Writing Lab Reports for Scientific Inquiry: Physical Sciences

A check list for reviewing and evaluating lab reports prior to submitting the report.

Your report is a collection of facts which are to support or challenge a thesis. Thus, you must include the facts (your data) in the report. You must defend the validity of these facts by a clear description of the experimental process. You will give an analysis which establishes your treatment of the data. Your error analysis is used to demonstrate the validity of the experimental process. Your conclusion declares your response to the objective. Thus, the report is a focused and patterned presentation displaying distinct elements.

1.         Will your title interest the reader and describe the experiment?

2.         Does your paper focus on the objective?

3.         Would your description of the procedure allow an experienced experimenter to know what you did?

4.         Did you retype or xerox the lab instructions? (Do not xerox your lab instructions. Report what you did rather than the instructions.)

5.         Have you used all of your observations and data in the analysis? If any are omitted, have you explained the omission?

6.         If you have used any data which is not your own, have you clearly identified the source?

7.         Did you xerox your data and observations from your lab notes? (Do not xerox your data and observations forms.)

8.         Is your analysis sound and adequate?

9.         Have your shown sample calculations for each pattern of calculation used including the formulas used and the units associated with each measurement and constant?

10.       Are all graphs used in the report used to show a relationship between two measurements and not only to present data? (In Excel, the graphs are designated as scatter or xy.)

11.       Does your error analysis identify specific error types (internal and/or external) and give measures of the same (absolute and/or relative)?

12.       For chemical experiments, have you included balanced equations for the reactions to describe the chemical processes.

13.       Have you corrected sentence errors (i.e. punctuation, subject/verb/pronoun agreement, accurate word selection)?

14.       Have you included all the required components of the report and presented them in your own fresh manner?

15.       Does your conclusion address and reflect the objective?

16.       Does your objective complete the presentation of the experiment?