Advanced Technical Writing
Lecture 6
Laboratory Report
Cover Page
• Course Title
• Experiment Number
• The Experiment Title
• By: (name of performer)
• The title and address of the performer
• The name of the supervisor
• Title and address of the supervisor
• Date: (month day, year)
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Example
Circuit Theory I
Experiment number 1
Verification of Ohms’ Law
By
Ahmed Ali
Sami Adel
Submitted to
Eng. Al shrafa
Electrical & Computer Engineering Dept.
Islamic University of Gaza
September 20, 2004
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Title



Reflect the factual content with less than ten words in
a straightforward manner
Use keywords that researchers and search engines on
the Internet will recognize
Avoid abbreviations, and initials.
See text pages: 692-694
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The format of the report
AIMRAD
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Analysis
Discussion
+Conclusion
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Abstract (informative)
One short paragraph
Aims
 Methods
 Results

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Aims
Concise but informative
One or two sentences should be sufficient
Example:
To determine the relative molecular
mass of an unknown dibasic acid
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Methods and Results
Explain in short the method or methods you used
to get the results.
Write down your results
Examples: Text pages 8-10
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Introduction
A few paragraphs or a few pages.
Includes:
 Background
 Theories, equations, and rules used in calculations
 Brief about the work (hypotheses) and expectations
Remember to quote your sources (you should include a
bibliography of your references after the
conclusions section).
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Method



Concise but sufficient for someone to
repeat the work.
List materials used, how were they
used.
Describe special pieces of equipment.
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Method - continue

Use third person past tense
Example: A solution of barium chloride
(0.05 mg in 100 cm3) was prepared in water
and titrated against silver nitrate.

Avoid starting a sentence with a
number
Example: 0.05 mg of barium chloride was
mixed with 100 cm3 water
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Results
Tabulate the numerical data when
possible
 Make sure that you divide tables
by measurements units such that
you write only number inside the
table

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Results: Avoid
Voltage
Current
Resistance
12.0 (V)
2.0
6.0
10.0 (V)
1.7
5.9
7.9 (V)
1.3
6.1
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Results: do not avoid
Voltage (V)
Current (mA) Resistance (kΩ)
12.0
2.0
6.0
10.0
1.7
5.9
7.9
1.3
6.1
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Results - continue


Title all figures and tables; include a legend
explaining symbols, abbreviations, or special
methods
Number figures and tables separately and refer
to them in the text by their number, i.e.

Figure 1 shows that the activity....

The activity decreases after five minutes (Figure 1)
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Analysis
Calculations and graphing
Interpretation of results go into this section
Remember to layout your calculations
clearly, showing each step
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Discussion
How relevant are your results ?
What errors are there ?
Did something go wrong ?
Try to be positive
Write your ideas to improve the experiment
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Conclusion
Did you meet the aims of the experiment ?
Example: The relative molecular mass of the
unknown was determined to be 146.5.
The conclusion should echo the Abstract and be
as short as possible.
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References
All references should be listed
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