Writing Lab Reports

1
Writing Lab Reports

• Components
• Introduction
• Materials and methods
• Results (with figures)
• Discussion
• References

2
Introduction

• Summary of information available prior to
  experiment being conducted
• Should reflect process of inductive reasoning
• series of observations leading to inferred
  explanation (hypothesis)
• funnel shape

3
Example of inductive reasoning

• 1) In the early stages of Little League
  practices, weve noticed that boys were
  generally more accurate than girls when throwing
  a baseball.
• 2) As adults, men are more likely than women to
  engage in ball sports.
• We know from anthropological research that in
  many non-technological human societies, men
  perform more of the hunting tasks than women.
• Inferred explanation Boys are born with brains
  that are better able to coordinate complex
  throwing motions than girls.

4
Introduction, contd.

• Last paragraph should describe process of
  deductive reasoning
• Deductive reasoning makes a prediction about the
  outcome of an experiment

5
Deductive reasoning example

• If.then. statement
• If boys have an inborn throwing skill and girls
  dont, then boys will be more accurate than girls
  when throwing an object which neither have much
  experiences with for instance, a javelin.

6
Materials and methods

• Should describe general experimental procedures
  used
• Write in passive voice!!
• The tubes were then centrifuged at 10,000 rpm
  vs. I placed the tubes in the centrifuge and I
  set the speed at 10,000 rpm

7
Results

• Assemble data into graphs using Excel
• Describe trends or timing of events
• Milk the data!
• Just the facts!!! No explanations
• Include a figure legend for each graph
• Graphs should appear in the order in which they
  are referred to in the text
• Graphs should only appear after they have been
  referred to in the text

8
Discussion

• Expand into conjecture decide what those facts
  mean
• Speculate, theorize (with logic on your side, of
  course)
• Explain why things did / did not turn out the way
  you had expected

9
References

• References should be cited in the text in the
  following manner
• Galanin action and the hormonal regulation of
  galanin gene expression have not been described
  in the ovary of any species (Fox, 1994)
• Full references should be listed alphabetically
  (citing authors, title, source and date of
  publication) at the end of the report

10
Other details

• Reports should be typewritten, double-spaced with
  12 point font
• No restrictions in terms of length
• No comma splices!!
• Succinate dehydrogenase is a mitochondrial
  enzyme, it facilitates the oxidation of succinate
  to fumarate.