Formal Lab Report Format- FCHS Science Department
Title Page- Your lab should have a title, the date, the period, and the names of all lab
members. All lab members must also sign the title page, indicating that they approve of
the final lab report.
1. Problem or Question- What are you studying, what do you want to find out?
Example: Do plants grow taller in sunlight or darkness?
2. Research- You might need to do some research before you can write your
hypothesis. What you find in your research should be included in your lab report.
Perhaps you did some research on plants and learned about photosynthesis. You
learned that plants must have light to make food.
3. Hypothesis- The hypothesis is what you think will happen. It should be written
in an if…then ….format.
Example: If plants require sunlight to make food, then they will grow taller in
sunlight than in darkness.
4. Experimental Procedure or Design- In this section, you will describe the
procedure you will follow in your experiment. You should include a list of
materials, and step-by-step instructions to conduct the experiment. You should be
VERY specific and include all details. Someone who knows nothing should be
able to duplicate you experiment. Remember to use measurements (ex: add 5 mL
of water, instead of add some water). Be sure you are only using one variable.
You should only be testing one thing. In the case of our example, we’re testing
the light exposure. So, the plants should get the same amount of soil, water, etc.
All other conditions should be the same for each plant.
Example:
Materials List: Styrofoam cups, cardboard box, four bean plants of equal
size, soil, water, ruler.
Procedure: The student will fill four cups with 20 mL of soil. The student
will place one bean plant in each cup, burying it 2 cm. into the soil. The
student will give each plant 5 mL of water. Two cups will be placed on a
windowsill (sunlight), while the other two cups will be placed in the
cardboard box. The student will measure the plants every other day for
two weeks and record their data. The student will also add 5mL of water
to each plant every other day.
5. Data- In this section you are going to report what you find in the experiment. It
is usually best to use tables and graphs to report your data, because graphs and
charts are easier for your reader to understand. Graphs will help to show trends.
Example:
Date
Plant #1 (sun)
Plant #2 (sun) Plant #3 (dark)
Plant #4 (dark)
5/13
4 cm
4.1 cm
4.0 cm
4.1 cm
5/15
4.3 cm
4.3 cm
4.1 cm
4.1 cm
5/17
4.6 cm
4.5 cm
4.1 cm
4.2 cm
5/19
4.7 cm
4.8 cm.
4.2 cm
4.2 cm
You then might make a line graph for the height of each plant vs. time. Be sure to
include titles, labels on the axes, and a key for your graph.
6. Analysis- In this section you will basically summarize your data and provide
explanations. You DO NOT want to draw any conclusions here (for example,
which plant grew the most, etc…)
Example: Plant number one’s overall size increased from 4 centimeters to 4.7
centimeters. Plant number two’s size…etc.
7. Conclusion- In this section, you must compare your results to your original.
Was your hypothesis correct? Why or why not? You should also include
hypothesis any possible errors. Perhaps you watered one plant more than the
other. What did you find that surprised you? If you have done any statistical
analysis, it should go here (t-tables, significance, etc.)
Example: In the experiment, the student found that plant number one and plant
number two showed a significant increase in growth, while plant number three
and plant number four only showed a slight increase in growth. Plant number one
and plant number two were exposed to sunlight. This proves the original
hypothesis, that plants will grow taller in sunlight, correct. There were several
possible sources of error. Perhaps the water was measured inaccurately. Perhaps
there was a temperature difference that affected the growth of the plants.
Photosynthesis, which is the process by which plants get energy, allows for the
growth of plants. In the absence of photosynthesis (absence of light reactions)
plants will not grow as well because they do not get the energy they need.
Lab reports should not be written in first person. Never say, I did this, or we
did that… Instead, you should write your lab report in third person. The
student will…