The Fundamental Features of a Lab Report Template Writing
For performing a quality lab report template, one should keep in mind its purpose which is to clarify, demonstrate and evaluate what is done in the experimentation process that is designed to examine and test some object of science. Laboratory templates allow their performers to acquire the fundamental principles of how to accomplish the investigation within a branch of science, draw up a theory concerning a certain issue, study the corresponding resources that develop a theory, include the data which will allow proving the suggested theory, survey the available interpretations, make an investigation assessment consistently and impartially, exchange information accurately.
Note that writing a lab report is not the obligatory stipulation. Some testings will have a prerequisite to recording the calculations made and received, and nothing more. But in most cases you must get ready with a detailed template, so you have to be up to speed on the peculiarities of its composing.
One of the characteristic features of this report type is in its certain direction, that is, it views a single and specific issue or event. As for the shape it might be of, here we have two lab report examples: whether it is already provided partly due to the predefined questions, sentences and forms that you only need to complete or it may be performed manually from the beginning to the end and, therefore, be more all-embracing. Although lab reports do not normally include citations and other external sources, there’s still a tendency among learners to get some material addressing the notes made at the lessons, for example.
It’s an essential thing to do to get acquainted with the elements of a lab report and its sections. When you are totally aware of its structural specifications, you are able to create a report faster only arranging the gathered information within the frame.
- Let’s start with a headline, or a title. It should tell the theme of your work revealing a certain object you are going to investigate. In this section, you have to state what external circumstances will be operated on, what aspect will be researched and made calculations on, and point out the catalyst for it. The title must be accurate and short enough to demonstrate all the elements mentioned without excessive expressions.
- The outlining abstract which goes next is a short piece of information taking what’s the matter of a paper it is written on. It is a sort of an essay which tells about the aims, the approaches, the outcomes and the value of your paper but not uncovering its essence. It is a kind of writing which appears to be really beneficial when someone needs to gather relevant material for a paper like a thesis, a coursework, a dissertation etc., and abstracts help to understand at once whether some work will contain what a student looks for. As for the organization of paragraphs in this piece, it might be viewed as a smaller model of a formal lab report template as it has all its elements which are the introduction represented by a single statement, the goal of the writing, the account of the main techniques and stages, and the brief outline of the conclusions made.
- The part where you introduce your work to the readers represents also its intentions and value. Point out what question or phenomenon you are going to deal with and give a general knowledge concerning this question. The formulation should be available enough for comprehension. You also need to make a mention of the material in which the problem has already been touched on and tell what you may contribute to its further elucidation. This part must end by claiming the problem you are to examine and receive results on.
- Any science lab report template has a section where you enumerate all the work material used for performing your research procedure, in particular, the experiment itself, and the list of applied techniques to collect and process the acquired information as well. Everything you provide in this section has to be elaborate and comprehensive and describe each point blow-by-blow so that to create the possibility of repeating it again and again. If you need, you might add the pictures and sketches to demonstrate the kit and arrangement of materials better. If you’ve changed the order or the character of the process with respect to those that were documented by other researchers before, you must include this info as well.
- The nest part is your record of everything you’ve noticed and achieved after the experiment. Remember, that this part is only about the very facts, so you don’t need to provide explanations for now. Put the results down just like you’ve observed them. Illustrations are welcomed here too. As for the format of presenting the information in this section, it is preferable so that it included the text itself and the calculations. This rule works especially efficiently for a chemistry lab report template or a physics lab report template or any of the related exact sciences.
- After providing the raw data on the obtained outcomes, it is necessary to describe each of them in-depth and state the connection of your operations and insights to those operations made and insights received earlier. In case you’ve developed new models or established distinct connections, record them in detail. The discussion section also includes your reasoning in favor of or against the statement you were to check in the first place. All in all, make sure that all the information in this part is presented at great length and that it draws a parallel between your work and the works you made a reference to.
- The concluding section of your report will give an overview of the aim, the outcomes and work’s value again. After stating this, you might further attach the illustrations, schemes, charts that are too extended to put in the main part of your report. Assure the easy availability of the attached pieces of information and name all of them in a relevant manner. If you’ve used some basics from the other sources to write your work, you need to add one more sheet with the enumeration of these sources, and a corresponding lab report sample will assist you in its proper arrangement and formatting.
The Peculiarities of a Lab Report Format
If you take a look at a lab report format, you’ll understand that its proper accomplishment is achieved through the whole bunch of actions and procedures. You will need to acquire some know-how to perform your lab report at an excellent level. Have a look at the following principles, rules, and prompts.
The first part of lab format writing represents the issue which is the main theme of your work and is tested or researched within its framework. It should also include other scientists’ approaches description, so you are going to make it up to 5 sentences. Speak from yourself without demonstrating a direct reference to someone else’s thoughts. One more key element to include is the statement of rationale for your research and enumeration of more attempts made earlier to find out something about this topic. You have to explain the aim of your work, the actions required to perform it and the results you expect to get from it. Pay attention to this section so that it was revealed in a proper manner and in full. It is necessary to develop a strategy with a plan of actions and approaches which will assist at receiving the desired result. Record it if you want or in case you prepare a sketch anyway. The first part of a lab report should always be laconic and concise so that it wouldn’t make an impression of a cluttered piece of work. The algorithm of stages that are to be undertaken ought to fit in one sheet of paper and make up a bit more extended than the previous paragraph. This recorded algorithm is considered productive when it is clear and comprehensible enough in a form that does not include excessive descriptions. This part is like a guideline depicted schematically but fully and meaningfully, its language and structure must be intelligible. Such a presentation of your future procedure will be consistent and, therefore, within a receiver’s grasp. A format of a lab report which is characterized by brevity and absence of complication is very welcomed. Consequently, the experiment conducting process has to be put into words that will be different from the more specialized way of expression.
Many people use pencils when they make preliminary notes, although it is wiser to record the information so that you didn’t worry it would become paler or disappear at all. Make sure that you put down the information to a safe area where it will definitely not disappear. It is better when all these written elements are gathered in one place so that you didn’t find it an obstacle to it together. Hold off on getting rid of any pieces of information, because by the time you finish your work, it may appear that some of those elements are essential for building the whole. Assure the presence of your written material copies in order to be confident there’s always something to cover for you. One of the integral parts of a laboratory report format is having everything you’ve noticed or remarked while performing your science experiment in black and white. This regards any changes happening in the process, phenomena, inalterabilities etc. Remember that in your draft, you have to record every little thing any of which may become an important piece in a puzzle, and the draft in general will be the skeleton of a report itself. It will also help you to stay aware of all the material you possess and be in congruence with the course of your experiment implementation.
Now, it is time to arrange all that pieces you’ve collected and gather them together in a proper manner. Create the necessary schemes, diagrams, and charts to fill them in with the corresponding info. Choose the way to present the material so that it looked and felt available. If you need to include any numerical estimations, it is better to do that in a form of equations or any other arithmetic operations to have them serve you as an easier way of doing the computations and to demonstrate the recipient what exactly is counted to make up the result. Applying these operations to every part of your evidence will provide you with precise and credible numbers. If you have partners, then it will be advisable to do the required arithmetic operations for all or at least two of the whole team to make certain that your results coincide. A lot of things in a report depend just on these numeric results, that is why you have to be especially careful while making the calculations and drawing conclusions from them. When it already comes to concluding your work, you must know that the last part of it, according to the formal lab report format, echoes closely the first part, although it doesn’t state what needs to be done but reflects everything which was achieved in fact. The purpose of concluding part cannot be underestimated as the abundant character of a lab report is often rather difficult to keep in mind, that is why a sufficient conclusion is something which will refresh what needs to be brought to notice and remark some nuances of the work if they exist. At the same time, it should be concise and compact, so you need to check whether you’ve added the mention of methods and strategies applied, presented the account of phenomena you’ve observed and discovered and summarized all the outcomes. You also need to include your own opinion and express your considerations over the advantages and disadvantages of the outcomes obtained. The finishing touch to make will be to come up with an enclosing assertion of your laboratory report.
Do not ignore the stage when you look through the whole written work as regards slip-ups of structure, punctuation etc. You need to make sure your work is flawless. Do that together with your lab partners.
Basic Tips on a Lab Report Layout
A lab report layout is something that will always be your guide to make a good start and perform further work regarding all the stages of lab report writing. There are a few things left to point out and a few things to summarize for you to get the whole picture of all the elements of laboratory templates.
There is a peculiar set of points and sections to include in a lab report. They are as outlined next. Any lab report cover page must include your work’s headline and date done. The members involved must be enumerated as well. You should state the aim of your report and introduce your work to a recipient. Provide a list of all the ingredients, equipment etc. that are used. Under a headline “Procedure”, describe the course of work, attach numerical information, represent the outcomes and finish with the lab conclusions drawn in the process. Don’t forget to provide the resources you relied on.
Let us be more precise and take a closer look at what exactly all of the mentioned above points should contain and how they have to look like. If you have any doubts as regards final formatting, and if you have a possibility to contact someone who’ve already accomplished this assignment before with an excellent mark, it’ll be useful to check out some laboratory reports samples to notice what nuances should be paid more attention to. This approach will arm you with the knowledge on how to prevent any inaccuracies in your report.
The headline is characterized by an absolute precision, that is why you shouldn’t put there some elements that can make it look inappropriate or cluttered.
There are two options to specify the date. You may put it according to the time period of the experiment conducting or according to the time when all the work has been finished.
Enumerate all the members who were involved in performing all the tasks at any stage. You also have to point out whether all of them stand for the same or different educational establishment.
In one sentence, outline the aim and the importance of the actions undertaken, in particular, those to conduct your science experiment.
When you introduce your theme to the readers, try to show what is thought-provoking or unusual about it. You may compose this section a few sentences long or larger. Anyway, it has to be concluded by a theory statement which is to conduct an experiment on.
Then you need to enumerate all the reagents, substances, tools etc. which have helped to implement your testing procedure. It has to be clear enough so that the other investigators could do the same.
The details of the process itself may take from one paragraph to several pages depending on the number of various actions that comprise the whole experiment.
Shape all the collected numeric information in the relevant form.
Write down the products or conclusions you’ve received. Immediately after this section, record the existing mistakes evaluation.
The last parts will be your statements of whether the undertaken measures played the expected role and whether the whole endeavor has confirmed the outcomes you were hypothesizing about, and also the enumeration of all the pieces of information that assisted you at forming your lab report as you did.