How to Write a Lab Report
This is not a lab report…..
This is a lab report
A lab report….
• Is written to describe and analyze a laboratory
experiment that explores a scientific concept.
Pair Share Discussion
• Please discuss the following question with
your shoulder partner
– “Why do you think scientists write lab reports?”
What are the parts of a lab report?
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Question
Hypothesis
Materials
Procedure
Results (Data Collection and Data Analysis)
Conclusion
Question
• The first piece of information you want to put
on your lab report is the question you are
trying to solve
Pair Share Discussion
• Please discuss the following question with
your shoulder partner
– “What was the question we were trying to solve in
our bubble gum lab”
Question
• “Which brand of gum will blow the biggest
bubble?”
Hypothesis
• A hypothesis is a possible explanation or
answer to a question
• A good hypothesis is based on observations
and can be tested
Hypothesis
• Prediction= a statement of cause and effect
that can be used to set up a test for a
hypothesis
• In a lab report, a hypothesis is written as an ifthen statement, since you are predicting what
you think is going to happen in the experiment
Pair Share Discussion
• Please discuss the following question with
your shoulder partner
– “How can you re-word your hypothesis into an ifthen statement”
Hypothesis
• If I chew hubba bubba, then my bubbles will
be bigger than the other brands
Materials
Since we want other scientist to be able to
repeat our procedure, we must write down all
the materials that we used during the lab.
This way, other scientist can easily re-create our
experiment and do it the same exact way
Materials
• 4 brands of gum- Hubba Bubba, Trident, Extra,
and Bazooka
• A meter long piece of string
• A ruler
Procedure
• The procedure is the exact steps you took to
complete the lab. It is written in a numbered
format.
Pair Share Discussion
• Please discuss the following question with
your shoulder partner
– “Why do you think we have to write every single
step that we did in the lab?”
Procedure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Read all directions pertaining to the lab.
Collect materials for lab
Ask a question.
Form a hypothesis
Test the Hypothesis by conducting the following experiment.
The person with brand A will chew their piece of gum for 3
minutes. Blow a bubble. Using a string, your partner will
measure the diameter (distance across) the bubble. Put the
string on the meter stick to measure the distance in
centimeters (cm). Record the measurement in a data table.
Repeat the process for trials 2 and 3. Find the average
bubble size for brand A (add all the distances up and divide
by 3) and put in the data chart. Repeat steps 1-5 with brand
B gum.
6. Clean up all lab material when the lab is complete.
Results (Data Collected/Analyzed)
• The results section consists of what
information you gathered, and what that
information means.
• The first item that goes in the results section is
your graphs and tables (any observations)
• The second item is a paragraph explaining the
data in the graphs and tables.
• The third item is a list of possible mistakes you
could have made in the lab that might have
altered your data.
Pair Share Discussion
• Please discuss the following question with
your shoulder partner
– “Why is it important to have a paragraph that
explains the data in the tables?”
Conclusion
• The conclusion is the final piece of the lab
report. It is where you restate your main ideas
and state if your hypothesis was correct based
on the data.
Conclusion
• 1st sentence- Restate the question. “Our question was…..”
• 2nd sentence- Restate your hypothesis. “My hypothesis
was…..”
• 3rd sentence- State the results that were observed, graphed or
calculated. This is a combination of background information,
vocabulary and definition. It is also reflecting on if the results
make sense and your interpretation as to why you have the
results you do. This may take more than one sentence.
• 4th sentence- Based on your data, if you were to do the same
experiment again, what would you do differently, what
questions does the data lead to?
• 5th sentence- State what your learned from this experiment.
Please do not use “This experiment was fun. I hope we do
more like this.”