Biology Lab Investigation Report

There are three main components to a laboratory investigation. The first is the preparation for the lab. The second is actually performing it and cleaning up the resulting mess. The last part (and the part that reflects what you learned as a result of your experience) is the write-up.

When assigned to complete a “Pre-lab”, read the lab instructions and write a summary of the directions. Before you even start the lab, you should have this part of the report completed. This will be checked before you start your investigation. The typed pre-lab consists of the completed “Name”, “Date”, “Section”, “Purpose,” “Procedure,” any required “Data” tables/charts plus the other three headings, which at this point will be followed by a blank section. Each final report must also be typed. Be sure to staple your pre-lab to the final report. Each of the sections for the pre-lab and full report is explained below.

NAME

DATE

SECTION

LAB PARTNERS – (full name)

TITLE OF LAB

PURPOSE: Use complete sentences to give a one to two sentence description of what you will expect to learn from completing this lab. This is often described in the introductory paragraphs of the investigation. Put this in your own words.

PROCEDURE: Outline the important steps of the procedure. This should contain enough information so you could work from your pre-lab without having to refer to the original directions, but should not be word-for-word from the original directions.

DATA: Here is where you present your data in tables, charts, graphs, drawings, etc. As much set-up is as possible should be completed beforehand. You don’t want to spend your data collection time drawing out a data table. These should be prepared in the pre-lab.

QUESTIONS: Answer the lab’s questions in this section. Please number and answer the lab’s questions in complete sentences that incorporate the question into the answer. Skip a line between answers.

CONCLUSION: This is what you learned from the lab. What new information or processes did you learn? This is essentially a summary of your experiences. It should be significantly longer and more involved than your purpose. It should not be just a restating of what you wrote in your procedure.

POSSIBLE SOURCES OF ERROR: The majority of research is spent fixing what went wrong in a lab when an unexpected result is obtained. This can happen in the labs you will be performing. The true test of a researcher is to figure out what caused the unexpected result. When an unexpected result is obtained, explain what it was and why you think it occurred. Often there are intentional design flaws in the procedure, we are not a real laboratory and will do things different to accommodate the fact that neither the facilities nor participants nor time allow for more rigorous investigations. Try to identify these areas. If by some chance no errors occurred in your lab, write “No errors identified,” but only if there really were no errors!!!

Here are some hints for writing a scientific report.

1. Papers must be typed, double-spaced, with approximately one-inch margins. The pages should be numbered.

2. Use active or passive voice; use 1^st or 3^rd person, but be consistent.

3. Decimal fractions of numbers less than one should always have a zero to the left of the decimal: e.g., 0.94 not .94.

4. Never begin any sentence with a symbol or a numeral. Any number that begins a sentence should be spelled out.

5. Except for the rule above, data (especially in results) should be given as Arabic numbers (e.g., 1,2,3…). In a written section numbers one through ten should be spelled out while numbers exceeding ten should be in Arabic form. Examples: “Five drops were added.” “We used 15 plants.”

6. Abbreviations for units (g, ml, m) are not followed by a period unless the end a sentence.