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Objective
In this lesson,
you will learn how to write one kind of scientific report--a lab report.
The skills that you learn can be used in writing many kinds of science,
social science, or technical reports.
Using Observations
to Write a Science Report
The purpose of
a scientific lab report is to accurately convey the details and results
of an experiment to your reader/s, who may need to repeat the experiment
in order to verify your results. [See "Writing
About Observations" for more basic information about observation
writing.]
Consider the
following sample chemistry experiment. Your job is to titrate (that
is, add in carefully measured amounts) one solution into another.
At each step of the process, you observe and record the results in
your lab notebook. After the experiment is finished, you'll need to
write a report that describes your measurements and what you observed.
Finally, you'll report any conclusions to be drawn from the experiment.
Note that this
process requires several steps. You must:
- Be prepared
for the experiment by doing any required reading and gathering of
materials
- Understand
your goal for the experiment
- Take very
good notes during the experiment, and
- Write about
your observations in an acceptable format.
Preparation
Knowing what
you're going to do in the experiment is where everything begins. After
all, how can you know what to do and how to write about it if you
don't have the slightest clue what's going on? To get ready, follow
these guidelines:
- Read your
lab assignment in advance and know what you'll be doing.
- If you're
not sure what you'll be doing or you don't understand the material,
the equipment, or the experiment, find the answers to your questions
before you go to the lab.
- Record in
your notebook all the theories, equations, and principles that you
should know in order to understand the experiment. You can use these
later to explain what happened.
- Record what
you think will happen in the experiment before you go to the lab,
and write why you are making these predictions. Such predictions
are called hypotheses.
Observations
Made Easy
If you're prepared
for the experiment, you've done half the work already. A lot of students
go to lab not knowing what they are going to do, not understanding
any of the principles behind the experiment, and not having a clue
as to what they think will happen. These students end up cramming
lots of details in their notebooks-details that they won't understand
when they look at their notes several days later.
By contrast,
your notebook will already be prepared. Now, all you have to do is
perform the experiment and record what actually happens.
Writing About
Your Observations
Most scientific
and lab reports use a standard format to present information; however,
there are some variations. Make sure that you check with your professor
before you record information and use the format s/he prefers.
- The Introduction
(Statement of the Problem)
Your report should have an introduction that states the problem
and the purpose of the experiment. The introduction should highlight:
- Any relevant
background information,
- Experiments
or research that set the context for the experiment, and
- The "question,"
or hypothesis, for the experiment.
Don't skimp
on this section: the more pertinent information that you write,
the more you demonstrate that you know what the experiment is
about. The Introduction certainly may be more than one paragraph
in length.
- Methods
and Materials (Procedure)
In this section, you must describe the experimental procedure itself.
The reader/s need to know:
- The research
design,
- Methods
and materials, such as the subjects and how they were selected,
- The equipment,
- Whether
you did laboratory or field research, and
- The steps
taken in the experiment.
In a chemistry
lab, for example, you would include the chemicals, or reagents,
used in the experiment and the equipment, or tools, that you used.
Be precise as you discuss what you used and what you did to perform
the procedure. For example, don't tell the reader that you mixed
10 grams of sodium chloride into the mixture if you actually mixed
10.5 grams of sodium chloride. Stick to the precision that your
equipment is capable of recording-no more, no less.
Usually,
the methods and materials section is written in the past tense
because you've already performed the experiment. Its purpose is
to relate the experimental process step-by-step so that the reader
can duplicate your experiment using the same methods and equipment.
- The Results
(Data Presentation)
This section reports on the findings of the experiment, or the data.
Don't include explanations in this section. Visual aids such as
graphs, charts, tables, and diagrams make the data presentation
stronger. Or, depending on your professor's instructions, you can
write a simple narrative account of what happened. This section
also may include a sample calculation (if any data reduction is
involved) for one representative set from the data.
- The Discussion
(Conclusions)
In this final section, you'll summarize the findings of your experiment
and offer some tentative conclusions. You've already told what
happened; now you'll tell why it happened. You'll discuss
whether your original hypothesis was or was not confirmed by the
experiment and speculate (make an educated guess) as to why. In
addition, you'll share with the reader the meaning, or implications,
of the experiment and describe any follow-on experiments that might
confirm or extend the results.
The Discussion
section is a very important section of the report because it shows
that you understand the experiment beyond simply being able to
complete it. This is where the preparations before the experiment
really pay off. Professors and professional colleagues reward
people who can use writing to explain, analyze, and interpret
results.
Exercise
Test your
knowledge. Answer the following True/False questions and then
click "Enter" to see if your answers are correct.
1.
Writing lab reports is a type of observation writing.
2.
Description and precise language are the primary tools of science
writers.
3.
There is only one format for writing scientific observations.
4.
You shouldn't read anything about the experiment until the last
minute.
5.
Preparing for the experiment saves time in the writing stage.
6.
A short introduction is best when writing about observations.
7.
Never include graphs or charts in a lab report.
8.
It's important to share your conclusions about why something
happened during the experiment.
Summary
Knowing how
to use details to write observations will help when you write scientific
observations. This skill is crucial to success in most science, social
science, and technical courses, and in many professional careers as
well. The steps you take to write about observations in a science
course or lab can be applied to other disciplines.
  
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