Formal Laboratory ReportsToday we will learn about communicating our experiments in a formal laboratory report. I would like you to take notes and do the processing activities in your journal. It is more important to do the journal activities regarding the biodiversity experiment we did then it is to take a lot of notes on the parts of the formal lab report as you will have access to these notes on Moodle.

If you follow along with the notes you will have an excellent rough draft of your first lab report. Your teacher will instruct you as to whether you will need to write a final draft for this assignment.

Creating a Formal Laboratory Report.

Scientists do experiments to find out answers to problems or questions they have.In order to communicate their findings so that other scientists may learn from them they write their findings in a formal manner.Often other scientists will use this information to aid in solving other problems or questions. Other scientists may also use the report to question the validity of the methodology or findings from the experiment.

Getting StartedWe will use the first experiment we do in biology as an example to create a formal laboratory report. You will be asked to write several such reports in this class and your other science classes. Sometimes they will be very formal typed papers other times your instructors may just have you write them in your journal. In either case most scientific reports have elements that are common no matter what science discipline you are studying. These elements may be slightly different from class to class or course to course but you will definitely see some common parts in the way your instructors want them to be formatted.

Parts of a Formal Laboratory Report.

Almost all formal lab reports consist of the following parts:Title:Statement of Problem:Hypothesis or background information:Procedure/Methodology:Data/Observations:Results:Conclusion/Analysis:Let’s look at each individual element relative to our experiment.

Title:The title is fairly obvious in its goal. It should give the experiment a workable name that it can be referred to by others. It should make sense relative to the goal of the experiment. Often your instructor will have a name for the experiment that will be given to you. Sometimes you will come up with your own title.

What would make a good title for the experiment we did with the biodiversity of the grasslands? Write this in your journal.

Statement of Problem:This is just what it sounds like, a statement. It is usually phrased as a question to be solved or a problem that is to be answered.Some scientists will devote an entire section of their report to defining the problem. In most reports in high school we will try to limit it to one or two sentences.

In your journal, with your table partner make one statement of problem for our biodiversity experiment that is phrased as a question. Then try to phrase the statement of problem as a task/problem to solve.

Hypothesis and/or background information

Often misunderstood many people consider a hypothesis to be an educated guess of what will be the end results to the experiment. More correctly a hypothesis is a tentative explanation based on earlier information or initial observations.

This is where the background information comes in. Most research/experiments start with some initial premise based on earlier knowledge. Since experiments are rather specific in their objective(s) scientists often have expectations based on earlier research , observations, or other experiments.

Hypothesis and/or background information continued.

If there are clear expectations for an experiment , then a scientist will often state a hypothesis in an “If… then, statement.” This statement will then be supported by additional information that provides a reason (background knowledge) for the scientists prediction.

Because of the nature of some experiments and goals in your high school classes some formal lab reports will not include a specific hypothesis or background information section.

Our Hypothesis:In your journal, what could be a possible

hypothesis for our experiment we did with the biodiversity of grasslands?

What would be the initial information we started with that would aid us in formulating a hypothesis? Consider the background information from our class notes and the prairie packet.

Could we phrase it as an , “If … then statement?”

Procedure/Methodology:This is just what it sounds like it is; the way the experiment was performed. How did the scientists go about controlling the variables and collecting the data?

Procedure continuedGood procedures will even justify the specifics for the methodology. Sometimes the experimental procedure is written as a series of steps. It should be complete enough so that other scientists could duplicate the experiment if they wanted to and detailed enough to explain how the variables in the experiment were controlled. Often other scientists will question the methodology/procedure if it appears that it was done in a way that could influence /bias the data that was collected.

Procedure continuedIt is important to note in the procedure the conditions under which the experiment was performed. This may include things like the location, date, and weather (if relevant to the experiment.)

In your journal write a procedure for our experiment. What important points need to be considered. Does time and place make a difference in our experiment?Compare your procedure with that of your table partner.

Data/observationsData is the information collected from the variables tested. In a lab report it should be fashioned into tables or charts that are complete with headings and units. Most lab reports contain all of the raw data collected along with the averages if the data is consolidated. You can use any software program to make your table.

How would our data be best displayed? Make a rough draft of it in your journal.

Data continued:ecosystem

# of species observed by each group

Avg. biodiversity

Lawn

Prairie

ResultsMany young scientists have difficulty with this section. You do not do an analysis of the data here , rather you put the data into a more visual form such as a graph or chart that allows for analysis to take place later in the report. Sometimes the results are just a consolidation of the data or calculations. It entirely depends on the nature of the experiment. If the data collected is numerical you most likely will use a line or scatter graph of the data. If one of the variables is a word or quality rather than a quantity then you most likely use a bar graph or column graph.

Results continued:

Considering our data had both words for the ecosystem and numbers for the biodiversity how would our overall data be best displayed for analysis?

Try fashioning a rough draft of how it might look in your journal.

Lawn Prairie0123456789

Mr. Piskel’s Biodiversity of Producers graph

Ecosystem

Average number of

species

Results continued:

It is important to note that all graphs need to have each axis labeled with units of measurement. The graph should also have a title complete with your name in it.

Conclusion/AnalysisThis is the “meat and potatoes” of your lab report. It consists of the interpretations of the data/results. It is in this section that your report actually starts to resemble a paper with well defined paragraphs. Basically you are trying to make an argument that the data you have collected has meaning. It your challenge to argue that the data actually provides evidence to solve/answer the statement of problem.

Conclusion continued:It is important to note that your answer to the statement of problem and hypothesis are only supported or not supported by the results. You should not say that the hypothesis is true or false, just that the experiment either supported or didn’t support the answer to the problem. In either case the scientific community still learns something about the problem.

Conclusion continued:Your conclusion should also contain a paragraph on how well you feel the data was collected. Were there any variable that might not have been well controlled. What possible errors could have occurred and influenced the results. For example: Why did the data vary from one group/sample to another?

Conclusion continued:Finally the conclusion may contain a paragraph that discusses the implications of the experiment. How might the information be applied to other situations. What further studies might the results indicate may be beneficial to the statement of problem or how might the results be put to further use.

Formatting Your ReportWhen you are writing your report make sure you actually write out the various parts of the report. For example, write out Title: and then put down the title you have for the experiment, statement of problem: and so on.Place significant space between each element of the report so that each section is easily identified. Always place all elements of the report in order . If there is a lot of data you may want to put it along with graphs and charts at the end of the report but make sure you indicate where there location is in the proper order of the report. For example if you have a lot of rough data you may write, data: see data sheets at end of report.

Finally,In this class and in many of your other science classes your instructor will provide you with a grade sheet or rubric. This is how your grade will be compiled. If you follow the instructions on the rubric and make sure all of the elements of the lab report are present you should score well on your report.

Make sure you do your own work unless the laboratory report is part of a group project. While elements of the report may look similar to other students you are responsible for creating an original document.