Why do we write research reports?
You did an experiment for your science class, and now you have to write about your experiment for your teacher. But how exactly do you write about what you did and what you found out? What is your teacher expecting to see?
Try to think beyond the classroom. You and your teacher are both part of a scientific community, and people investigating some scientific hypothesis have a responsibility to the rest of the scientific world to report their findings, especially if these findings add to or contradict previous ideas.
What should you do before writing the lab report?
The best way to prepare to write the lab report is to make sure that you fully understand everything you need to understand about the experiment.1) Understand what you are going to be doing before you start to carry out the experiment. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What are we going to do in this lab? (That is, what's the procedure?)
- Why are we going to do it that way?
- What are we hoping to learn from this experiment?
- Why would we benefit from this knowledge?
2) Plan the steps of the experiment carefully with your lab partners. Design a data table to record your data.
3) Record the data carefully. You won't be able to trust your conclusions if you have the wrong data.
4) Talk with your partners when the experiment is "over."
- What trends did you observe?
- Was the hypothesis supported by the data?
- Did you all get the same results? What kind of figure (graph, diagram, drawings, etc.) should you use to represent your findings?
The whole group can work together to answer these questions.
5) When writing your lab, consider your audience. But it's your teacher, right? Think beyond the classroom. Try to write towards a student in the same course but a different class period. That student will have some scientific knowledge, but won't know much about your experiment.
Once you've completed these steps, you'll be in a good position to write an effective lab report.