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Writing Lab Reports: Sections in Detail

Move through a step-by-step exploration of lab reports, from maintaining a lab notebook, to the writing process, to key sections of the final report.

Writing the sections of your report

Scientific and technical reports have fairly standard sections. Some reports contain the full set of sections while others a subset. You will need to check with your tutor the sections they want you to include in your reports. This guide gives you some idea of what needs to be included in a selection of the sections.

Scroll to continue reading, or click a link below to jump immediately to that section:

Summary/Abstract

Most writers find it easiest to draft the abstract/summary last, even though it is placed at the beginning of the article or report. This is because it is difficult to summarise the key points until you have actually written them!

Summary

This is a paragraph or two giving a clear statement of the purpose of your report/paper, your main findings and conclusions. Note the confidence you have in your findings and any reservations. Information should be in the same order as the report, but you should not make any cross reference to the body of the report. Remember you read the title and summary/abstract of a paper/report in order to see if it is of interest to you. You do not want to read the whole paper and then find out it was not relevant.

Abstract

An abstract is also the summary of an article in a published journal. The abstract will be published with and separate from the body of the article. So, it can be read without access to the article (e.g. on remote databases and abstract journals). Therefore, it must give you enough information to make a decision on whether you should read the whole article. An abstract is usually about 200 to 250 words.

Introduction

This section sets the scene and contextualises your work by giving the necessary background. This is your shop window (along with the abstract if you write one) so it is important to write clearly and interestingly. This should explain why you are carrying out this investigation and who else has done similar work.

The writing here should be engaging, simple, clear and relatively non-technical.

Checklist for your introduction

This is not a complete list - check with your tutor for any specific requirements they have.

  • A paragraph discussing the topic of your investigation: state any assumptions your work was built on.
  • Some information on any previous work in the field relating to your topic.
    • Key findings from other researchers, and/or
    • Other approaches to tackling this issue.
  • State your hypothesis, if you have carried out an experiment (or, provide a clear statement of a problem you are trying to solve).
  • Cite any references you use in your text and include in your reference list at the end of your report. (NOTE: You may want to have a literature review section on its own. Ask your tutor about this expectation.)

Methods

This section should be written clearly enough so that the reader could repeat your experiment if they wanted to do so. This will also help the reader understand how your data was obtained.

Your sentences should be simple and clear. You need to write in the past tense and use the passive. When you use the passive voice, you concentrate on what you DID and underplay WHO did it. This gives your report a sense of objectivity, which is essential in technical writing.

Checklist for your methods section

  • List the equipment used (add diagrams if important).
  • State any conditions of your investigation.
  • State the purity and structure of the materials used (if important to your investigation).
  • State exactly what you did.
  • Describe the techniques used.
  • Use standard abbreviations for names of things.

Results and Analysis

Here you will present your main findings (adjusted and analysed) and identify important trends or information. This section will be full of tables and graphs that will depict all your significant results. Make sure your graphs and tables are well laid out and accurately labelled (informative title, labelled axes, legend - when appropriate, units used, and numerical values along the x-axis). Always refer to numbers and quantitative measures if possible.

You will need some text so that the reader can easily interpret your figures and identify your variables. However, your comments should be short, clear and precise. For example...

Poor phrasing X is quite a lot larger than Y.
Good phrasing  X is 6% larger than Y.

Checklist for your results section

  • Identify key data that relates to your hypothesis.
  • Analyse and summarise this data.
  • Present your data in clear graphs or tables.
  • Briefly comment on the results to help the reader understand your data (but DON'T include commentary more appropriate for the Discussion section).
  • Add key calculations as appropriate.
  • Raw data should be in an appendix - if required.
  • See our support for maths and statistics for help processing data.

Discussion

Before you start this section, get your story straight. What do you want to say about your findings? Here, you need to link your results with your introduction to form a critical view of your work. It is important that your writing here is evaluative: this is the most important section. You need to convey to the reader what your results and findings mean.

Checklist for your discussion section

  • Re-state your purpose and hypothesis (if appropriate).
  • Interpret your data and comment on your findings.
  • Re-state key elements of your experimental design/method in relation to results (experimental error/tolerances).
  • Comment on your confidence regarding the validity and reliability of your findings as a result of your design.
  • Be quantitative whenever possible.
  • Be objective and avoid vague/general statements, such as, 'I felt it was quite successful!'
  • Comment on your results in relation to others' results – expected or unexpected.
  • Cite others’ work as appropriate.
  • Summarise and critically evaluate your research design and findings.

Conclusion

You may include the conclusion in your discussion. Check with your tutor what is needed for your assignment. If you do include this section, you may want to move your critical comments about your research design into this section and then talk about how you could improve it in the future.

Checklist for your conclusion

  • Briefly state what you found.
  • Support this statement with key findings.
  • Comment on how future research could develop this topic.

Appendices

Typically these include the following – put them in separately labelled appendices.

  • Raw data (as necessary).
  • Calculations.
  • Pertinent detailed graphical information such as NMR, graphical output from tests, etc.
  • Any detailed information about the apparatus/equipment as is necessary.

Formatting your work

It is important to get into the habit of writing professional looking documents: give your hard work a good showcase.

Items to check

  • Font and point size are consistent.
  • Margins are what they should be.
  • Headings (use different style across different levels of headings, but be consistent).
  • Citations and referencing formats that you have to use.

Navigation elements

The document should be easy to navigate, so also check the following:

  • Clearly laid out title and your name.
  • Table of contents (if your document is short this may not be necessary).
  • Numbered sections with titles (adhere to any style specifications indicated in your style guide).
  • Clearly labelled tables and figures (select an appropriate font for these and follow your style guide).