Writing Lab Reports: Overview

Overview of writing lab reports

Writing a lab report is a central component of higher education. Scientific and technical advances are conveyed through written documents. These can be research papers, technical reports and newspaper articles. The ability to write effectively is essential for the scientist or the engineer.

Research and project work at university is an excellent opportunity to produce simple, clear and readable reports for a specific audience. You need to learn this skill for study and for future work, and the more you practise the better you will become.

The hallmark of good technical writing is clarity. If you are able to present your ideas clearly, you are also training yourself to think clearly. This guide will help you to master the process of writing - which is difficult for all of us - and to identify the contents of each section of a report.

Guide contents

The tabs of this guide will support you in producing a lab report. The sections are organised as follows:

• The Lab Notebook - Advice on maintaining a notebook to support your laboratory work, and using the notebook to prepare for writing up.
• Writing Process - Steps you can work through as a writer to plan, draft and edit your report.
• Sections in Detail - Specific information on the most common sections of a lab report (Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, and so on).