Sample Lab Report
Abstract
Modern scientific papers typically begin with a short abstract summarizing the entire
project. This sample lab report includes all the elements present in a modern scientific
paper, organized in a fashion appropriate for introductory astronomy lab reports.
Introduction
This sample lab report illustrates a suitable form for writing a scientific paper. The
introduction presents a basic statement of the problem to be solved. It may be to test a
hypothesis, explore some phenomenon or test new experimental techniques. The present
“hypothesis” is that it is possible to illustrate how to write a lab report. The report begins
with a Title giving a succinct, one-line identification of the project, the Author or
Authors actually responsible for the report and the author’s Affiliation, which in this
case will include the course and lab section. For Astronomy labs, each student must
write his or her own report. The body of the report should include an Introduction, a
description of the Procedure (or Measurements or Observations), an Analysis (or
Results) section, a section describing the Error Analysis and a Discussion or
Conclusions section. There may also be an Acknowledgements paragraph, mentioning
people who may have provided data or other help for the project. In most scientific
papers there will be a list of References that may have been used in the preparation of the
report. Finally, for Astronomy lab reports, the original Data pages should be attached to
the report.
Procedure
The body of the report should begin with a systematic discussion of the project. The
equipment should be described, and each observational or experimental or computational
step should be discussed. A table or figure summarizing the data may be appropriate. It
may not be necessary to include all of the data in this section, but the essential data used
in the analysis section should be described completely. Figures or sketches of the
instrumental setup or other illustrations are likely to be helpful.
After reading the procedure section, the reader should have a clear idea of what was
actually done in the project. The goal of this section is to justify that the hypothesis
described in the introduction has really been tested.
Analysis
Usually there will be a computational section or perhaps a discussion that brings together
the pieces of the project to derive the final results. The results may be partly in the form
of tables or figures. The analysis section could be the longest part of a theoretical paper,
but in many introductory astronomy labs, the analysis might be rather brief.
Error Analysis
In many respects the most critical part of any paper is the error analysis section. This
section must demonstrate that the results are actually meaningful. There will be some
sort of an answer, or a conclusion, but how good is it? The basic statistical parameters
(standard deviation, etc.) of the various numerical quantities may be discussed in the
analysis section, but in this section the errors need to be put into context. The sources of
error and their effects on the conclusions must be evaluated. Human error obviously plays
a role in all experimental errors, but it is never the only source of error.
Discussion
So what has been learned? The discussion or summary section needs to wrap up the
report. How well have the goals been achieved? Does this project support the
hypothesis, or is some new hypothesis suggested? The summary may also address how
the experiment could be improved, or suggest other possible tests of the hypothesis. In
this section you should answer any questions the TA asks during the lab as well as any
questions asked in the lab manual.
Most astronomy lab reports need not be long; a page or two plus perhaps figures and
tables should usually be adequate. All reports must be printed of course (except for the
lab notes that will be appended to the report).
Acknowledgements
You may want to give credit here to people or groups who made contributions to the
project in some way or another. Generally if you used data from some source other than
your own work, you will make reference to that in the procedure or analysis sections, but
it may be appropriate to say something here as well.
References
Almost all scientific papers make use of data or ideas from someone else. The sources of
such materials should be referenced in this section.
Data
For introductory Astronomy labs, you should attach the original notes from your labs.
These notes need to show what you actually did in the lab. There should be indications
of any problems with the equipment, weather conditions and any other relevant factors, in
addition to instrument setups and the raw data.