Lab Report Guidelines Title Page Include the lab title, lab number, your Lab Group number, experiment date(s), course, instructor, University, team member names, and a brief summary of team member contributions. Format it so that it is centered in the page. Introduction -Successfully provides background information and establishes the scientific concept of the lab • The introduction serves to provide the reader with the necessary background information needed to understand the experiment, establishes the scientific concepts, and provides the rationale for doing the experiment. Each usually consists of a paragraph. • Background information - In this paragraph you provide the reader with information on what has been done in the past regarding your objective. It is your opportunity to inform the reader of the theory and/or key concepts the experiment will demonstrate or examine. It is also the place where you demonstrate your credibility by showing that you have done the necessary research to understand the topic. The background information paragraph of the Introduction can be thought of as a sales pitch. For example, “Previous work in the field of XYZ has shown that . . . These findings indicate that . . . An area that warrants further examination is. These statements should be leading up to your objective statement. • Establish the scientific concept for the lab - State what the lab is about, that is, what scientific concept (theory, principle, procedure, etc.) you are supposed to be learning about by doing the lab. If you are having trouble writing the opening sentence of the report, you can try something like: "This laboratory experiment focuses on X…"; "This lab is designed to help students learn about, observe, or investigate, X…." Or begin with a definition of the scientific concept: "X is a theory that…." • effectively presents the objectives and the rationale for performing the lab The objective is the most important component to any experiment and lab report. It is a statement of the objective, goal, or purpose of the experiment. It is a one or two sentence answer to the question: “What do you hope to accomplish with this experiment?” Formulate your objective statement before you begin writing the report - invest some time In a paragraph, or more, write out the objectives of the lab in paragraph form and then describe the purpose of the lab: what it is that accomplishing the objectives will help you learn about the scientific concept of the lab. The objective(s) are what it is you are supposed to accomplish in the experimental procedure itself. The objective(s), therefore, is usually presented in terms of a specific verb that describes what you are supposed to be doing in the lab, such as to measure, to analyze, to determine, to test etc. Often, the objective(s) for the lab is given in the lab manual. If you are having trouble phrasing the sentence about objective ...

1. Lab Report Guidelines
Title Page
Include the lab title, lab number, your Lab Group number,
experiment date(s), course,
instructor, University, team member names, and a brief
summary of team member
contributions. Format it so that it is centered in the page.
Introduction
-Successfully provides background information and establishes
the scientific concept of
the lab
• The introduction serves to provide the reader with the
necessary background information
needed to understand the experiment, establishes the scientific
concepts, and provides the
rationale for doing the experiment. Each usually consists of a
paragraph.
• Background information - In this paragraph you provide the
reader with information on
what has been done in the past regarding your objective. It is
your opportunity to inform
the reader of the theory and/or key concepts the experiment will
demonstrate or examine.
It is also the place where you demonstrate your credibility by

2. showing that you have done
the necessary research to understand the topic. The background
information paragraph of
the Introduction can be thought of as a sales pitch. For
example, “Previous work in the
field of XYZ has shown that . . . These findings indicate that . .
. An area that warrants
further examination is. These statements should be leading up
to your objective statement.
• Establish the scientific concept for the lab - State what the lab
is about, that is, what
scientific concept (theory, principle, procedure, etc.) you are
supposed to be learning about
by doing the lab. If you are having trouble writing the opening
sentence of the report, you
can try something like: "This laboratory experiment focuses on
X…"; "This lab is
designed to help students learn about, observe, or investigate,
X…." Or begin with a
definition of the scientific concept: "X is a theory that…."
• effectively presents the objectives and the rationale for
performing the lab
The objective is the most important component to any
experiment and lab report. It is a
statement of the objective, goal, or purpose of the experiment. It
is a one or two sentence
answer to the question: “What do you hope to accomplish with
this experiment?”
Formulate your objective statement before you begin writing the
report - invest some time

3. In a paragraph, or more, write out the objectives of the lab in
paragraph form and then
describe the purpose of the lab: what it is that accomplishing
the objectives will help you
learn about the scientific concept of the lab.
The objective(s) are what it is you are supposed to accomplish
in the experimental
procedure itself. The objective(s), therefore, is usually
presented in terms of a specific verb
that describes what you are supposed to be doing in the lab,
such as to measure, to analyze,
to determine, to test etc. Often, the objective(s) for the lab is
given in the lab manual. If you
are having trouble phrasing the sentence about objectives, try
something like: "The main
objectives of this lab were to…"; "In this lab we were to…."
• rationale/purpose - provide the reader with the reason for
performing the experiment (not
”because the TA told me too”). Identify what will be learned
and why it is important.
Focus your explanation on the science and how it relates to your
objective.
The purpose/rationale of the lab is different in significant ways
from its objective(s).
Purpose provides the wider view; it answers the why question,
why you are doing the lab in
the first place. Instead of focusing just on the specific actions of
the experimental
procedure, purpose looks at the experimental procedure within
the context of what you are
supposed to be learning. If you are having trouble starting the

4. sentence about the purpose
of the lab, try saying something like this: "The objectives of
this lab enabled me to learn
about X by…"; "Performing these objectives helped me to
understand X by…." To
improve this part of the introduction, go back to what you have
written about the scientific
concept and look for a link between it and the activities you are
expected to perform in the
lab: what specifically about the scientific concept were these
activities designed to teach
you?
Materials & Methods
• A good Methods section describes what you did in the lab in a
way that is easy to
understand and detailed enough to be repeated. Record what you
did to meet the
Objective. Be specific enough such that someone could read
your methods and have
enough information to repeat your experiment. However, you
don’t want to provide too
much detail such that you overwhelm the reader with trivial
information. Include
information that might be unique to the experimental
methodologies.
• The Procedures should be written in the past tense and the
passive voice – e.g. “the
sample was added to the test-tube”, and not “I added the sample
to the test-tube”, nor
“Add the sample to the test-tube”. You are reporting what was
done, not giving
instructions on how to do somethi ng.

5. Results
• opens with effective statement of overall findings
Results sections typically begin with a brief overview of the
findings. This is where you
sum up your findings. Such a statement is typically a sentence
or two. This summary will
act as the opening sentence for the Results. If you had trouble
getting the first sentence
started, here are some possibilities: "The results of the lab show
that …"; "The data from
the experiments demonstrate that…"; "The independent variable
X increased as Y and Z
were….". The Results section is text based. Tables and figures
do not comprise the Results
section, they enhance it. In the Results section, you need to tell
the reader what data you
have collected, what the data means, and what the data shows.
You should refer to figures
and tables to aid in your presentation.
• present visuals clearly and accurately
Figures and Tables should be numbered (figure should have
captions, while tables should
have headings) and should be referred to in the text before they
appear in the report.
Graphs should have the x- and y-axes labeled and units
designated along those axes.
Images should have important parts of the image labeled or
annotated.

6. • presents verbal findings clearly and with sufficient support
The presentation of findings in words should be ordered
according the order of the visuals,
each visual being described in words. Each description should
include a sentence or so
summarizing the visual and then any details from the visual
pertinent to the data from that
visual. To make the verbal part of your Results better, follow
this general outline:
• Summary of overall findings of lab
• Paragraph related to visual 1
o Sentence of overall finding from visual 1
o Sentence(s) with key details from the visual 1
• Paragraph related to visual 2
o Sentence of overall finding from visual 2
o Sentence(s) with key details from the visual 2
• Paragraph related to visual 3
o Sentence of overall finding from visual 3
o Sentence(s) with key details from the visual 3
Etc.
• successfully integrates verbal and visual representations
The verbal representation of each visual should refer explicitly
to the visual (Table 1,
Figure 2, etc.). You should create the sense that the visual and
the word representations of
data are working together. The primary way of doing that is to
cite the visuals in your
verbal findings
Discussion
• opens with effective statement of support of objectives

7. The Discussion section is where you explain the meaning and
significance of the results
presented in the Results section in terms of your Objective. The
Discussion should start
with a sentence or two in which you make a judgment as to
whether you have met your
objectives (from the Introduction), supported with
qualifications, or not supported by the
findings. You have gathered and presented the data to meet
your Objective – now you
need to organize the data and present it in a logical/clear way to
lead the reader to your
conclusions. You might think of yourself as a lawyer arguing a
case. You also need to
account for and explain the weaknesses in your study, for
example errors between your
values and known values, possible sources of error, simplifying
assumptions you made, etc.
There is a lot of information you could talk about, so limit
yourself by focusing on that
information that is relevant to your Objective.
• backs up statement with reference to appropriate findings
After stating the judgment about meeting the objectives, you
should provide specific
evidence from the data in the Results to back up the judgment.
The first key to improving
this part of the Discussion is finding specific evidence reported
in the Results that you can
use to back up your judgment about meeting your objectives.
The second key is to describe
the evidence in such a way that the reader can clearly see that
there is sufficient evidence
that supports your judgment about meeting the objectives. Be
specific. Point out specific

8. evidence from the Results and show how that evidence
contributed to your judgments.
• sufficiently addresses other issues pertinent to lab
A low rating in this area means that the instructor thinks that
there are other interesting
issues you could have discussed about your findings. Other
issues that may be appropriate
to address are (1) any problems that occurred or sources of error
in your lab procedure that
may account for any unexpected results; (2) how your findings
compare to the findings of
other students in the lab and an explanation for any differences;
(3) suggestions for
improving the lab.
Conclusion
• convincingly describes what has been learned in the lab
A good Conclusion takes you back to the larger purpose of the
lab as stated in the
Introduction: to learn something about the scientific concept,
the primary reason for doing
the lab. The Conclusion is your opportunity to show your lab
instructor what you learned
by doing lab and writing the lab report. You can improve your
Conclusion first by making
a clearer statement of what you learned. Go back to the purpose
of the lab as you presented
it in your Introduction. You are supposed to learn something
about the scientific concept or
theory or principle or important scientific procedure that the lab

9. is about. If you are not sure
if you have stated what you have learned directly enough, read
your first paragraph to see if
your reader would have any doubt about what you have learned.
Simply saying you learned
something is not necessarily going to convince the reader that
you actually did learn it.
Demonstrate that you did indeed learn what you claimed to have
learned by adding more
details to provide an elaboration on the basic statement. Read
over the Results and
Discussion and jot down some notes for further details on what
you have learned. Look
carefully at the statement of what you have learned and
underline any words or phrases that
you could "unpack," explain in more detail. Use this
brainstorming as a way of helping you
to find details that make your Conclusion more convincing.
If you think you need to do more to convince your reader that
you have learned what you
say you have learned, provide more details in the Conclusion.
For example, compare what
you know now with what you knew before doing the lab.
Describe specific parts of the
procedure or data that contributed to your learning. Discuss how
you may be able to apply
what you have learned in the lab to other situations in the
future.
Presentation of your Report
• citations and references adhere to proper format
You need to properly cite your references both in the text as
well as a reference list at the
end of the report. Different fields tend to have different styles

10. of documentation, that is,
the way you cite a source and the way you represent the source
in the References. For
example, biologists use the documentation style of the Council
of Biological Editors, and
chemists use the style of the American Chemical Society. If you
don't know what style you
are expected to use in your reports, check with your lab
instructor.
• format of tables and figures is correct
Tables and figures should be done to professional standards,
such as proper headings and
captions and numbering. Figures should be numbered and have a
caption below the figure.
Tables should be numbered and have a caption above the table.
Images should have
important parts labeled, marked, or annotated.
• report is written in scientific style: clear and to the point
Style in this case refers to your choice of words and sentence
structure. The style of science
writing strives to be clear and to the point. You should avoid
using grand thesaurus words
and long, artfully convoluted sentences. As to choice of words,
science writing uses words
that its audience (other scientists in the field) will readily
understand. To outsiders, the
scientific vocabulary of this language looks like a lot of jargon.
But the point is that

11. scientific words that are obscure to outsiders are usually not
obscure to the insiders that
comprise the scientific audience. Your writing should sound
like scientific writing. This
means that you should go ahead and use proper scientific
terminology, but you should also
choose plain, everyday words for non-scientific terminology.
Your sentences should be clear and readable for your educated
audience. Avoid excessively
long and meandering sentences. But don't use a lot of very short
sentences, either. Vary
your sentence length. If you have difficulties with making your
sentences readable, read
over them aloud, noting the sentences that seem to be too long
or are hard to read. Rewrite
those sentences so that they flow more easily.
Also, avoid using quotations. Scientists very rarely quote from
source materials; they do so
only when a particular wording is important to the point they
are trying to make. Using
direct quotations is appropriate to English papers, but not to lab
reports.
• grammar and spelling are correct
Grammar errors. It's important that you understand that the
source of grammar problems
is not, for most of us, a matter of not knowing the rules of
grammar. So don't worry about
that. The source of most grammatical errors is simply not seeing
them in your own writing.
We usually read our own writing for the meaning that the words
convey and not for the
words themselves.
Correcting grammar problems, then, is usually a matter of
learning to read our writing
differently. Read your lab report at least twice specifically

12. looking for errors in grammar.
You should focus on the words and sentences themselves. You
don't need any special
knowledge for detecting and correcting most grammar problems.
If you do read for error,
you will probably be able to spot problems and correct them
without having to look
anything up in a handbook.
Spelling errors. Sometimes, there are words that the spell -
checker does not catch because
they are words that are actually spelled correctly but are used
for the wrong meaning, like
using "to" for "too" and "that" for "than." You should be able to
spot these misuses of
words by reading over the report looking for error, as described
under "grammar errors"
immediately above.
Title PageIntroductionMaterials &
MethodsResultsDiscussionConclusionPresentation of your
Report
Figure 1: Top view of the extruder, showing the settings.

13. Figure 2: guiding the extruding PLA filament
Figure 3: PLA filament being collected by the Spooler
Figure 4: Extruded PLA filament

14. Figure 5: Filament diameter measurement using Vernier caliper
Table 1: PLA Filament radius measurements
Radius 1 (mm.)
Radius 2 (mm.)
Radius 3 (mm.)
Average (mm.)
Sample 1
1.4
1.6
1.7
1.57
Sample 2
1.5
1.6
1.5

15. 1.53
Sample 3
1.6
1.6
1.5
1.57