How to Write a Lab Report

Lab reports are written in a specific manner, following certain standards to convey the concept of a particular field of study. It requires the ability to clearly and concisely report technical information. With lab reports, you have to conduct certain experimental methods in order to present a good result. You then have to describe and discuss how everything goes – from the said methods up to the results and conclusions. If you think you don’t possess the ability to be a technical writer at least once, just skim through the tips below on how to write a lab report.

Writing a Lab Report: Guidelines

• The title page should include the experiment title, your full name, including the name of your professor, and the date when the experiment was conducted or when the lab report was written. The title must reflect the content of your report in less than 10 words. Make sure that it will be easily recognized.
   
• Briefly summarize the whole content of your report in approximately 100 to 200 words for the abstract. It should present the purpose of the study, the data, and the conclusion.
   
• Define what the study is all about and why it was conducted in the introduction. Afterwards, provide a background information or a backdrop for your study. Cite existing knowledge in relevance to the subject and present your objective and purpose. Include your hypotheses and the overview of your experimental design.
   
• In the materials and methods section, provide a list of the materials you have used. Also, describe the function of each equipment used in the experiment. Then, explain in detail how the said experiment was conducted. Make sure that the readers will be able to follow step-by-step if they wish to repeat the same study.
   
• When you discuss the results, summarize the data without interpreting the implications. All you have to do is to make tables and graphs, or show figures to present the data from the experiment. Remember that there will be no duplication of data presented in tables and shown in figures and graphs. Also, make sure that each of the tables and figures is entitled and numbered separately. Finally, include a legend if necessary to explain the symbols used.
   
• Interpret the data or the result of the experiment under the discussion. Do not just restate but you also have to relate the result to the different theories on the same subject. Discuss whether your hypotheses were accepted or rejected, and include recommendations for further research.

A lab report is subject to verification. It only means that other researchers can repeat the study to either validate the result or prove it false. It also serves as a reference for future research. So, with the given format on how to write a lab report, you will surely complete and organize your own report.