What are the components of a lab report?

Abstract
The purpose of this word document is to provide a brief example of the product that will be submitted
as the Independent Research Project (IRP). If students use this outline along with the rubric, then all
the components of a well-written lab report will be included in the submission of the project. It seems
that students lack an understanding of scientific writing and the components of a lab report. This
document was created to support the development of scientific writing by mimicking the expectations
of a quality lab report. In conclusion, should a student use this outline as a skeleton and follow the
rubric when conducting scientific research, the student will meet the expectations of the Independent
Research Project.

Purpose and Hypothesis

The purpose of this guided lab report is to present students with a clear understanding of the
expectations of the IRP. Many students have experience with creating science fair tri-fold presentation
boards but lack experience in scientific writing. The independent or manipulated variable and the
dependent or measured variable are clearly described within this section. If students use this outline along
with the rubric, then all the components of a well-written lab report will be included in the submission of
the project.

Background Information
In investigating the components of a lab report, one must first consider the purpose. According to
many, alaboratoryreportinformsthereaderoftheresultsandconclusionsasaresultofexperimentation.
Inadditiontoinformingthereader,awellwrittenlabreportshouldenablethereadertopreciselyrepeatthe
experiment(St.Martin,2011).Thevariouscomponentsofalabreporthelpittoachieveitsgoals
(Pechenik,2011).Usually,thebackgroundsectionisseveralparagraphsinlengthdiscussingand
developingmajorconceptsthatarerelatedtothetopicbeinginvestigated.

Materials
- laptop computer
- IRP skeleton report
- Individual brain

Procedure
1. The teacher created Wikispace webpage was accessed via the laptop computer and an individual brain.
2. The skeleton lab report was obtained and saved to an individual folder on the computer desktop.
3. Changes were made to the skeleton lab report to reflect the actual experiment.
4. The finalized lap report was saved, printed, and tuned in by the due date along with an IRP rubric.

Results
Table1TomatoPlantHeightafterSprouting
Days After
Plant Height (cm)
Sprouting
Plant A 1 10
Plant B 1 20
Plant C 1 30
Figure 1 Tomato Plant Height

The data indicate a direct relationship between the number of days after sprouting and the height of the
tomato plants. As the days increase, the height of all plants also increased. However, plant A grew to a
height of 25.0 cm after approximately 31 days.

Conclusion
The purpose of this document was to discover the expectations of the final product of the
Independent Research Project. After reviewing the document, the expectations were clearly reviewed and
modeled. In conclusion, the original hypothesis could either be supported or refuted. The data indicated that
by following this format, an original lab report could be created and submitted for review.

Reasons for Error

Potential sources of error include not reviewing this document and failing to submit a final version
of an Independent Research Project. Failing to complete either of these tasks could potentially lead to an
unsatisfactory grade.

Recommendation for Further Study

In order to investigate the topic of lab report writing further, one could access the online resources
hosted by North Carolina State University entitled LabWrite found at the following web address
http://labwrite.ncsu.edu/. A plethora of information is available which could benefit the process of learning
how to write a lab report.

Works Cited

Pleasevisithttp://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/tolearnhowtoproperlycitesources.