A brief version of the ISAT Style Manual for GISAT 112
Please put the following at the top of your report’s first page:
Title of Report
GISAT 112—Section Number
Date
Group Number
First Team Member
Second Team Member
Third Team Member
Fourth Team Member
A couple of other rules to keep in mind:
 Make sure that this information is correct and complete: Include full (first and last) names of all team members—spelled
correctly! You’ll make me very happy if you list team members in alphabetic order.
 Spend your time on the content of the report. You will be rewarded for solid content, not fluff.
 Use 1 inch margins, 11 or 12 point font, single space within paragraphs and double space between paragraphs.
The Abstract
The type of abstract you will be writing for your lab reports is called an informative abstract. It should briefly state the problem
considered, the methods used to examine the problem, a brief description of the laboratory results, and an accompanying
conclusion. This is the common form of abstract used in scientific journals.
In writing your abstract, keep in mind these general rules:
 A good abstract should
o state the objectives and scope of the research or report;
o describe the methodology used in the research; and
o summarize the results, conclusions, and any recommendations.
 A solid paragraph will suffice (50-150 words for our purposes). Good abstracts rarely exceed 200 words.
 Keep the abstract tight and concise. Resist including needless information. Choose short sentences (and short words) rather
than long ones.
 The abstract should only include information and conclusions that are contained in the main paper.
 Make the abstract self-contained. Do not include any bibliographic, table, or figure reference.
 Use the active voice ("Our group recorded 100 data points") rather than the passive voice ("One hundred data points were
recorded by our group").
 Write in the third person ("The aquifer covers 1000 square kilometers") or the first person plural ("We see from this
equation that acceleration is proportional to force"). Avoid using "I" statements in writing an abstract.
 Write the abstract in the past tense, because you are describing work that has already been completed.
Advice: write the abstract LAST.
The Introduction
You are writing to convey information. Think of the introduction as your opportunity to justify why the reader should take the time
to finish reading your report. Think of the questions the reader might ask. What is the specific purpose of this study? Why was this
study performed or why is it important? What is needed to understand this work? How is the study to be presented? Effectively
answering these questions minimizes the chance the reader will dismiss your work as unworthy of attention.
In addition, a good introduction will include another short statement of the results and conclusions of the study. Conclusions are
important enough that you will actually mention them three times in a good lab report: in the abstract, in the introduction, and with
the most detail in the Discussion section. A good technical report does not read like a mystery with the outcome carefully concealed
until the last page. Rather, the introduction should read like a road map, explaining where you're going, why you're going, why
you've taken a certain route, and where you ended up.
In writing your introductions, keep in mind these general rules:
 The introduction should present first, with all possible clarity and brevity, the nature and scope of the problem investigated.
 The introduction should provide a rationale for the study.
 The introduction should explain how the method of investigation serves to resolve the problem.
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The introduction should briefly state the principal results of the investigation and the conclusions.
For class purposes, your introductions should remain short (somewhere in the vicinity of a half or three quarters of a page).
Use the active voice ("Our group recorded 100 data points") rather than the passive voice ("One hundred data points were
recorded by our group").
Write in the third person ("The aquifer covers 1000 square kilometers") or the first person plural ("We see from this
equation that acceleration is proportional to force"). As with abstracts, avoid using "I" statements in writing an
introduction.
Unlike the abstract, write your introduction largely in the present as you will be referring primarily to your problem at the
start of your work.
ADVICE: wait until your other sections are completed before you write the introduction. Don’t get hung up on the intro
when you could easily pull good sentences from the sections that come after it.
ADVICE: don’t forget the map work and ecological inventory!
The Materials and Methods Section
Remember the following guidelines when writing the Materials and Methods section:
 A good Materials and Methods section will generally contain the following (in order):
o A short statement of the design of the investigation (what you planned to do in your research - a single sentence
should be sufficient)
o Materials (description of the objects and equipment you used in your research – be comprehensive; be sure to
include all your maps/images as materials)*
o Methods (how you conducted the research and any specific methods for observation or interpretation of what you
found – be comprehensive; be sure to include descriptions of how you worked with the maps)*
 Give enough information so that the experiment can be reproduced by another person of equal competence. Be
discriminating in what you include. Be particular in your detail but also conscious about not including irrelevant
information.
 Be precise in your descriptions of materials, methods, measurements, and means of analysis.
 When describing your methods, do your best to present them chronologically.
 Subheadings may be used to clarify the presentation.
 Use this section for materials and methods only. Do not include statements about your results.
 Use the active voice ("Our group recorded 100 data points") rather than the passive voice ("One hundred data points were
recorded by our group").
 Write in the third person ("The aquifer covers 1000 square kilometers") or the first person plural ("We see from this
equation that acceleration is proportional to force"). Avoid using "I" statements in describing your materials and methods.
 A Materials and Methods section is generally written in the past tense. (You're describing what you did from a perspective
following the completion of the experiment.)
 *VERY IMPORTANT FOR WATER PROJECT: Because there are so many parts to the water testing lab, you do not have to
re-write the materials and methods for each section. You should clearly identify who did which test, and you should
reference the lab handout and LaMotte kit instruction sheets. Simply state that you followed the method in the
handout/instruction sheet (give them the correct names)—and then add any changes or additions that you made to this
method. You DO need to include methodology for your map work and ecological inventory.
The Data and Analysis Section
First, you should begin your section with a brief description of what your data show. Give your reader a context in which to view the
data. Second, you should present the data, using graphs and tables for efficiency and clarification. Finally, you should analyze your
data mathematically, showing any equations you need and their derivations, if they are not common knowledge. Do not discuss the
ramifications of your experiment--save that examination for the Discussion section of your report.
Keep the following guidelines in mind when writing your Data and Analysis section:
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Include a short summary of the data. Place the data in context for the reader.
Present your data in tables and graphs. Think back to your Properties of Gas lab report and review the proper way to create
graphs, tables, charts, etc. If you are not sure which forms are best, ASK.
Include relevant equations, with derivations where appropriate.
Do not describe how and why you got your results. (Save this for the Introduction and Materials and Methods sections.)
Similarly, wait to describe what your results mean for the Discussion section.
Be clear and simple in your presentation. Prefer short sentences (and words) to long ones.
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Avoid verbiage and redundancy. Arrange bulky and repetitive data in tables and graphs, and refrain from regurgitating in
the text all of the data presented in your graphics. Explain your graphics but don't merely repeat them verbatim in the body
of your report.
Subheadings may be used to clarify the presentation.
Use the active voice ("Our group recorded 100 data points") rather than the passive voice ("One hundred data points were
recorded by our group").
Write in the third person ("The aquifer covers 1000 square kilometers") or the first person plural ("We see from this
equation that acceleration is proportional to force"). Avoid using "I" statements.
A Data and Analysis section is generally written in the past tense.
The Discussion Section
The Discussion section of a lab report is sometimes the most difficult to write. This is the section where you will explain your results
and their ramifications. You will be bringing it all together in this section, detailing the principles, relationships, generalizations, and
consequences of your experiment. You must completely understand your investigation and corresponding results before you can
expect your reader to fully understand your report.
The primary purpose of your Discussion section should be to present the relationships between observed facts. Your Discussion
section is best understood as an interpretation of your results. Now that you've collected all of your data, what does it mean?
Always relate your discussion back to your objectives stated in your introduction. How do your data answer your original questions
or problem? Additionally, you should discuss the significance of your results. What is the final implication suggested by your data?
You don't have to have earth-shattering results, but you should at least indicate that some worthwhile information came out of your
experiment.
The following general guidelines apply to writing the Discussion section:
 A good Discussion section will generally contain the following elements (in similar order):
o Presentation of the relationships, generalizations, and/or principles suggested by the results.
o Statement of how the results answer (or fail to answer) the stated objectives of the experiment. Were the research
objectives met?
o Discussion of any problems with the results. This section includes any discussion of possible errors and exceptions.
 If relevant or available, discuss how the results compare with the results from any previous research or published work
(such as the accepted value of a physical constant).
 Organize your discussion tightly around the objectives of your experiment. Your discussion may cover a great deal of
ground--be sure that the ground you do cover is relevant.
 Avoid regurgitating the Data and Analysis section. Interpret but don't repeat.
 Subheadings may be used to clarify the presentation.
 Use the active voice ("Our group recorded 100 data points") rather than the passive voice ("One hundred data points were
recorded by our group").
 Write in the third person ("The aquifer covers 1000 square kilometers") or the first person plural ("We see from this
equation that acceleration is proportional to force"). Avoid using "I" statements in writing your conclusion.
 A Discussion section is generally written in the present tense, because although you are discussing past results, you are
interpreting them now.
 If your lab handout had specific questions to answer in the discussion, you should answer them as a separate list of answers
at the end of the discussion. You should still include an overall discussion that follows these guidelines.
 ADVICE: don’t forget the map work and ecological inventory!
The Conclusion
The following general guidelines apply to writing the Conclusion section:
 A good Conclusion section is usually quite short, usually just a few sentences is sufficient.
 Because it is so short, do not use subheadings in your Conclusion.
 Do restate important numbers, such as physical constants or parameters you have measured.
 Do not editorialize. Statements such as, "We learned a lot about the importance of water quality," have nothing to do with
the technical content of your report. If you felt there were problems with the methodology of a particular laboratory, you
should suggest improvements in your Discussion section.
 Use the active voice ("Our group recorded 100 data points") rather than the passive voice ("One hundred data points were
recorded by our group").
 Write in the third person ("The aquifer covers 1000 square kilometers") or the first person plural ("We see from this
equation that acceleration is proportional to force"). Avoid using "I" statements in writing your conclusion.
 A Conclusion section is generally written in the present tense.
References: Web pages: if you do use them, don't just cite the URL. Web pages have authors and titles just like journals and books.
Most importantly, give the date you accessed the site, in case it gets changed or disappears later. An example is:
Doe, John. My Home Page. URL: http://www.provider.com/johndoe/index.htm, January 2, 1999.
You don’t need to cite the textbook, lab handouts, or other course readings unless you have included direct quotes from
those sources.
Use of Tables
Tables are useful for two kinds of data: small data sets and groups of different kinds of data. The former is an easy call. Once your
data set gets to be larger than about half a dozen data points, put the data on a graph. It's much easier for a person to visualize a
trend than to pick it out of a column of numbers. The latter kind of data is usually a list of parameters. See for yourself which is
easier to understand:
Table 1. Parameters for metal bars used in the experiment.
Bar A
Bar B
aluminum
copper
diameter (cm)
1.2
0.9
length (cm)
11.5
12.0
material
As this example shows, a table organizes these parameters visually. There is one other instance in which tables are the preferred
mode of expression: when you really need to convey information to a high precision (in other words, a large number of significant
figures). There is a limit to how precisely you can read a graph, but there is no limit to the number of decimal places you can include
in a table entry.
There are only a few simple guidelines for tables, as follows:
 Use tables only for small data sets or data sets with different types of information, or when you really require highprecision.
 Number tables sequentially from the beginning of your document. Table numbers are separate from equation numbers or
any other things, such as graphics.
 Give each table a descriptive title.
 Keep units consistent throughout a row or column of a table.
Graphics
There is one thing you need to know that applies to all types of graphics in a technical paper: Graphs, diagrams, pictures, and other
graphic elements are collectively known as "Figures" in a technical paper. They should be numbered consecutively starting with the
first graphical element in the paper. In other words, if the first graphic is a diagram, it is "Figure 1." If the next two are graphs, they
are "Figure 2" and "Figure 3" respectively. If the next graphic is a photograph, it is "Figure 4," and so forth.
Give every graph a Figure number, and refer to the graph by number in the text. For example, use "Figure 4 shows us that..." rather
than "The following graph shows us that..."
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Give every graph a descriptive title or caption following the figure number.
Use a plain white background and black lines so that the graph will reproduce well on a photocopier or fax machine.
Don't put a border around a graph.
Remove legends from the right hand side of the graph. If you need to distinguish between lines on the graph, use dashed or
dotted lines, or put annotations on the graph. (The drawing toolbar in Microsoft Excelâ gives you easy access to text boxes,
lines, and arrows.)
Use descriptive axis labels on the graph. Include units in the axis labels, unless a quantity is truly dimensionless.
Make all text, especially scales on the axis, large enough to be readable.
Don't "connect the dots" if there is an underlying trend to the data (linear, exponential, etc.) The "trendline" feature of
Microsoft Excel can fit various functions to your data with a few mouse clicks. If the data show a more complicated
relationship, then connecting data points can be useful to guide the reader's eye.
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For class assignments, place figures on the page as close to their reference in the text as possible.
You do not need to put a title on the graph itself. Instead, put a caption directly under the graph.