The Catamount’s Guide to
Writing a Biology Report
Anatomy of a
Lab Report
A biology lab report generally consists of:
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Title page
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
Citations
Check with your professor to see if he/she
prefers any variations. We’ll take a look at
the seven sections that generally constitute
a lab report.
Title Page
You should always put a lot of thought into
your title, because it’s the first impression
the reader is going to get of your work. The
wording of your title should be as concise
and informative as possible. If possible,
keep the title under ten words (Dolphin).
For instance, let’s say that you are going to
do an experiment on the effects that a
certain exercise has on blood pressure.
Titling the lab report Blood Pressure
Experiment would be too general. Instead,
write something that captures the gist of
the hypothesis and the variables tested,
such as Testing the Effects of Sit-Ups vs.
Running on Blood Pressure. Your primary
goal in writing a title for your lab report is
to communicate as much as you can about
the experiment to someone who is doing
research and sifting through hundreds of
articles. You want that readers to be able to
identify your article as something they
need; including keywords in your title can
be an effective way to do this (Dolphin).
Don’t forget to include your name and the
required information for your class!
Abstract
The abstract is a short paragraph that
summarizes the experiment. Although the
abstract comes first in the lab report, it’s
best to write it last. It makes much more
sense to summarize the report after it has
been written. A good abstract should be
between 100-200 words (Dolphin), but try
to write at least one sentence about each
part of the report. Think of this section as a
helpful resource for someone doing massive
amounts of research, someone who needs a
summary of the whole experiment in order
to determine whether or not it’s what they
are looking for. The abstract is usually
meant to address a few basic questions.
First, think about why you’re doing the
experiment to begin with. What
independent and dependent variables are
you manipulating, and what procedures are
being used to manipulate them? Next, focus
on the results of your experiment. What
raw data did you collect from this study?
After that, tell the reader about the
discussion and the major points of your
conclusion (“Writing a Formal Lab Report”).
Introduction
In the introduction, you will discuss the
question that this experiment is meant to
address, as well as the means by which you
plan to answer this question. You should try
to answer these kinds of questions: Why did
you perform this study? What scholarship is
already out there? What is the specific
purpose or aim of this study? (Dolphin)
You will not describe the procedures of the
experiment in too much detail (that will go
in the methods section), but make sure that
the reader has a clear understanding of how
these experimental procedures are going to
answer the question at hand (“Writing a
Formal Lab Report”).
Next, tell the reader how you believe this
experiment will turn out, and list two sets
of circumstances under which your
hypothesis would be correct or incorrect.
For example, you could say something like,
“If my hypothesis is correct, I should
expect… If my hypothesis is wrong, I should
expect...”
Methods
The methods section is where you will
describe your procedure in detail. First, you
need to describe each of the materials you
used in the experiment, along with their
functions. Then, provide a detailed
description of how your experiment was
carried out. Clearly explain what was
involved in each step of the procedure,
keeping each of the events in order
(“Writing a Formal Lab Report”). Keep in
mind that this document is meant to be
read by other scientists so that they can
recreate your results, so strive for optimal
clarity and completeness. If you are
performing procedures exactly from
another report, be sure to cite the work and
note that there are additional details in that
report (Dolphin).
Results
This section is reserved for a clear
description of the results you obtained.
Refrain from giving an interpretation of you
results; that will come in the discussion
section (“Writing a Formal Lab Report”). It
should be an objective summary of your
results. Some writers choose to organize
their results section before organizing the
rest of the report (Dolphin).
You should use both text and figures to
present your data. If you use graphs in this
section, be sure that the axes are labeled.
Carefully review your figures to ensure that
they clearly address the problem that is
being addressed in the experiment. Also,
check to make sure that your graph is
correct—you never know when Microsoft
Excel might turn against you (“Writing a
Formal Lab Report”).
Discussion
In the discussion, you will provide an
interpretation of the results. How do these
results answer the question that your
experiment set out to address? Make it
clear to the reader whether your hypothesis
was supported or contradicted. If it turns
out that your hypothesis was wrong,
provide some explanation of why. You may
also include outside research that pertains
to your experiment. Sometimes the
implications of your results aren’t
immediately clear, so if this happens, you
should explain what further
experimentation could be done to clarify
the issue (“Writing a Formal Lab Report”). It
is also appropriate in this section to provide
suggestions to improve the experiment in
the future (Dolphin).
Citations
Throughout the paper, you should be using
in-text citations to demonstrate when you
have been using information from other
sources (Cage). When you reach the end of
your report, be sure to cite any sources you
used throughout the paper in the style that
your professor prefers. This will help you to
avoid plagiarism. These should be articles,
books, and other works that you directly
cite in your report. Check with your journal
or professor to determine which citation
style is appropriate (Dolphin).
Works Cited
Cage, Molly and Jonathan Wakefield.
“Writing Biology and Laboratory Reports.”
Richmond University, n.d. Web.
Dolphin, Warren D. “Writing Lab Reports
and Scientific Papers.” McGraw-Hill College
Division, 1997. Web.
“Writing a Formal Lab Report.” Germanna
Community College, n.d. Web.