Report writing

Science
INTRODUCTION
The main purpose of laboratory reports is to communicate the results of experiments. The process of writing a
laboratory report also gives you valuable practice in articulating why you did a particular experiment, what
you did, and how you interpret your results. This unit gives a general description of the sections of a laboratory
report; however, you should check with your tutor or demonstrator as to what information should be included
in which section, as there may be differences between the practices adopted by different scientific departments
or schools. This may also apply to differences in writing style and presentation.

STRUCTURE
Taking into account disciplinary differences, laboratory reports written by undergraduates share the same
format as laboratory reports written by academics for publication. The sections of a laboratory report are:
Title
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Appendix

A biology lecturer at UOW described laboratory reports as being like a mystery, or a thriller:

The introduction, in telling the research question and giving a context to the study, should create a
mystery, make you wonder what the answer is, so you want to read on and find out. The results
section gives all the clues, but not necessarily in a way that you can solve the mystery yourself. It’s
only in the discussion that you bring it all together, link it to what the original problem/mystery
was, and reveal the solution (Biology 103).

TITLE
The title of your report should be concise and informative. The title is generally given on a separate page
together with your name, tutor’s name, course name and number.

Example: Title

Haemolysis of red blood cells in response to salt concentration

ABSTRACT
The abstract is a precise summary of the whole report. It includes a statement of the aim or objective of the
experiment, a short description of the method used, the main results, and the conclusions or implications of the
results. There is generally one sentence per section of the report. The abstract should be between 100 and
150 words.

ACADEMIC LITERACY
Learning, Teaching & Curriculum – Learning Development
 Example: Abstract (excerpt)

In this experiment, chromatography was used to analyse amino acids in description aim/
solution. Standards were used to identify unknown amino acids in a objective
mixture. Ascending layer chromatography with an isopropanol-based method
solvent was used to separate the amino acids, which were then detected
with ninhydrin. The unknown mixture analysed was found to contain
aspartate and histidine. It was observed that hydrophobic amino acids
were most mobile. This technique was shown to be an effective way of results
analysing unknown mixtures of amino acids. A mechanism for ninhydrin
binding to amino acids is proposed, based on observations from this conclusions
experiment.

INTRODUCTION
This should include:
 background to the experiment,
 the objectives of the experiment, and its significance (why it was done).
 a context for your study. That is, a link with what has already been done.
Some disciplines or tutors may require you to include the aims or objectives of your study in a separate section
after the Introduction, so check with your tutor.

Example: Introduction

Toads and rats are both vertebrates of similar size. Their physiology, background to the
however, is quite different, as toads are ectothermic and rats are experiment (including
endothermic (Campbell et al., 1997, pg 487). This means that the body references to other
temperature of a toad is responsive to its environment, and it must studies)
therefore regulate its body temperature through its behaviour. A rat, on the
other hand, has a high metabolic rate, and maintains its body temperature
at 37°C, regardless of the external temperature.

In this study, the anatomy of the toad and rat were investigated. As well as link between
background and
identifying the various body systems and their component organs, the
significance of the
study was designed to compare the toad and the rat. This comparison
experiment
should lead to a better understanding of the effect of the different
physiologies (ectothermy and endothermy) on internal and external
anatomy, and what anatomical adaptations are associated with objectives, and
ectothermic and endothermic lifestyles. significance of the
experiment

MATERIALS & METHODS

The purpose of this section is to describe how you proceeded with your experiment with enough detail so
someone else could repeat the same procedure. This section should be written in paragraph form with as little
repetition as possible. If you are following a procedure described in a manual, you will need to change a list of
bulleted points to paragraph format. You will need to change the tense from the present tense (what you do),
to the past tense (what you did). It is important to add any extra information or observations, such as changes,
or if the experiment did not go according to plan.

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 Example: Materials and Methods (excerpt)

Growth rates were determined by estimating the number of bacteria in a In this excerpt no
culture at zero time and after 1 hour of growth at 37°C. In order to make this amounts or descriptions
estimation, a dilution series was performed by diluting aliquots of the of equipment have been
bacterial culture, at each incubation time, by a factor of 10, 100, and 10 000 included, as a person
wishing to repeat the
with nutrient broth, and then plating out 0.01ml of each of these
experiment could
dilutions onto quadrants of a sterile agar plate. Following one week’s
change these and still
incubation at 25°C, the colonies of the plate were counted manually. get the same effect.
Serial Dilution (see manual, page 1.5).

RESULTS
This section describes but does not explain your results. (Remember you are giving the clues, not solving the
mystery.) You can, however, draw attention to specific trends or data that you think are important. Since you
are presenting your results, not the figures which represent the results, you should ensure you refer explicitly
to your results and not just to your data figures (graphs, tables). As you describe particular results in the text
of your results section, make sure you refer to the corresponding figure in brackets after you have mentioned
the results. The figures should be inserted into the text as soon as possible after you mention them.

Example: Results (excerpt)

When samples of hydrolysed and unhydrolysed BSA were analysed by description - no

ascending paper chromatography, the appearance and separation of the explanation
two samples were quite different. The unhydrolysed BSA had very little (refer to the results, not
colour and appeared to remain on the origin (Fig. 1, lane 7). In its hydrolysed to figures, graphs or
form, however, however, the BSA sample separated into a number of spots tables)
which were bright pink or purple (Fig. 1, lane 8).

DISCUSSION
In the discussion section of your report, you should interpret and explain your results. This should be linked
with the introduction, telling whether and how the questions raised in that section have been answered. You
also need to draw conclusions about your results and consider their significance.

Example: Discussion (excerpt)

The activity of the salivary amylase enzyme in this experiment increased major results again
with temperature up to 37°C. This was probably an effect on the reaction interpretation, based on
itself, as the rate of chemical reactions generally increases as temperature knowledge (cites
increases because there is more energy in the system at higher sources)
temperatures (Stryer, 1995, p. 46). Most enzymes are denatured at unexpected result
temperatures above 50°C (Perkins, 1964). However, in this experiment, the
explanation
activity of the amylase was highest at 70°C. This may be explained by the
variation in temperature that is experienced in the mouth during eating,
which may require a high degree of heat-resistance in the amylase enzyme
…

It is possible to combine the Results and Discussion, and to include a separate concluding section - check with
your tutor to see what they prefer.

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REFERENCES
Unless information is a) obvious or well known, for example enzymes are proteins or b) has been established
by you in your experiment, you will need to cite the source of your information. References are cited in the
text, and a bibliography or reference list is included before any appendices you may include. Check with your
department on referencing conventions.

APPENDIX
The Appendix contains any raw data which were part of the experiment, but which are not essential to the
discussion of the results. You need to clearly label each appendix (plural appendices) so that the reader is aware
of what it is he or she is looking it.

GRAMMATICAL FEATURES
The language of laboratory reports shares many features of academic English: that is, it can be described as
abstract, objective and formal. However, there are several grammatical features of laboratory reports, which
are peculiar to report writing. One feature is the choice of tense: when you are describing the aims of your
report, as well as discussing your results, you will need to use the present tense. In the methods section,
however, you are describing what you did. Furthermore, as the focus is on what was done rather than who did
it, the passive voice is utilised as it aims to foreground the action, rather than the who did the action.

Weak example

We did a serial dilution by pipetting 0.9 ml broth into labelled tubes, then The pronoun we could
adding 2 drops (0.1ml) of the original culture to tube 1, 2 drops of tube 1 to have been avoided by
tube 2, 2 drops of tube 2 to 3 and 2 drops of tube 3 to tube 4. Mix the tubes using the passive voice
and spread a loopful (0.01 ml) of each tube onto a different quadrant of a (a serial dilution was
labelled agar plate. carried out)
Avoid unnecessary
repetition
In the present tense,
this reads like
instructions, not a
description of what
you did

Published by Learning Development — University of Wollongong. Adapted from material material prepared for Biology 103 by Dr
Wendy Russell.

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