The following are the six sections that you should include in each full lab report. Each of the sections should be titled. The idea of a lab report is for someone outside the class to be able to read a summary of what we did and what conclusions we made. While there are some differences, we are trying to model the format of real published science reports.

Introduction
In a paragraph, explain the background information any person would need to know to understand the lab. (Think of what you learned ahead of time!) End the paragraph with the purpose of the lab and your hypothesis, if we made one ahead of time.

Materials
Simple list of materials used

Procedure
A brief summary of what we did in the lab. You should not retype the whole procedure or include every detail of what we did. Summarize it in your own words as if you were describing it to a friend/parent.

Results:
This is the section for the data you collected. You should insert data table(s) and/or graphs here. They should be typed and incorporated right into your Word/Google Doc file, not cut and taped onto the paper. On my website, I will upload labs that I have Word documents of, so you may copy & paste a table from that document into your lab if you would like. Let me know if you have any questions!

Analysis Questions:
Answer the numbered questions given to you in the lab packet using complete sentences.

Conclusion:
This is a paragraph summary of what you gained from the lab and should include three things:
1) A summary of the results – You don’t need to re-state the quantitative data again, but summarize what the data showed in a sentence or two.
2) Discuss any sources of error in the experiment – these are generally not mistakes in not following directions, but ways in which the experiment wasn’t perfectly controlled so the data wasn’t 100% accurate.
3) The application of the lab to the “real world” – A sentence or two on why this information is important and why/how your conclusions might be useful to others.

Important notes:

-         All lab reports must be typed and printed out before class begins. If you do not have a printer or it is not working, you may come to my room or the library in the morning or during break to print. I’m more than happy to take questions by email, but please don’t email me your lab to print as I can’t do that for everyone every time.

-         Any data should be the same as your lab partners but your written answers should not be identical to your lab partners. Working together means doing the procedure together and discussing the ideas together, but not writing the exact same lab report. Not following these expectations will result in a zero.

-         Late lab reports are up to 50% credit one day late. Please don’t be late with them!

-         There will likely be several lab activities that we do (during and outside of lab blocks) where it will be more appropriate to just answer some analysis questions and/or write a conclusion, rather than completing this full lab report