Writing a Lab Report Why do we write

Writing a Lab Report

Why do we write lab reports? • Yes, because your teacher assigns it. • You are apart of a science community and you write lab reports to share information you have learned.

Parts to a Lab Report • • Introduction Methods and Materials Results Discussion

Introduction • Purpose • To provide background information on what you are studying. • Why are you doing this lab and what do you hope to learn from doing it? (Not the same thing as a hypothesis) • Hypothesis – What you think will happen. – A hypothesis should be measurable, not a broad statement

– Be specific about what you are studying. In other words, if this happens to A then this happens to B. – Not a hypothesis: It was hypothesized that there is a significant relationship between temperature and solubility rate. • Justify your hypothesis – Tell your readers why you decided on your hypothesis.

Methods and Material • This is a detailed description of the materials you used and procedure you followed. • There should be enough detail for readers to replicate the experiment. • DO NOT ADD RESULTS!

Results • This is the data you collected shown through text and tables. The same information should not be repeated in text and the table. • There should also be no conclusions drawn in this section. Raw data only!

Discussion • Explain whether or not your hypothesis was supported. • Acknowledge any deviations from what you expected. • Derive your conclusions from your data. • Explore any practical implications of your findings.