How to Write a Lab Repot

So You Want To Write A Group Lab Report

General Guidelines:

1.) Group lab reports are due _____________________________ to _________________________ by _________________AM/PM.

2.) Lab reports must be typed, double-spaced on letter-sized paper and 12 point font. Graphs and tables should be computer-generated using a spreadsheet program like MS Excel. The computers in the LRC (H-137) already have MS Excel and Word installed, but you will need M&G to print.

3.) After you write a few lab reports you should begin to develop an intuitive feel for what is and is not appropriate for a given experiment. This will only happen, however, if you continuously participate in the writing process. It may seem like a fair division of labor to have one group member write the whole report on a rotating basis, but in fact this just means that you are writing lab reports without the benefit of past experience; the fourth lab report handed in would still only be the first by that group member. In the end how you divide up the work is left up to individual groups, but past experience has shown that when the lab report was a group effort their grades improved.

4.) Your laboratory manual suggests that proper lab reports are written in the passive, third-person voice. This is true for professional-level journals, and will be preferred here as well as in many of your other chemistry classes.

5.) Remember that your lab reports are not only being graded on how well you performed the experiment but also on how well you report the work you did. Thus as long as your report is well written and demonstrates a clear understanding of the principles being investigated your data need not be perfect.

The Lab Report: (Your lab TA may specify slight modifications to the format below).

1.) Title Page: The title page is usually centered top and bottom as well as left and right and should contain the title of the lab (don’t just write “Investigation #”), the names of each of the...