COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF MATHS AND NATURAL SCIENCES

CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT
Guide to Writing a Lab Report
1. Overview
Lab reports are your first dive into scientific and technical communication. In all aspects (content,
organization, and writing style) these reports mimic actual published scientific papers. Scientific papers are
narrative essays organized into sections so that the desired information can easily be found. Each section of
the lab report explains part of the scientific method. Depending on the experiment, your lab reports should
typically be 5-6 pages long, including figures and tables. However, there is no minimum/maximum length
requirement. The length guidelines listed in this document are to help you determine whether or not you
have included enough detail. The report must be typed in Arial (font style), font size 12 and line spacing of
1.5.

2. Writing in Groups
Real scientific papers are almost always written in collaborations with multiple authors. The goal of group
lab reports is twofold. Firstly, writing in groups allows you to focus a higher percentage of your effort on
individual sections of the lab report, thus creating a stronger overall product. Secondly, writing in groups
allows you to practice proof-reading and editing your partner’s work. On average, students who have taken
the time to write and proof-read in groups tend to write better reports, catch more calculation errors, and
receive higher grades. All students writing the group lab report must be working in the same lab workgroup,
using the same data. You are required to split the writing work as evenly as possible. Some students choose
to sit down next to their partners and write in real-time. Other groups split up the work and write
individually, edit each other’s writing, and then recombine the sections.

Things to Include in a Laboratory Report

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typical report would include such sections as TITLE, INTRODUCTION, PROCEDURE, RESULTS/DATA, DATA
ANALYSIS, DISCUSSION and CONCLUSION. Section headings should be in boldface.
Remember that the whole report should be written in a passive voice. [The passive voice emphasizes
the person or object receiving the action (e.g., Samples were analyzed). The active voice, in
contrast, emphasizes the person or object performing the action (e.g., We analyzed samples)].

TITLE
The title can usually draw attention of the reader to your work. It should clearly represent the work
presented. The report’s title should be short but descriptive, indicating the qualitative or quantitative nature
of the practical along with the primary goal or area of focus. An example of a title would be: "Effects of
Ultraviolet Light on Borax Crystal Growth Rate". Begin your title using a keyword rather than an article like
"The" or "A".
Cover Page
This is the face of the report. It is a single page that states:
• The title of the experiment.
• The names of the workgroup members.
• Your instructor's name.
• The date the lab was performed or the date the report was submitted.
• Print and fill out the cover page with applicable information using ink. Only details of workgroup
members who have attended the lab session must be included on the cover page.
• The circulated cover page shall be used as a template for all lab reports submitted. You are not
allowed to use a different format of this page no matter how nicely designed.

INTRODUCTION
The introduction provides context to the experiment. It discusses the problem being studied and other
theory that is relevant to understanding the findings. While a short preamble outlining the history of the
techniques or materials used in the practical is appropriate, the bulk of the introduction should outline the
experiment’s goals, creating a logical flow to the next section. Write the introduction in your own words.
The introduction must convey three main ideas:
• Explain the motivation for your experiment.
• Explain why is your scientific question important?
• Explain only the relevant background information about your scientific question and your
experiment. You might choose to discuss physical principles discussed in lectures related to the
topic of your experiment.

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PROCEDURE OR METHOD
This section is important as it explains the precise way in which the experiment took place so that the reader
can repeat it if desired. However, your method section should NOT look like your lab manual, and it should
be carefully summarized. It is written in a past tense narrative form that avoids the use of the first person –
should be in a passive voice. Furthermore, you must assume the audience has basic knowledge of lab
techniques. For example, instead of detailing the entire process of a titration, you can simply say “0.1M
NaOH was titrated against an HCl solution of unknown concentration.”
Bad Example:
The following chemicals were combined into a test tube using a pipette: bovine serum albumin, NaOH, and
Bradford reagent.
Good Example:
A test tube was filled with 1 mL of 2 mg/mL bovine serum albumin, 3 mL of 0.15 M NaOH and 1 mL Bradford
reagent

RESULTS/OBSERVATIONS
This section should include the raw data that has been collected in the experiment. Numerical data obtained
from your procedure is usually presented as a table. Data encompasses what you recorded when you
conducted the experiment. It's just the facts, not any interpretation of what they mean.
Recopy your data from the in-lab data (in your lab notebook) onto the data sheet in a nice neat format (tables
are usually nice and neat). No erasures are permitted on this data sheet. This is your chance to organize it
into a more readable form now that you are done with the experiment and impress the LS with your
organizational skills. The LS will sign on this data sheet as it shall be part of the final lab report you will hand
in for marking.

DATA ANALYSIS
The Analysis section contains any calculations you made based on those numbers.
Figures and Graphs
Graphs and figures must both be labelled with a descriptive title. Label the axes on a graph, being sure to
include units of measurement. The independent variable is on the X-axis, the dependent variable (the one
you are measuring) is on the Y-axis. Be sure to refer to figures and graphs in the text of your report: the first
figure is Figure 1, the second figure is Figure 2, etc.
Independent Variable
• The independent variable is the factor that you purposely change or control in order to see what
effect it has.

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 • The variable that responds to the change in the independent variable is called the dependent
variable. It depends on the independent variable.
• The independent variable is graphed on the x-axis.

Calculations
It's a good idea to write out all the formulas you use in your calculations. You may prefer to work through
the problem using just the formula, and then plug in the numbers at the end to get your final answer. Also,
show all of your work. One more point is to be sure to include the units when you are doing a calculation,
and don't drop the units halfway through the calculation. This is actually a pretty powerful tool because if
your answer has the wrong units you know you must have made an error somewhere along the way.
Conversely, if your answer has the correct units, you could still be wrong, but at least you are on the right
track (and probably much of the time your answer is correct, too!) You can even do the calculation using just
units and no numbers and see if the units cancel out in the right way to test if your method is good (this is
called dimensional analysis).

DISCUSSION
The discussion is the most critical part of the lab report as it is a chance for you to show that you have a deep
understanding of the practical and the theory behind it. Use the discussion section to address several points:
1. Explain the results gathered. Is there a particular trend? Do the results support the theory behind the
experiment? This is where you interpret the data and determine whether or not a hypothesis was
accepted.
2. Highlight any unexpected results or outlying data points. What are possible sources of error?
3. Address the weaknesses of the experiment. This is where you discuss any mistakes you might have
made while conducting the investigation. You may wish to describe ways the experiment might have
been improved.

CONCLUSION
Finally, a short paragraph to conclude the laboratory report. Most of the time the conclusion is a single
paragraph that sums up what happened in the experiment, whether your hypothesis was accepted or
rejected, and what this means. It should summarize the findings and provide an objective review of the
experiment.

REFERENCES
If any external sources were used in writing the lab report, they should go here. Referencing is critical in
scientific writing; it’s like giving a shout out (known as a citation) to the original provider of the information.

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It is good practice to have at least one source referenced, either from researching the context behind the
experiment, best practices for the method used or similar industry standards.