Circulatory/Respiratory System Lab Report Guidelines
This lab report is due Friday, May 4th.
Your lab report should be typed and include the sections described below. This lab report should only need to be 2-3
pages long to address the sections below. If you have questions, email Ms. Caron (ccaron@thegreeneschool.org).
**If you missed the in-class lab portion or your lab idea failed, you may either re-run your lab outside of class or use the data that
was collected by another group that you participated with (or who you would have worked with if you were absent). Keep in mind
that you will need to understand the set-up of the lab enough to be able to discuss the topics below.
Lab Report Title That is as Descriptive as Possible
Name
Introduction
This portion of the report describes the purpose of the lab, with any background information that the reader might need
to know. The opening paragraph should provide the reader with referenced (author’s last name, year published)
background information about the problem to be investigated, including the hypothesis to be evaluated.
The introduction should contain about two paragraphs. The final sentence of the last paragraph should state the
objective of your experiment, much like the final sentence of the introduction section of a term paper usually states the
thesis of the paper.
Materials and Methods
This portion of the lab report describes, in reproducible detail, the materials and methods used by the investigator(s).
This section is written in past tense and paragraph form, in an impersonal manner, using passive voice (The data were
measured using…,). Enough detail should be provided to assure that the reader could perform your experiment using
only this information, but you do not need to state the obvious, such as that the lab tables were cleaned after the
experiment was over. If time was a factor, include it, otherwise leave it out. It is also critical that no results are printed
here, just materials and methods used.
Results
Results should be mentioned here in detail. There should be a verbal explanation of general results, referring the reader
to appropriate table(s) and/or graph(s) (i.e. see table 1 or fig. 3a). The better the visual aid, the easier it is for the reader.
Never report data with tables and figures without a verbal explanation indicating what you would like the reader to see.
Discussion
The Discussion section is where you interpret and compare your results. You should compare your results with published
values whenever possible (remember that published values need a citation in your references section). You will also
need to evaluate how well your data support or refute the hypothesis. This section discusses the significance of your
results as they apply to science. If your results demonstrate what happened, the discussion explains why it happened as
it did. You should also discuss the possible sources of error and you can also explain how the procedure might be
improved in the future. This is also a good place to describe the next direction for your study, as an answer to one
question in science, usually leads to several new questions.
References
Any information that came from another source (including your textbook, class notes, handouts, etc.) must be listed
here. You can use the same format for references that you use in your English classes or any other format, as long as it
includes the author, title, where & when the work was published, and the specific location within the source (such as
page numbers).
Adapted from: http://www.stjohnshigh.org/s/804/index.aspx?pgid=679&gid=1 and http://www.mrbigler.com/documents/report-style-guide.html