What is the Point?

 Lab reports allow other scientists to read about what
you did
 Reporting your findings allows other scientists to
review your work
What’s in a Lab Report?

 Title
 Problem or question
 Lab set-up (This includes the materials you used, the
procedure)
 Results (This includes data, graphs and your analysis
of what happened)
 Conclusion
 Sources
Title

 The title of a lab report should be at the top
 It should summarize the study
 Example: “How fertilizer affects plant growth” or
“The effect of salt water on freshwater fish”
Problem

 This is the main problem or question you want to answer
 This is usually just 1 or 2 sentences.
 Example: How does fertilizer affect the height a bean
plant will grow?
 Be specific! Asking how fertilizer affects height of a bean
plant is different from “How does fertilizer affect plants”
Hypothesis

 This is your prediction of what might happen
 This is based on what you know, what you have
read, and all your smarts. So don’t just guess!
 This is usually set up like an “If…. Then….”
statement
 Example: If I put fertilizer on bean plants, they will
grow taller than beans without fertilizer
Experimental Design

 This includes the materials you used. List everything in detail.
 Don’t simply say “fertilizer” say “5 grams of fertilizer each day
per plant”
 Procedures also go here. Write out what you did in step-by-step
format.

1.
2.
3.
Example:
I planted 30 bean plants in a sunny corner of my backyard
I have each bean plant 0.2 liters of water daily
I gave 15 bean plants 5 grams of fertilizer every morning at 9
AM for 3 weeks.
Results

 This is where your data goes.
 If you have qualitative data, you can show pictures
or write descriptions
 If you have quantitative data, you can put the
numbers in a table
Fertilized
Unfertilized
Week 1
3
3
Week 2
4
3.4
Week 3
6
4
Results

 This section also includes graphs of your data
The Effect of Fertilizer of
Bean Height
Centimeters
 Example:
8
6
4
2
0
Fertilized
Unfertilized
Week Week Week
1
2
3
Results

 Finally, this section includes analysis. Analysis is
where you take a critical look at what you did. You
point out any trends you see. You tell what you
might have done wrong.
 Example: The beans that got fertilizer grew about 2
cm taller than those without fertilizer. I did,
however, see that maybe they got more sunlight too.
Conclusion

 This is where you wrap the whole thing up.
 What did you find out? Does this support your
original hypothesis? What else do you want to know
now? How could you improve your experiment for
next time?
Sources

 Because stealing from people without citing them is
PLAGERISM and very bad, we must cite our
sources!
 If you get anything from another place (website,
book, etc) you have to give them credit.
 Example: George, Natalie. “How Fertilizer Works”
2012.