How to Write a Lab Report
Average Grades 2009
Average: 57
Highest: 73
Lowest: 43
Common Errors

Do not use 1st person (I, we, you, your, etc)
 Use
“the scientist”, “the group”, “the students”, etc
Do not use contractions (I’m, We’re, etc)
 Do not end a sentence with “etc.”
 If you did not know something, do not write “I
do not know”. Either get the results, or come
and talk to the teacher to figure it out!

Title Page
Every lab should have this!
 It should have the title in the middle.
 The title should be relevant to what was
happening in the lab.
 It should not just say “Enzyme Lab”
 Be more specific

Abstract
This should come after the title page!
 It needs to include:

 What
the overall purpose of the lab is
 What was being tested in the lab
 What the results showed
 Do not include the procedure, step by step, here
Introduction

Include the following:
 What
is the lab about?
 What are the functions of enzymes?
 How to enzymes react to different things?
 What enzyme is this lab talking about?
 Your Hypothesis!
Hypothesis

This should include:
 What
you think is going to happen in EACH part of
the lab.
 You need an overall hypothesis or educated guess
of how an enzyme is going to react!!!
 Do not write “I think….”
Materials

List these out! It’s okay to make them
bulleted!
 Include
approximately how much or how many you
used of each material
 If you have a recipe with out the exact
measurements of each substance, your food is not
going to turn out right!!!
Methods
This should read like a recipe that a 6 year
old can follow.
 Pretend that your teacher has never done
or read this lab when you write these up.
 If you write the procedure from the lab,
make sure to take out the questions in the
paragraphs!
 Do NOT write your results in this section!

Results

You must have FIGURES and WRITING!!!
 Figures


can be charts or graphs.
Observations – what you see. Do not just write a reaction
rate. You teacher does not know what this means!
Explain exactly what you are seeing!
– You must write your results in a paragraph!
write exactly what is in your charts.
 Writing


Do not explain it or give reasons why you think
something happened!
Ex. The catalase enzyme in the HCl solution had a very
low reaction rate. It did not bubble as much as the
catalase enzyme in the water and hydrogen peroxide.
Discussion

Include all of the following:
you accept or reject your hypothesis – re-state
your hypothesis.
 Why did you get the results you got
 Did

 What
Ex. Why do you think the catalase enzyme reacted
the way it did with the HCl solution?
follow-up experiments could you do? Form a
questions to ask and to follow up with.
 What went wrong – what could you have done
wrong? Ex. Measurements, length of time potatoes
were in each solution, different people doing
different things…etc