Style Guide for Formal Lab Reports

Results of an experiment or calculations should be clear for the reader. This is why Physics journals have certain standards of style when it comes to graphs and tables in an article or report. For physics labs at Canisius College, there are also standards that you must follow. Here is the style when it comes to documents, figures, and tables.

Document Style

A scientific report is a lot like a paper written in an English, History, or other Humanities course. A certain style is needed to make it look professional. Here are some rules for Canisius College Physics reports.

1. Margins on the top, bottom, left, and right are to be 1 inch.

2. Pages are to be numbered. Location of the page numbers is up to the author.

3. Fonts are Calibri, Helvitica, or Arial. Use one throughout the report. Do not mix or match.

4. Font sizes are 10-14. Again, use the same throughout the report. Do not mix fonts.

5. References are to be listed at the end of the report in a bibliography. Citation of references can be either a subscript of the reference number (¹) or in square brackets ([1]). If the citation lists more than 3 consecutive references, use a hyphen ([1-5]).

6. Long equations should be on their own line. They should be centered and labeled with a number on the right side of the equation. Equations should also have punctuation at the end of the line, either a comma or period.

7. Symbols used for physical variables should be defined the first time the symbol is used, such as “... where x is the position of the cart.” Never start a sentence with a variable symbol. Symbols of physical variable should be in italics.

Figures

Figures are usually plots of data, calculations, and fits. See the example of a good figure below.

1. Figures should fit within the margins of the page.

2. Every figure has a caption that is centered below the figure. The caption should start with the title “Figure”, followed by the figure number that can be used as a reference in the body of the report. For example, “Figure 1: A plot of the ...”.

3. The caption is a summary of the plot and can be either a complete (“Figure 1: This is a plot of the data”.) or an incomplete sentence (“Figure 1: A plot of the data”.)

4. The plot should have axis labels, title, and a legend. Grid lines are optional.

   • Axes labels: font (Calibri, Helvitica, or Arial) and font size (10-14). The labels should specify the units if the variables have units.

   • Legends: font (Calibri, Helvitica, or Arial) and font size (10-14). Legends are placed in the plot or to the right of the plot.

   • Title: font (Calibri, Helvitica, or Arial) and font size (14-18). Title can summarize in a few words what is being presented.

5. Data symbols should have a size between 1 and 2.

6. Fits are displayed as a line. The width of the line should be between 1 and 2. The fit equation should be displayed on the plot with the R² value.

7. Plots should be saved as an image file (png, gif, jpeg, etc.). The png format usually has the smallest file size. Do not make a screenshot of the figure in a spreadsheet. The image quality is poor and difficult to resize.

Tables

1. A table is a concise way of displaying data. Therefore, it should be organized and easy to read.

2. Tables should fit within the margins of the report.

3. There should be a caption centered above the table. It should have a title and caption summarizing the data. The title should have a table number (“Table 3: Data from the measurement ...”).

4. Font and font size should be the same as that used in the document body.

5. The columns should have headings. The headings should have units unless the variables re dimensionless.

6. Do not make a screenshot of the columns of numbers in a spreadsheet and insert the image into the report. The quality is poor and difficult to resize.