Lab Report

Review the Lab Report Rubric HERE

You will be required to write a research lab report in third person containing the details of your research and experiment.  For additional information, you may want to check out the Purdue Online Writing Lab guide to APA style

The following sections will need to be included in your report (for word counts, you can assume about 250 word, 12-point, sans serif font on a double-spaced page):

1) Abstract  (150 words to 250 words maximum)  The abstract is a single paragraph summary of your experiment.  Your abstract should contain the following items:

    1) Background

    2) Statement of Purpose

    3) Summary of Procedures

    4) Summary of Results

    5) Significance of Findings

Keep the following questions in mind:  Why was the research done in the first place?  What were the main questions of the research, and what did you do to find answers?  What results did you get, and why are these results important? Since the abstract is a summary of your entire project, you should write this section last.  It should contain NO quotes or cited information.  The Abstract is all your original thoughts.

2) Introduction (500 words minimum) - This section of the report should contain two major parts: background information, and an introduction to the experiment you conducted.  

Consider writing about the following topics:

- the characteristics and significance of the organisms used in the experiment

- the reasons the research is important

- the significance of the differences between the wild-type and mutant plants

- the hypothesis (Null and Alternate) you came up with prior to starting the experiment and the reasoning behind it (required)

The Introduction can have NO MORE than 3 "direct quotes".  All other cited information must be paraphrased in your own words.

3) Materials and Methods (250 words minimum) - This section of your report is NOT a list of all the materials you used, followed by a list of instructions.  The purpose of this section is to explain how you carried out the experiment

You should include:

- the differences between the control and experimental groups, and how any outside variables were controlled

- any unusual or specific chemicals or other materials needed in the experiment

- how data was collected

- how you reduced error during the experiment

You should NOT include:

- information about commonly used lab items (beakers, Erlenmeyer flasks, etc.), unless they were used in a novel way during the experiment

- a step by step set of instructions on how to carry out the experiment - this section should be written in paragraph form and describe the basics, not every detail

- any explanations of your results - you will be talking about these later!

4) Results (as many words as necessary) - 

Your results section will consist of graphs (box & whiskers and line) and a small amount of text that describes your data.  Do NOT include explanations of your results as you will be explaining them in the next section of the report.  You can also include pictures, data tables, and descriptions of qualitative.

*** NOTE THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR GRAPHS:  

Control Mutant - Blue Line

Control Wildtype - Red Line

Experimental Mutant - Purple Line

Experimental Wildtype - Green Line

Be sure to keep in mind the types of graphs that will best show your data.  Google Sheets Graphs (help link) can be used, or The National Center for Education Statistics has an easy-to-use online graphing tool that you may find useful.

Make sure your graphs are big and clearly labeled as your data is an extremely important part of your experiment. A person who looks at a figure should be able to tell what it is showing just by reading the title.

Unacceptable Titles - "Graph 1" or "Height of Arabidopsis Plants"

Acceptable Titles - "Graph 1.  Height of control Arabidopsis plants vs. mutant Arabidopsis plants." or "Graph 2.  Growth of Arabidopsis plants that have received a treatment of hydrochloric acid."

5) Analysis AND Conclusion (500+ words) - In this section, you should be answering the following questions:

*** NOTE: Per Rubric these two sections count twice ***

Analysis -

- What were the patterns/trends in the data?  Was there any relationship between the variables in the experiment?

- Why do you think you got the results you did?  If variables were changed (increased/decreased treatment, etc), would the results have been the same?

- Were any of the results unexpected?  If so, why?

- Were there any sources of error that might have influenced your results?

Conclusion -

- What was the importance of your results?  Where can the research go from here (in other words, could there be future applications of this research)?

- How did your results relate back to your hypothesis?  Did they support it?  Not support it?  Why?

- Read the above point again.  A lot of people forget to relate their results back to their original hypotheses.

Remember that even though you are providing your own analysis of the results, this report should NOT be written in first-person point of view.

This section of the report can often be difficult to write.  If you need help framing what you will write about, try answering these questions about your data.

6) Works Cited - 

Make sure to use parenthetical citations (APA-style) while writing your report and to cite anything that is not your own thoughts and ideas.  If you are not sure how to cite something, check out the Purdue Online Writing Lab guide to APA style

Good luck!  If you are still confused as to what to add, ask your teacher, or classmates.