Instructions for Preparing a Lab Report

Lab reports should have 5 sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Literature Cited. Each of these sections is described below.

At first, it may seem that the format for lab reports is too rigid; students cannot be creative. With a little practice, it will become clear that the format is easy to read; it allows data to be presented in a format that others can quickly find. Different readers have different needs. They may get what they need from a quick scan of a graph or chart. Others may want more information. They may be interested in the investigators interpretation. Others may even want to repeat the entire procedure themselves. Nearly all scientific literature is published in this format or something very similar, so readers know where to look for what they need. Most students will publish something during their lifetime and this is the way science is published. Our goal is to practice reading and writing the language of science.

This section should be labeled with the word "Introduction" as is done above. There is not a colon after the word Introduction. There is only one Introduction in the lab report

In this section, Discuss the problem or topic. Why is it important? What are you trying to find out? State any hypotheses that are being tested. Provide the reader with enough information that they will be able to read and understand the rest of the lab report. 

Lab reports are technical papers. Your goal is to present information, not to entertain. You should avoid emotional language; present the information but do not embellish. For example, the following is not appropriate. "Have you ever wondered why..."

Some of the laboratory exercises are case studies. If case studies are provided, you should tell how your hypothesis relates to the observation in the case study. Your hypothesis should explain why the observation occurred.

One of the BIO 101 labs is about tests for carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. In this section, you might discuss what they are, why they are important, and why you might want to test for them.

One of the BIO 102 labs is about chemotaxis and phototaxis in Physarum. What is Physarum? Why would you expect it to move? What hypotheses are being tested?

One of the BIO 226 labs measures breathing rate before and after doing several different activities. Discuss factors that determine breathing rate. Hypothesize what might happen to breathing rate as a result of the activity.

A hypothesis is proposed to explain an observation. It should be a statement, not a question. A statement can be tested but a question cannot. Suppose that you were studying the effect of cigarette smoking on exercise. An example of a hypothesis is: Cigarette smoking increases the amount of recovery time needed after exercise. This hypothesis can be tested. It is either true or false. The data collected will either support the hypothesis or will show that it is false. 

The following hypothesis is neither true nor false because it is a question: Does cigarette smoking increase the amount of recovery time needed after exercise?  It is not possible to design an experiment to show if this hypothesis  is true or false.

The hypothesis being tested should be clearly identified as a hypothesis. For example, "the hypothesis tested is..." clearly identifies the hypothesis. Do not create a separate subheading labeled hypothesis.

This section is labeled "Methods" as shown above. There is not a colon after the word Methods.

Provide enough detail in this section to allow readers to repeat your experiment if they desire. Depending on your experiment, dates, time of day, temperature, location, elevation, etc. may be important information and should be included in the methods section.

Use only whole paragraphs with complete sentences. An outline or list is not acceptable.

There should be only one Methods section in the lab report; all of the methods for the entire lab should go in this section.

The section should be written in past tense. Describe exactly what you did in the lab. If the procedure that you followed was different than that given in the lab manual, write what you did, not what the lab manual says to do.

Avoid using the words I, he, she, or we. This section should be written in a passive voice and there should not be references to other people. For example, the following is incorrect: "After we added the solution to the test tube, we heated it until it began to boil." A better alternative is: "After the solution was added to the test tube, it was heated until it began to boil."

Label this section "Results" as shown above. There is not a colon after the word Results. 

There is only one results section in the lab report so put all of your results in this section.

Put all of the results, statistical analyses, graphs, and tables in this section.

Do not discuss procedures or give explanation of results in this section, just the results of your experiments.

Data can often be best summarized using tables and graphs. Tables and graphs enable the reader to view your data quickly. Use at least one table and one graph in your report.

Use paragraphs with complete sentences in this section. If you use tables or graphs, you must still use sentences and paragraphs to describe general trends and summarize the tables and graphs.

Your report should contain at least one graph and one table. The graph should be prepared using a graphing program like Create a Graph, Excel, or some other software. Save the graph in jpeg (jpg) format and then import it into your word processor document. Do not use the graph creating software to print the graph. Instead, you should insert it into your document. Use the link below for instructions on using Create A Graph.

Instructions for creating graphs using Create A Graph

Be sure that the independent variable is on the X-axis of your graph and the dependent variable is on the Y-axis. Please see the section on variables in the lecture notes on Science if you have any questions on dependent and independent variables. 

Identify tables as Table 1, Table 2, etc. Graphs, drawings, and photographs should be identified as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. Graphs and tables must be captioned (titled). A caption is a sentence or several sentences that provide enough information to understand the table or figure without reading the rest of the paper. See the examples below of a table and a graph.

Table 1. Survival of young corn plants grown indoors at two different temperatures. Survival was measured as the number of plants alive 4 weeks after planting on June 1, 2006. Artificial illumination was provided for 14 hours each day.

Temperature	Number of seeds planted	Number of plants alive after 4 weeks
20 degrees	100	87
35 degrees	100	53

Locate graphs and tables near where they are discussed, not at the end of the paper.

The probability level (p) for the statistical test should be stated in this section. If a t-test is used, the value of t and degrees of freedom (d.f.) are also stated. All of these statistics should be stated in sentence form. This item does not apply to the Cellular Respiration lab (BIO 101) or the Experiment on Diffusion and Osmosis (BIO 100).

A printout of your statistical analysis is not part of your report. It should be attached to the end of the report. Online students can use the copy-and-paste technique to insert it at the end of the report. It will be used to verify that your analysis has been done correctly.

This section should be labeled "Discussion" as shown above. There is not a colon after the word Discussion. There is only one discussion section in the lab report, so put the discussion for all parts of the lab here.

In this section, you must discuss whether you accept or reject your hypothesis or hypotheses and explain why. If you reject a hypothesis, state an alternative. If a statistical analysis was performed on the data, then your decision to accept or reject the hypothesis depends on the value of p as determined by the analysis. For example- "The hypothesis that cigarette smoking increases recovery time is accepted because p < 0.05" or "The hypothesis that cigarette smoking increases recovery time is rejected because p > 0.05."

Explain why your results came out the way they did. If your results did not come out as expected, explain why and what should have happened. Explain what your results mean. How do they fit into the biology of the system that you are studying? Your explanation should be sufficient so that an average intelligent reader without an understanding in biology would be able to understand.

Normally, everything mentioned in a scientific publication should be verifiable. This helps readers that have questions and it ensures that the information presented is accurate. For example, if you state that caffeine is a stimulant, you should provide the reader with the source of this information so that the reader can verify whether it is true. Another example of a statement that you might make is that sugars provide energy. This statement may be obvious to some, however, it still should be referenced because it came from somewhere. The reader needs to be able to verify if it is really true or at least know where you got your information. 

You must have a literature cited section to receive any points for the report. Do not submit papers without 2 acceptable literature citations. They will not be graded.

This section of the lab report should be labeled "Literature Cited" as shown above. There is not a colon after the words Literature Cited.

The literature cited section contains a list of the publications that you cited in the report. The citations are typically used in the "Introduction" or in the "Discussion" sections but may also be used in the methods or results section if appropriate. The author name and year is given wherever the citation is used. The name of the author and year is also listed in the Literature Cited section along with the title of the article or book, the publisher, etc. Internet citations must also include the URL (web address) so that the reader can check the site and find the article.

You must cite at least two references. The following kinds of citations do not count:

-References without an author name

-Textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias

-The Biology Web or any material provided for this course

If you use these kinds of materials, you will need to find additional citations so that you have at least two.

It is best to avoid using web pages because they are generally unreliable. Instead, use the internet for journals or other publications. If web pages are used, they must have an author. A good place to look for books, magazines, and journals is in the databases at CCC's Douglas Library. Use the link below to go to the Douglas Library home page.

http://clintoncc.suny.edu/DouglasLibrary/

The following web sites may also be helpful in searching for sources of literature.

Ingentaconnect - http://www.ingentaconnect.com/

Science Direct - http://www.sciencedirect.com

Find Articles - http://www.findarticles.com

For classes taken on campus: Staple a copy of each document cited to your report. If the citation is from a book, a copy of the chapter will be sufficient. If it is from a magazine, journal, or the internet, copy the entire document. If the magazine or journal article is long (more than 10 pages), copy only the paragraphs that you cite. Online classes should skip this step.

Use APA style for citations. The Douglas Library Web page has documents on the APA style. From the library home page (link above), select APA / MLA Guides.

When listing the citation, do not give the URL of the search engine. If you provide a URL, it must go directly to the web page of the publication, not to the web page where you found it using a search engine. 

Example Using the APA Style

Suppose a book by Joe Green contains the following sentence: "Proteins are long chains of amino acids and the sequence of amino acids determines the nature of the protein". An example of how this information could be used is: According to Green (1987), the sequence of amino acids in proteins is important. This citation could also be done like this: The sequence of amino acids in proteins is important (Green, 1987).

Statistical Analyses

If you performed a statistical analysis using a spreadsheet, copy the analysis and paste it at the end of the lab report. This is not a part of the report. It will be used to verify that the analysis was done correctly.

General Comments

BIO 101, BIO 102, and ENV 101 students must turn in the assigned lab reports in order to receive a passing grade in the course.

The lab report is to be written in the same format as any scientific publication. There should be 5 main sections and they should be labeled: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Literature Cited.

The report must be composed on a word processor, printed on a printer, and double-spaced.

Length- Generally, I don’t like counting pages. Use sufficient pages to say what is necessary but do not use extra. Generally, 3 to 6 pages will be sufficient.

Avoid unnecessary words. For example, the following is unnecessary: "My lab partners and I tested the solution...". A better alternative would be "The solution was tested".

When citing published information, do not copy word-for word. Do not rely on the cleverness of another author to construct your sentences. Instead, you should reword the quotation in your own words. Normally, direct quotations are used if an author said something that cannot be successfully paraphrased. In this course, they may not be used.

All parts of the paper should be written using whole sentences in paragraphs. Do not precede your paragraphs with letters or numbers as you would in an outline. Do not use any other subtitles other than Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Literature Cited.

The metric system should be used throughout the report. If your units for data measurement are not metric, they must be converted.

A scientific paper is an unbiased report. Avoid using words like "amazing." The report should be precise. Avoid words such as "big." Try to obtain a measurement. For example, if your experiment involves sampling 5 large trees, it is best to try and get a measurement of the size of the trees. This might be done by measuring the diameter of the trunk.

A printout of your statistical analysis is not part of your report. It should be inserted at the end of the report.

The report will be submitted to turnitin.com but copies of the literature used in your report will be submitted in class (campus classes only).