How to Write a Lab Report

In higher educational institutions and colleges, they study not only theory, but also practice. Laboratory work shows how well the student has mastered the material. As a rule, in it the student applies theoretical knowledge in practice for the first time. The lab report should contain in detail information about all the stages and results of the experiments and experiments carried out. But often when doing it, the student has a question about how to write and format it correctly.

1. Lab Report Writing Guide
2. Outline of lab report
3. What Is the Structure of Lab Report
   1. Theoretical part
   2. Practical part
   3. Conclusion
4. Requirements for the design of the frame, graphic and calculation materials
5. Illustration design
6. Useful tips for writing Lab Report

In the modern education system, more and more attention is paid to the development of a research form of education. In this regard, students should be ready to participate in a variety of experiments. Laboratory work just helps students and students to combine theoretical and practical skills. The main task of lab report is to stimulate the intellectual activity of students, to form certain skills and teach the methodology of practical work.

A lab report is written based on the results of the experiment. Based on this report, the student receives a grade. Moreover, not only the content is evaluated, but also the design – structure of lab report, outline of lab report and so on. Therefore, it is very important to write a lab report correctly.

What should a lab report contain?

Structural elements of the lab report are: 

• Title page; 
• Purpose of the work; 
• Theoretical information; –
• Calculation and graphic part; 
• Conclusions on the work; 
• Bibliography.

The main part of the lab report should be divided into structural elements: sections, subsections and paragraphs. The names of these fragments of text are the headings:

1. Introduction.
2. Conclusion.
3. Definitions.
4. List of references and so on.

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At the beginning of the lab report, the student describes the purpose of the work and the tasks to be solved, as well as objectives are methods for achieving a set goal.

The educational goal of the laboratory work is the result that the student plans to achieve. When formulating a goal, action verbs should be used: explore, study, check, determine, and so on. After that, the object of research and the tasks that will be solved on the way to the goal are indicated: measure, consider, conduct, develop, and the like.

The volume of the introductory section depends on the depth of the research and the complexity of the work and can range from one paragraph to half a page.

The content of the theoretical part of the lab report depends on the discipline in which the laboratory work is done. This may be a description of formulas, theorems, measuring instruments and methods, or the history of the study of the problem. All of this is summarized and as concise as possible.

The practical part describes the technical equipment during the experiment, methods, and work progress.

Particular attention should be paid to the description of the results obtained during the experiment and their analysis. Intermediate results are recorded in tables that complement the description of the progress of work.

The practical part of the lab report is compiled so that the reader can understand from it that the author independently performed all the actions and reproduce his actions.

At the end of the practical part, a table is usually drawn up, which clearly displays all the results obtained (and sometimes the initial conditions). If intermediate results were required in the laboratory work, then they are also recorded in the tables.

Use the same design of graphic objects. For example, the lines in the table should have the same thickness and the same font, the size of the pictures should also not differ. 

Do not overdo the lab report with graphic elements, they can complicate the perception of information.

Images and tables should follow the text that refers to them. Graphic elements should be aligned to the center of the page.

The lab report ends with a conclusion and results. In them, the student fixes the final results of the experiment, lists the solved problems, and draws a conclusion.

The meaning of the conclusion of the lab report corresponds to a given goal (achieved or not achieved). In the final part, which is presented in the form of a conclusion in the lab report, it is necessary to highlight what the actions led to and what is the result.

Some lab reports are drawn up on sheets with frames. This is an optional requirement that depends on the rules of a particular university or college. You can make a frame yourself or download a ready-made one.

All graphic elements (tables, images, diagrams) are named and numbered. Numbering is carried out usually through Arabic numerals. Illustrations are always placed immediately after the text they accompany.

1. Before starting writing the lab report, familiarize yourself with the report format for your department and write a short plan for the future report. This way you don’t miss important intermediate data or information about the progress of the experiment that you may need.
2. If during the experiment you need to record a lot of data, enter them immediately into a table of the format that will be needed in the report. As a result, you will already have some of the data entered. This is more convenient than typing this information from a draft later.
3. Ask undergraduates about which applications are convenient for calculations for this laboratory work. Sometimes outdated software is recommended in the manual or there are no tips on this topic at all.