ECH 3201BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Format for Long Laboratory Reports

ReportFormat
Scientific research report format is based on the scientific method and is
organized to enable the reader to quickly comprehend the main points of the
investigation.TheformatisrequiredinallbiologyclassesandconsistsofaTitle
Page, Abstract, Introduction, Methods and Materials, Results, Discussion,
Conclusions,andLiteratureCitedsections.
Sectionheadings(Introduction,Results,etc.)arealwayscapitalized,centeredand
placed with the bodyof each section immediately following. The end ofone
section is immediately followedbythe next sectiononthe same page.There
shouldbenotableofcontents.
Thetitleshouldbeplacedonthetitlepageofthereportalongwiththename(s)of
theauthorsandanyotherinformationrequiredintheclass. Thetitlemustbe
descriptiveoftheworkactuallycarriedout.Thename(s)oftheauthor(s)should
onlyappearonthetitlepage.Themostimportantthingsaboutthetitleisthatitbe
selfexplanatoryandindicateimportantfeaturesofthepaper.Thereadershould
beabletotell,justbyreadingthetitle,whathasbeendonewithouthavingtoread
thepaper.Usetimesnewroman,1.5spacingand12ptsize.

Abstract
1.0Introduction
TheIntroductionconciselydescribesthepurposeoftheinvestigationandshould
tellthereader,whythisworkwasdone. Itshouldincludeastatementofthe
problem (the hypothesis) and enough background information concerning the
problemtoorientthereader.Youshouldstatethespecificquestion(s)youare
attemptingtoanswer,thegeneralmethodused,andhowyourinvestigationwill
helpclarifyorexpandtheknowledgeinthegeneralarea.Youshouldalsobriefly
review past research that has been done on the problem (this is usually
accomplishedbyaliteraturesearchinthelibrary).Thebackgroundinformation
included must be appropriately referenced (see the section on how to cite
references).
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AmajorfunctionoftheIntroductionistobrieflytellthereaderwhattoexpectin
thepaper.Therefore,itmaybeeasiertowritetheIntroductionaftercompleting
therestofthepaper.

2.0MethodsandMaterials
Inthissection,youexplaintheexperimentwithsufficientdetailsothatitcanbe
duplicated. Avoid unnecessary details and include only information that is
necessary to complete the experiment. The experimental design, apparatus,
procedures of gathering and analyzing data, types of control, etc., should be
described.Ifstandardproceduresareused,citethereferenceanddescribeonly
themodificationsmade(ifany).
Whenexperimentsareconductedoutdoors,youshoulddescribethefactorsthat
mayinfluencetheresultsoftheinvestigationsuchasthedominantfeaturesand
locationofthestudysite,theweather,etc.Ifanyspecimenswerecollectedforthe
investigation,youshouldstatehow,whereandwhenthatmaterialwascollected.
Photographs, maps, and diagrams can be used as an aid in describing the
experimentalprocedures.
Youshouldwritethissectioninthepasttense.Itshouldnotbewrittenasifit
weredirectionsinalaboratorymanual;therefore,donotlistmaterialsanddonot
giveinstructionsonhowtodosomething.Forexample,donotwrite:
For this experiment you will need the following equipment: six
petri plates, one liter of agar, and one inoculating loop. First pour
agar into the six petri plates, then inoculate the plates with a
fungus using the inoculating loop. Then you put the plates into
the incubator.
Itsoundsasthoughyouareleadingthereaderbythehand,tellinghimhowtodo
theexperiment.Youshouldsuccinctlydescribeeitherinthefirstpersonorin
passivevoicehowtheexperimentwasdone.Mentionthematerialsthatwereused
in the research in the narrative as the experimental procedure is explained in
detail. The reader should be able to make a list of necessary materials while
readingthesection.Anacceptablemannertoconveythesameideaastheabove
is:
Six petri plates were prepared with agar, inoculated with an
inoculating loop, and placed in the incubator for ten hours at
37oC.

3.0Results

Inthissection,youpresentthedatainastraightforwardmannerwithnoanalysis
ofthereasonstheresultsoccurredorthebiologicalmeaningofthedata(these
commentsarereservedfortheDiscussion.)However,youshouldinterpretthe
data (preferably statistically), highlight significant data and pointout patterns,
correlations,andgeneralizations thatemerge.Writethissectionusingthepast
tense.
Data are generally organized into tables and/or figures (graphs.) Tables and
figuresmustbeaccompaniedbyanarrativetext.AResultssectionthatincludes
onlyatableorafigureandnotextisnotacceptable.Unreduced,unsummarized
orrawdatashouldnotbeincluded.Thetextdescribestheresultspresentedin
tables andfigures andcalls attention tosignificant data discussedlater in the
report.Donotrepeatwhatisalreadycleartothereaderfromreviewingthetables
and figures, which, if well constructed, will show both the results and
experimentaldesign.Aportionoftheresultstextmightreadasfollows.
The number of bacterial colonies increased up to 40C, but
decreased at higher temperatures (Figure 1). The greatest
amount of growth occurred between 35 and 40C.
Inthisexample,Figure1referstothegraphinwhichthedataarepresented.In
thesamesentence,theauthorsayssomethingaboutthedataandrefersthereader
totheappropriatefigure.Thefigure(graph)maycontainnumerousdatapoints
(e.g.,numberofbacterialcoloniesat1Cintervalsfrom0to60C),butthe
authordidnotborethereaderwithadescriptionofeach.Rather,generalizations
are made concerning the relationships shown by the data. The figure readily
illustratesthem(apictureisworthathousandwords).
Inwritingthissection,firstconstructpertinenttables/figures(seebelow)andthen
writethenarrativedescribingthemostimportantaspectsofthedata Describe
yourresultsingeneraltermsinthetextwithdetailslefttotablesandfigures.
Beginthenarrativebyfirstdescribingthemostimportantrelationshipshownin
theparticulartable/figure,thendescribethenextmostimportantaspect.

UseofTablesandFigures
Summarizedatainaformthatallowsthereadertoeasilyseeanycorrelations,
relationships, or patterns that are important. Typical forms for doing this are
tables and figures. You should have a reason for each tabular or graphical
representation.Certainrequirements,however,mustbemet:
1) Refer to the tables as Tables; refer to all other items (graphs, pictures,
drawings,maps,etc.)asfigures.

2) Whenyouincludeatableand/orfigure,youmustrefertoitinthetext.For
example,considerthefollowingsentence.
The results of the temperature experiment are somewhat
confusing (Figure 1).
Thissentencetellsthereaderthatallthepertinentdataaretobefoundin
Figure1(agraph,perhaps)andtorefertothefigurewhilereadingfurther.
3) Independentlynumbertablesandfigures.Forexample,inapapercontaining
twotablesandtwofigures,youwouldnumberthetablesTable1andTable2,
andthefiguresasFigure1andFigure2.
4) Assigntablesandfigurestheirrespectivenumbersonthebasisoftheorderin
whichyoufirstmentiontheminthetext.Thefirsttableyoumentionedis
Table1,thesecondisTable2,etc.Thesameappliesforthefigures.
5) Tablesandfiguresshouldfollowascloselyaspossibletheactualpageon
whichthetableorfigureismentionedinthetextorbeincludedonindividual
pagesfollowingLiteratureCited.Thismakesiteasierforthereadertoreferto
thetableorfigurewhenitismentioned.
6) All tables and figures must be numbered and must have self explanatory
captions.Therulesforcomposingthecaptionsarethesameasforcomposing
thetitleofthepaper.Thereadershouldbeabletolookatatableorfigureand
by reading the caption know exactly what was done in that part of the
experimentwithouthavingtoreadthetextforanexplanation.
7) Alltablesandfiguresshouldincludetheunitsofmeasurementused(grams,
meters,seconds,etc.).Otherwisethedataaremeaningless.Allcolumnsina
tableandbothaxes(XaxisandYaxis)ofagraphmustbeindependently
labeledincludingunits.
8) Headersfortablesarealwaysplacedabovethetable,andcaptionsforfigures
arealwaysplacedbelowthefigure.

4.0Discussion
Inthissection,youattempttoexplainthemeaningoftheresults,givingparticular
attention to the problem or hypothesis posed in the Introduction. You should
address physical, chemical, and biological factors that may have affected the
results.Thewaytheresultscameoutmaybeadvantageousordisadvantageousto
the biological system being considered (e.g., cell, organism) and you should
discuss this. To do this competently, you should be familiar with appropriate
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literature including textbooks andjournal articles (thebackgroundinformation

mentioned in the Introduction). Compare the results to the background
information and,indoingso,constructexplanations whytheresults occurred.
Youcouldalsoexplaindifferencesfromorsimilaritiestoanyrelatedexperiments
completedbyotherworkers.Writethissectionusingpresenttense.
In constructing explanations, you reach conclusions that explain the outcome,
supportthoseconclusionswithwellreasonedarguments,anddocumentationfrom
the existing body of knowledge (the scientific literature). In effect, you are
presentinganddefendingapointofviewinthediscussionsection.

5.0Conclusions
ThissectionpartiallyrepeatstheResultsandtheDiscussion. Briefly statewhat
the data showed (from Results) and the major conclusions developed (from
Discussion).Donotincludeanyreasonsorjustificationsornewinformationin
thissection.Generally,Conclusionsareverybrief.Thepurposeofthissectionis
to enable the reader to determine quickly what you have discovered without
readingtheentirepaper.BylookingatjusttheIntroductionandConclusiona
readershouldhaveagoodideaofwhatyouhavedone,andcanaccessthedetails
inotherportionsofthepaper

6.0Recommendations
Add the recommendations for future work. You may also add the
recommendationstoimproveyourcurrentfindings.

LiteratureCited

CitingLiteratureintheTextofthePaper
Wheneveryoumentioninformationthatisnotcommonknowledgeorwasnot
obtainedpersonally(throughexperimentsorobservations),youmustincludea
referencetoindicatethesourceofthatinformation.Failuretocitetheworkof
othersnotonlydoesnotgivepropercredittotheresearchers,butisconsidered
plagiarism. Thereareseveralwaysthatreferencescanbecitedinascientific
paper.Youmustfollowtheformatdescribedhere.Scientificpapersdonotuse
footnotes!
If information needs referencing, place the name(s) of the author(s) of the
informationinthestatement.Thename(s)shouldbefollowedbytheyearofthe
publication(inparentheses)inwhichthatinformationappeared.Forexample,

Most of the information in this guide on how to write a scientific

research report originally appeared in Gubanich (1985).
Ifreaderswanttoseethepublicationinwhichthisinformationappeared,theycan
turn to the Literature Cited section, find the reference, and look it up.
Alternatively,thename(s)oftheauthor(s)maynotbementionedinthestatement
itselfbutmaybeplacedinparentheseswiththeyearofpublication.Forexample,
Some birds are primarily insectivorous and probably obtain all the
water they need from the body fluids of the insects they eat
(Jones and Smith 1963).
Ifreferencetomorethanonepublicationisrequiredinthesamesentence,place
thecitationsintheappropriatepartsofthatsentence.
Although Jones and Smith (1963) state that not all birds have to
drink water, several other studies (Taylor 1964, Smith and Smith
1968, Altert et al. 1969, Thompson 1970) have pointed out
exceptions. The metabolic rate of the species seems to play a
role (Harrigan 1965) as well as the food source (Montgomery and
Landers 1966).
If three or more authors wrote a single reference (such as Oksche, Farner,
Serventy,WolffandNichols1963),thecitationisabbreviatedasfollows:
The zebra finch was found to differ in these respects from the
species observed in this study (Oksche et al. 1963).
Inthiscaseonlythenameofthefirstauthorisused,followedbytheabbreviation
etal.Etal.isLatinabbreviationforandothers.Whenthisreferenceislistedin
LiteratureCited,however,alltheauthorsmustbeincluded.