This short guide is meant to help you write chemistry and physics laboratory rep
This short guide is meant to help you write chemistry and physics laboratory reports in a fast and effective way. Besides the written explanation, it includes a Prezi presentation (that you can visit by clicking here) to help you visualize the information better. Before reading this guide, it is important for you to understand that the format of the report can vary depending on your professor and major, so remember to follow the rules of your particular assignment and use this as a reference
Why do you need to write a lab report?
The first step for conducting an experiment is to collect raw data, you can do this by weighing a sample, calculating the density of a substance, measuring the height of a certain object or by following the steps listed on your laboratory procedure. Because the data itself is just a collection of numbers and measurements, you must analyze and give some physical meaning to it. This is the reason why reports are so important; they are going to transform your raw data into something more than meaningless values. Laboratory reports help others understand the idea behind your experiments, its objectives, and the conclusions obtained after conducting it. Your report should be organized and very descriptive to help others understand the results you obtained and even guide them to execute the experiment themselves.
Title page
Now that you understand the purpose of a laboratory report it is time to move on to the title page. The title page should be the first page of your report, and it must include your name (or names, in case you are part of a group), laboratory section, instructor’s name, the date the experiment was conducted, and the number and title of the experiment. If you are unsure on how to organize this information, you should see the example included in the Prezi presentation. Remember that the design of your title page needs to be simple and professional, avoid using extravagant fonts and colors other than black.
Introduction
Once you have finished the title page, the next step is to write an introduction on a new page. For you to organize your ideas and have a better understanding of the experimental objective, it is highly recommended to complete the other sections of the report before writing this one. Going through the steps followed to execute the experiment and analyzing the results obtained, is key to completing this section effectively.
The introduction presents background information about the experiment, relating it to basic laws. Most of the time, the experiments are performed to support these laws, therefore, it is important to include information that validates all your statements and your procedure. The best way to accomplish this is by introducing relevant equations and defining variables.
Abstract
Some professors request including an abstract before the introduction. The abstract is a short summary of the entire experiment, where you should include the procedure followed, a statement on the experiment