experiments are usually carried out by groups of students. It is therefore expected that each member of a group has followed an identical procedure in the laboratory and has the same set of data. b. Members of a group are also encouraged to discuss the analysis of data with one another. c. Preparation of the report and the discussion and interpretation of the results contained therein must be the sole effort of the individual student submitting the report. d. A student must write his/her own report in his/her own language. If it is found that a singular report is written by two students or has been copied from someone elses, they will both be given zero marks. Report Contents 1. Title Page This should be the first (cover) page of the report. When writing the title page of a lab report, the following should be included: a. Course Name and Course Number b. Experiment No. and the Title of the Experiment. c. The Students Name, Student Number, Level, Term and Department. d. Experiment Group Number. e. The Name of the Instructor or Teacher for whom the lab report is being compiled. f. The Date on which the experiment was performed and the Date the lab report will be submitted. 2. Main Body of the Report: a. Objective State the objective(s) of the experiment concisely, in paragraph form. It provides the overall direction for laboratory investigation and must be addressed in the conclusion. The fact that experiments in laboratory courses are being used to educate students is a secondary objective, and should not be

stated in the report. In other words, the objective written in your report should never be to familiarize students with the use of equipment. Rather, the objective should state the problem that your procedure and data attempts to answer. Some key verbs that you will use in the objective might include to investigate, to plot, to measure, to compare or to determine. The section should inform the reader precisely why the sessional was undertaken. Under this heading should be an overview of what the experiment was about. A sound definition of what was learned about the process being carried out during the experiment should be included. b. Experimental Setup / Description of the Apparatus used Provide a neat, correct and clear schematic drawing of the experimental set-up, showing all the interconnections and interrelationships. Include a short textual description that refers to all parts of the schematic drawing. This section should have all the information needed for a reader to duplicate the setup independently. List all the equipment and materials used in the experiment. Include identifying marks (usually serial numbers) of all equipment. This is a safeguard that allows you to trace faulty equipment at a later date, if necessary. c. Experimental Procedure This section should contain a description; in the students own words, of the experimental procedure that was followed in the performance of the experiment. Do not include relatively trivial things like turning on a switch. On the other hand, you should include descriptions of how you determine things that are necessary to the anticipated results. This should be very short as well. Mention the particular pitfalls in data taking that you discovered and managed to maneuver around. The Experimental Setup and Experimental Procedure sections should be complete enough so that another student with the same background, but unfamiliar with the experiment, could perform the same experiment without additional instructions. Procedures and equipment used should be written in a sentence form. Special procedures used to ensure specific experimental conditions, or to maintain a desired accuracy in the information obtained should be described. As with all sections of the report, the procedure describes what was done in the lab and should, therefore, be written in the past tense. Copying the procedure from a lab manual would be an inaccurate reflection of the work completed in the lab and is not acceptable.

d. Results Results are usually dominated by calculations, tables and figures. In this section you should describe the important qualitative and quantitative observations is your work. Data should be tabulated and/or graphed and described. a. Sample Calculations: Include a few of your calculations in this section, e.g. one of each type. Do not show each and every calculation. b. Graphs, tables and figures Your report will almost certainly include graphs or tables of results, and may well have other pictorial material, e.g. a diagram of the apparatus. When referring to a Figure in the text, the word "Figure" is abbreviated as "Fig.", while "Table" is not abbreviated. Both words are spelled out completely in descriptive legends. These should be numbered, so that they can be referred to in the text. It is usual to number graphs and other pictures sequentially as Figure N, and tables separately as Table N: Example: Figure 1: diagram of the apparatus; Table 1: calibration constants for the thermocouple; Figure 2: graph of length against temperature for different materials; Table 2: measured expansion coefficients compared with textbook values. The following steps should be taken into consideration while plotting a graph: i. Do not draw a series of straight line segments between experimental data points plotted on a graph. The purpose of many of the experiments is to verify theoretical relationships between variables. ii. All graphs should have descriptive titles. These titles should tell what the graph is intended to show. Each axis of a graph should be labeled with the variable, its symbol and unit. Always use graph paper and always label graph coordinate lines so that it is easy to see how many units each division represents. iii. If there is more than one line, or more than one type of point, on the graph, a key or
legend should be included on the graph.

iv.

Figure legends go below the graph; graphs and other types of Figures are usually read from the bottom up. The following steps should be taken into consideration while constructing a table: Tables should be clearly laid out with column headings giving name of the parameters, their symbols and units.

i.

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i. ii.

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Table legends go above the body of the Table and are left justified; Tables are read from the top down. The following steps should be taken into consideration while drawing a figure: Figures should be clear and well laid out. In diagrams of the apparatus, important parts should be labeled, and it is usually best if the diagram is at least approximately to scale (if it is not to scale, this should be stated). You should also consider adding figures to your theory section: they are often helpful in defining terms and clarifying relationships between objects.

e. Discussions and Conclusions This is the interpretation-and-conclusion of your report. This section should include the following: i. How the conduct of the experiment met the objectives. ii. What took place during the process. iii. All questions should be answered within this section in a very logical and clear manner. The questions should be put into statement form. iv. The conclusions should be relevant to the experiment that was performed and should be based on facts learned as a result of the experiment. v. You should also include any recommendations that you feel would improve the experimental procedure. If you have any further investigations that might be suggested by the data, you should also include them here. vi. Describe any new terms that arise as a result of your evaluation of data. vii. When your results differ from what is expected, provide a plausible explanation. viii. Explain the meaning of the experiment and ix. the implications of your results. Examine the outcome in the light of the stated objectives. f. References Using standard bibliographic format, cite all the published sources you consulted during the conduct of the experiment and the preparation of your laboratory report.