Instructions On How To Write A Lab Report Correctly
Learn how to write a lab report, its structure and format, and what is the difference between a lab report and a research paper.
Any discovery found in the world wasn't a sudden finding made one day. Whatever can be a scientific finding, it takes a lot of time to be carried out. Indeed, it can require weeks, months, or years of research. You can achieve the result you hope for, by doing hundreds of experiments and tests.
When conducting research, the entire process must be written down. Every detail, such as time, the number of substances, reactions, and observations should be documented. It's absolutely indispensable to record everything accurately, and with precision, and describe every step, each phase of the process. The document where you will describe all the activities related to the experimental protocol is called a lab report.
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What Is A Lab Report?
Such a document as a lab report is used in various disciplines such as chemistry, biology, medicine, and psychology. The type of this paper can vary according to the subject and its main goal. The common types are experimental, analytical, and research reports. So, what is a lab report?
The main purpose of a lab report is to describe the proceeding of potential research in order to repeat or improve it when necessary. Many scientific findings were carried out due to done and proven already discoveries. However, by changing a method or materials when following the documented lab report, there were discovered absolutely new things.
Thus, the lab report explains in minimum detail what your scope was, what substances you have taken and their quantities, what the temperature was, how liquids or solids change, and how much time each procedure has taken. Your responsibility is to note every change, every observation, and every modification.
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How To Structure A Lab Report
It’s essential to know how to structure a lab report to avoid the wrong style or ambiguity. It’s essential to understand that the format may change due to specific requirements of the institution or type of the document. One of the most popular and widely used lab reports is the experimental one. Let's look at its structure:
- Introduction
Explain what kind of experiment or test you conduct, its purpose, and a hypothesis. You should avoid using “hook”, but choose precise scientific terms and statements. It must be short, but it depends on the type of lab report and its length.
- Methods
Explain your steps, materials, and methods, as the goal of this description is to give the possibility to another scientist for duplicating an experiment. So, it must be clear and detailed. Don’t write things you're supposed to do, but happen.
- Results/discussion
This is a representation of the data achieved after the research process. It is useful to use tables and graphs in this part. If you have to write a discussion, note your interpretations, and highlight whether your results support the hypothesis or not.
- Conclusion
The last part is similar to all conclusions in other documents. You must restate the question proposed in the introduction and summarize all you have done. Underline if future research can improve your results and how your experiment is important.
Take into consideration the fact of the purpose of a lab report and specific requirements.
Purpose Of The Lab Report Format Rules
Basically, common lab reports have to follow a formal structure. The most important aspects of these papers are surgical precision, and elaborate descriptions of every step of the reaction or activity. The reports can be individual and collective if you work in a group. Moreover, students can receive particular instructions from the professor. This scientific paper must be written in such a way as to easily find necessary information.
By breaking down a lab report into sections and adhering to the lab report format rules, your paper can become a manual for followers of your research. You can compare it to a recipe: by taking the indicated ingredients and putting them in the necessary order, you will cook the dish.
The Difference Between A Lab Report And A Research Paper
Though both documents are an integral part of the search process in scientific work, there is a significant difference between them. The lab report is written each time you conduct an experiment, test, or analysis.
Read more about why and how to write a lab report on this link. Meanwhile, a research paper can be written after discovering something new. The purpose of the latter is to share your findings with the scientific world by publishing them.
So, if you have conducted many experiments in the laboratory, written numerous lab reports, and you believe you have discovered some phenomenon, it is time to write a research paper. This academic work is based on numerous lab reports.
While nobody has to approve your lab reports, a research paper does need approval from the peer reviewers. It's possible to define lab reports as a part of your routine everyday activity. However, when you write a research paper, it means that that routine has produced outcomes.
