Writing a Lab Report

1. Abstract
Your abstract should cover why, what, how, and your results. Remember,
when reading through hundreds of journals to find something relevant,
readers will only read your abstract. It needs to be a concise summary of
your experiment with results.

2. Introduction
In this section you will discuss any pertinent background information that is
relevant to the experiment. Also, you will state your hypothesis.

3. Materials & Methods

You can do this section one of two ways:
First Way: Separate this into two separate sections: materials and methods.
Create a table to show all of your materials. Such as:
(2) syringes
(1) petri dish

(3) 14 gauge needles

(1) microscope

Then list your methods such as:

1. Fill a syringe with 1 mL of isopropyl alcohol.
2. Inject fly with alcohol.
Second Way: List both materials and methods together such as:
1. Fill a 15mL syringe with 1mL of isopropyl alcohol.
2. Inject a fruit fly with a 14 gauge needle filed with RNA plasmid.
Typically, the second method is used for shorter experiments with less
materials and methods. Whichever way you choose is fine with me as long as
you include all materials and all methods. Someone who is not familiar with
your experiment at all should be able to pick up your report and duplicate
your experiment without difficulty.

4. Results
In this section you will just show your results. This can be in the form of
pictures, charts, tables, graphs, etc. Write a short sentence explaining what
the image is depicting. For example:

Graph 1.1-This graph depicts the relationship between the use of cell phones and the age of the user.

5. Discussion
In this section you should be describing what your results showed. You
should also include whether or not your hypothesis was proven.