Science students often have to write laboratory reports regarding the experiments they perform. The lab report is both a tool to help students make sense of their results and to communicate those results to other scientists in the field.
Read your assignment instructions carefully. Questions about your lab report? Ask your instructor or TA.
Before lab:
- Read over lab assignment.
- Define your objectives, prediction, or hypothesis.
- Summarize your expected outcomes.
Actively consider what observations might tend to disprove your hypothesis so as to avoid the effects of confirmation bias.
Are you required to do a literature review? Find relevant material and theories to provide context and rationale and understand the context of the experiment. Ask for research help from Universities of Toronto Libraries at UTM, St. George, or UTSC.
Review the procedures, sources of error and safety information at the start of the work and exercise care so as to obtain accurate results safely.
Take detailed notes on procedures and results and note any differences in your methodology from the initial plan. Record enough detail to allow someone else to repeat the experiment based on your notes.
Briefly explain overall procedures. List materials and equipment used. Explain in detail the steps in the experiment, including sub-headings, if needed.
Be specific so another student could replicate the experiment. Do not include results. Do include lab notes, if required.
Describe and analyze your results
Report major results with no interpretation what you observed. When reporting your results, remember to:
- Create data tables, graphs, or charts to clearly display results.
- Use subheadings.
- Organize the information so as to invite logical comparisons between data sets, such as side by side, or in tabular or graphical format. These patterns you will later want to refer. See The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.
Note: Never make up or modify data if the results are different from what you expected. What are the possible causes of your unexpected results? Fabricating or falsifying data constitutes academic dishonesty as outlined in the University of Toronto's Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters.
As you write your introduction, focus on information that provides background to or directly relates to your data and conclusions.
- Describe background and context for experiment.
- Give background on materials (e.g. organisms, chemicals, etc.) used.
- Explain the theory behind the techniques.
Cite your sources carefully. Ask for writing help from University of Toronto Writing Centres at UTM, St. George, or UTSC.
Interpret and synthesize your results in the discussion and conclusion:
- Refer to your hypothesis, outcomes or predictions as you discuss conclusions. Support each conclusion with evidence from your experiment. Describe your rationale for your conclusions and any patterns or relationship your results demonstrate.
- Compare results to the expected results and to those found in the literature (include citations).
- Discuss the limitations of your experiment (e.g. what can't you conclude? What other interpretations may be correct? What were the limits of the methods you used?) Discuss how your results fit into a broader context such as practical applications or other situations, species, systems, etc.
The abstract is generally 100-200 words and summarizes the whole lab report in a concise and descriptive manner. Your title should be descriptive and engaging.
Consult Self-Evaluation Checklist for Scientific Reports to ensure you include all the necessary elements of your report. (See also LabCheck Evaluation Guide) Remember to also:
- Use correct grammar and complete sentences.
- Try to stay away from using "I". The convention in most sciences is to use the passive voice when writing experimental procedures. This puts the emphasis on for example, the chemicals and their reactivity rather than the experimentalist, reflecting the attempt to be as objective as possible in reporting observations.
Ask for writing help from University of Toronto Writing Centres at UTM, St. George, or UTSC.