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Lab Report Guidelines: Formal Reports Memos

This document outlines the guidelines for two types of lab reports - formal reports and memos. Formal reports should include an introduction, objectives, procedure, experimental results, discussion, conclusions, references, and appendices for tables, figures, and calculations. Memos require an introduction, results, discussion, references, and include tables, figures and calculations in the body. The document describes the purpose and content of each section for both report types. General formatting guidelines are also provided.

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eggardard
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22 views

Lab Report Guidelines: Formal Reports Memos

This document outlines the guidelines for two types of lab reports - formal reports and memos. Formal reports should include an introduction, objectives, procedure, experimental results, discussion, conclusions, references, and appendices for tables, figures, and calculations. Memos require an introduction, results, discussion, references, and include tables, figures and calculations in the body. The document describes the purpose and content of each section for both report types. General formatting guidelines are also provided.

Uploaded by

eggardard
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lab Report Guidelines

You will write two types of reports this semester. The two types are formal reports and memos. The
sections to include in your reports are shown below. Formal reports should have all the sections shown in
the same order listed. For the memos you do not need to use appendices for your tables, figures, and hand
calculations, but they should be included somewhere in the memo.
Formal Reports
Title Page
Introduction
Objectives
Procedure
Experimental Results
Discussion of Results
Conclusions
References
Appendix A: Tables
Appendix B: Figures
Appendix C: Hand Calculations

Memos
Introduction
Experimental Results
Discussion of Results
References
Tables
Figures
Hand Calculations

You need to label all the sections in your reports except for the title page. A description of each section of
the report is given below.
Title Page
The title page should include the title of the experiment and your name. You do not need to label the title
page. It is up to you to decide the formatting and layout of the title page.
Introduction
The introduction of your report should start at the top of page 2 for formal reports (the Title Page will be
page 1). The introduction describes the basic subject area of the report. You should tell the reader the
experiment(s) that were performed and the equipment or materials that were tested.
Objectives
The objectives section should tell the reader what you were trying to learn by performing the experiment.
Procedure
The procedure section of your report should be a step-by-step description of the experiment(s). Another
student should be able to perform the experiment using your procedure. You can use a numbered list to
show the steps of the procedure. Do not copy the procedure word for word from the handouts or the course
website.
Experimental Results
The experimental results section is where you will report the data you collected and your calculated values.
Most experiments will have a series of questions in the procedure which should guide you in writing the
experimental results portion of the report. If tables are used to display data taken during the experiment(s),
the tables should be placed in Appendix A for formal reports. A short description of how you found any
calculated values should be included along with the equations you used. Equations or functions should be
typed and numbered as illustrated below. Complement bars can be drawn in using the equation editor in
word.
f(w,x,y,z) = xy + w(x+y+z)

(1)

Discussion of Results
In this section of the report you should discuss the most important aspects of your experimental results
including any trends that you notice in your data sets. The main purpose of this section is to give you a
chance to comment on the validity of the experimental data and explain anything important that you might
notice. In this section you should make comparisons between your data and reference values (if
applicable). You should also compare the data sets to one another (if you have more than one). A
discussion of whether any data points appear incorrect and the reasons you have for why the data may be
incorrect should be included. You should include some insightful remarks in this section to show that you
understand the results and what they tell you.
Conclusions
In the conclusions section you will briefly restate the major findings of your experiment and discuss why
they are important. This section is also where you tell what you learned from the experiment and whether
all the objectives were fulfilled. Feel free to add any comments or suggestions about the lab at the end of
your conclusions section.
References
In the references section of your report you need to give credit to any books, journals, websites, or other
sources used while writing your report. You should include any sources used to look up reference values
for the experiment(s). You can use any standard format for listing your references. Pick a format that you
are familiar with and are comfortable using.
Appendix A: Tables
This appendix is where you place all the tables in your formal report. Make sure the tables are large
enough to read and that you follow the guidelines you were given for tables.
Appendix B: Figures
All graphs and other figures should be placed in Appendix B for formal reports. Make sure the graphs are
readable. Do not try to save space by cramming several figures on one page.
Appendix C: Hand Calculations
You need to include a sample of your hand calculations in Appendix C. You only need to show one hand
calculation for each equation used. The hand calculations will be used to determine if partial credit should
be awarded if an incorrect answer is found.
General Guidelines
1. Use 3rd person in your reports. Do not use I or we when describing how you completed the
report.
2. Use past tense throughout your report. By the time you write your report you should be done with
everything else so it makes sense to write about your work in the past tense.
3. Use single spacing between lines in your report.
4. Use an easily readable 12 point font for the body of your report. Headings and other titles can be
larger if desired.
5. Staple your report before you turn it in.

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