1. Title Page

The title page of the lab report should be blank except for the Title of the Lab Report, Date Due, Your Name each centered on a separate line. Spelling and grammar count. The lab report should be divided into sections (see below) and written as clearly and concisely as possible.

2. Introduction (What do you know?)

The first line of the introduction should state the purpose of the lab. Next, you summarize what is known about your subject by providing background information which is relevant to the lab. For example, if the lab is on the growth of bacteria you should describe the important properties of bacteria, such as their size and the kinds of diseases they cause. Do not use direct quotes. Put this information in your own words but give the source credit (Johnston and Brusca, 1994) in the sentence. Finally, the introduction should state the hypothesis which is going to be tested. This is the question you will attempt to answer.

3. Materials and Methods (What did you do?)

This section of the report tells what you did during the lab in great detail. Someone who knows nothing about the lab should be able to follow your instructions and get the correct results. Materials are not written separately from methods. Instead, write out the steps in paragraph form in the order in which things happened, mentioning each material and the methods that went with it as they were needed during the lab. Use the past tense and the passive voice. (Best: "Cells were examined using a compound microscope." OK: "I examined cells using a compound microscope." Not so great: "First you should look at cells under the microscope.")

4. Results (What did you find?)

In this section, you present the data you have collected. This will include a written description of what you observed while conducting each stage of the experiment. It should also in some cases include drawings and numeric data in tables and graphs (with units). Tables should be labeled as Table 1, Table 2... and figures (graphs, drawings) as Figure 1, Figure 2... and should be referred to by number in other sections of the report. For microscope drawings, be sure to include the magnification. Label all parts clearly. In some cases, statistical analysis of results will be required. Calculations may be shown in an "Appendix" after the References section, but summary statistics such as the range, mean (average) and standard deviation are presented in the results.

5. Discussion (What does it mean?)

This is the part of the lab where you interpret or explain the data. You should relate it back to your original hypothesis. Were you able to accomplish your objective? Did your experiment confirm or reject your predictions? Was there variation in your data or the class results? What were the sources of variation and how do they affect your results? What is the significance (importance) of your results? How could you improve this experiment if it was to be repeated? What questions remain unanswered? What new experiment could you design to answer them?

6. References

List in alphabetical order by author's last name the names of all sources used including page numbers of any information included in your report. Example:

Johnson, G.B. and G.J. Brusca. 1994. Biology: Visualizing Life. p. 7. Holt Publishing, U.S.A.

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