CH110 LAB REPORT WRITING

Scientific writing is just as important as scientific investigation or experimenting. Although the major part
of scientific investigation takes place in the laboratory, a great deal of time is spent to present the results
in a concise, objective, critical and conclusive format called laboratory report (similar to research
paper). Therefore, a well-organized laboratory report is much more effective and influential than one
without a structure. A lab report is more than just something you turn in to (hopefully) get a good grade.
It's your opportunity to show that you understand what is going on in the experiment, which is really the
most important part of doing it.

There are three basic parts to a lab report: pre-lab, in-lab, and post-lab.

PRE-LAB REPORT
I. Introduction
The introduction discusses the problem being studied and the relevant theory. Ideally, it would take up
about 4-5 sentences. The main idea here is to give the reader an idea of what you are going to do in a short
paragraph. There are different styles to do this. You should try to write it in your own words, rather than
paraphrasing or quoting the lab manual. It's always a good idea to read the entire experiment in the
manual before you begin your introduction. We suggest the following:
Background sentences: state why you want to do the experiment, why is it relevant.
Goal: In one sentence, state what you are going to do in the experiment and what you hope to find. This is
probably the most important part of the introduction. You should also list explicitly any main chemicals
with which you are dealing (vinegar, aspirin, NaOH) and any techniques you will be utilizing (titration,
recrystallization, distillation, etc.). For example, "In this experiment, we will determine the buffer capacity
of a weak acid buffer of acetic acid / acetate ion by titration with both a strong acid, HCl, and a strong base,
NaOH."
Keep it short!
II. Procedural Flowchart
This part of the pre-lab should take no more than one page. A good flowchart should give a reader an
immediate idea of what's need to be done in the laboratory except in a less detailed format. Think of a
flowchart as a "road map" of the experiment. It gives a reader a "pictorial" representation of the
experimental procedure. In general there are two major steps when constructing the flowchart. First, read
the experimental procedure carefully. Second, rewrite the procedure steps in a flowchart format. Keep in
mind that the flowchart should be brief and cover all the steps in a simple and easy to follow manner.
There should be no complicated sentences or paragraphs in the flowchart. You will have to do a lot of
rewriting in order to simplify the procedures into a flowchart format. This is exactly why we want you to do
it. This gives you a chance to THINK about what you read and how to rewrite it in a way that can be
implemented into a flowchart.

Always remember to reference where the experimental procedures are coming from in the pre-lab report.

Please DO NOT simply copy the entire procedure (or majority of the procedure) and make it look like a
flowchart. You will lose marks if you do that.

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Your LS will check your pre-lab write-up for each experiment at the beginning of the lab meeting, and will
return it to you before the end of class. Take note that the pre-lab write-up shall be marked and given up
to 3 marks (out of 10) during the lab session. This write-up shall be done before you come to the lab as no
writing up will be allowed during the lab session.

Your Pre-lab should include the following:

Cover Page
• Print and fill out the cover page with applicable information using ink. Only details of workgroup
members who have attended the lab session must be included on the cover page.
• The attached cover page shall be used as a template for all lab reports submitted. You are not allowed
to use a different format of this page no matter how nicely designed

Procedure
• A flowchart or step-by-step outline of how you will carry out the experiment. This information is
obtained by studying the description of the experiment in the lab manual or handout.

Data Sheet
A blank well-designed sheet on which you shall enter your final data from the experiment. This data sheet
may already be formatted and part of the experimental procedure handout but if not then you will need to
design one based on the data you will need to collect.

Pre-Lab Questions and Answers

• Answers to all of the pre-lab questions in the lab manual or handout (unless otherwise notified)

IN-LAB RESPONSIBILITY
I. Data-taking
Make good use of your laboratory notebook for initial data entry and any other relevant information.
Always record data directly into your lab notebook. We know some people like to be neat, and have nice
formatting and all that, but it's more important to make sure you record all of the data immediately in case
you forget what you wanted to say later or you forget to copy other data into your notebook. Never
scratch something out completely. Make entries only in ink, and cross out mistakes with a single line. Do
not overwrite entry errors. Yeah, nobody's perfect and of course also nobody wants to be reminded of that,
but you may discover that you were right in the first place, and now you wish you could read what you
wrote before. Also, if you make a mistake it's a good idea to keep a record of it so you (or someone else
trying to do your experiment) can remember to not make the same mistake twice.

II. Observations
In addition to writing down all those numbers (data), you should keep an eye (nose, ear, etc.) on what is
actually happening in the experiment. If you add one thing to another and it evolves a gas, gets hot or cold,
changes colour or odour, precipitates a solid, reacts really quickly or slowly, or anything noticeable, you
should write down that observation in your lab notebook. Other things to consider including are: make and
type of any machine you are using, concentrations of all the standards you used, and etc. One of the
reasons you are doing this goes back to what we said about mistakes earlier. An experiment is exactly that:
an experiment. If it turns out that you get an unexpected result, you can go back and trace your

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observations to see where the error occurred. If you don't have any observations, this is really hard to do.
The bottom line: write what you do and do what you write.

POST-LAB REPORT
I. Data again?
Recopy your data from the in-lab data (in your lab notebook) onto the data sheet in a nice neat format
(tables are usually nice and neat). No erasures are permitted on this data sheet. This is your chance to
organize it into a more readable form now that you are done with the experiment and impress the LS with
your organizational skills. The LS will sign on this data sheet as it shall be part of the final lab report you will
hand in for marking.
II. Calculations
It's a good idea to write out all the formulas you use in your calculations. You may prefer to work through
the problem using just the formula, and then plug in the numbers at the end to get your final answer. Also,
show all of your work.
One more point is to be sure to include the units when you are doing a calculation, and don't drop the
units halfway through the calculation. This is actually a pretty powerful tool because if your answer has the
wrong units you know you must have made an error somewhere along the way. Conversely, if your answer
has the correct units, you could still be wrong, but at least you are on the right track (and probably much of
the time your answer is correct, too!) You can even do the calculation using just units and no numbers and
see if the units cancel out in the right way to test if your method is good (this is called dimensional
analysis).
III. Conclusion
The conclusion is a lot like the introduction except, instead of a summary of what you are going to do, it's a
summary of what you did. The reason you have a conclusion is because your lab report might be long and
the reader may not remember all the important points that you stated. Also, it gives you a chance to
explain anything that might have gone wrong or could be improved, as well as propose future experiments.
Like the introduction, it should be short and to the point. Again, these are only our suggestions, but here's
what you should always include:
What you did: Reiterate your procedures briefly (including any changes you made).
What you found: Restate any results that you may have calculated (with errors if applicable). You don't
need to include the raw data, but if you calculated an average over several trials, state the average (not
each trial). Usually you want to report the results as x +/- y (like 2.345 +/- 0.003), where y is the absolute
error in x. Another option, if you calculated the relative error, is x +/- z% (like 2.345 +/- 0.5%), where z is
the relative error.
What you think: What do your results mean? Are they good? Bad? Why or why not? Basically, comment
on the results. If your experimental error (RAD, RSD) is small or large compared to the inherent error (the
error in the standards and equipment used), comment on what this means, too.
Errors: Speculate on possible sources of error.

Sections of a typical laboratory report:

A laboratory report usually has several sections identified by titles. A typical report would include such
sections as TITLE, INTRODUCTION, PROCEDURE, RESULTS, and DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION. All lab reports
shall be typed, with section headings in boldface. The report must be typed in Arial (font style), font size 12
and line spacing of 1.5.
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Title:
The title can usually draw attention of the reader to your work. It should clearly represent the work
presented. If the purpose of the experiment is to investigate the effect of temperature change on the rate
(speed) of a chemical reaction, the title should be like “Effect of Temperature on the rate/speed of a
Chemical Reaction”. Avoid “The” as the first word in the title. This title shall be part of the cover page.

Introduction:
State the purpose of the experiment in general terms. For example, “It is possible to determine the effect
of temperature change on the speed of a chemical reaction.”
Review the existing information or the theory. Reader will look for some reminder of the basic
information relating to this particular area. This can be done by giving him/her a brief summary of the
existing state of knowledge. You may also include a summary of earlier work with proper references.
Supply a paragraph or two about how the basic information, such as an equation representing the
behaviour of a model (theory), can be used to demonstrate the concept.

Procedure:
Indicate what parameter or properties of the system you are measuring. Usually you change a parameter
of the system (such as changing the temperature, independent variable), and measure its effect (such as
the speed of the chosen reaction, dependent variable).
Specify such measurement details as the type of concentrations of reactants or instruments used to make
the measurement (for example, 2M Sodium thiosulphate, 1M HCl, or hotplate, thermometer etc.). Give
the instrument uncertainties. For example, if we are using a thermometer, we can say, “ the temperature
of the reactant(s) is measured using a laboratory thermometer accurate to within 0.1oC. You may also
give, if necessary, an apparatus diagram.
Lab reports should include the following:

Data

• A neatly filled-out data sheet, designed by yourself or from your lab handout should be included.
• The appropriate number of significant figures should be used in all calculations and in reporting final
results.
• Appropriate units should be used for all quantities.

Results/Data Analysis:
• Provide tables showing your measurement with units.
• Describe the uncertainties: standard, instrument, random errors
• If graphs are necessary for reporting the results of an experiment, they should be included with the
lab report. They will be counted as part of your data.
• Axes on graphs will be labelled and have appropriate units in parentheses (brackets). All labels will
be centred on each axis and written parallel to the axis. The independent variable will be on the
x-axis, and the dependent variable will be on the y-axis.
• A title, sufficient to identify the graph, should it be detached from the report, must be included.
• Computation of the final answer: slope calculation, averages, and standard deviations all in proper
significant figures.
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Discussion:
• Present your findings from the experiment.
• Evaluate the outcome objectively, taking a candid and unbiased point of view. Suppose that the
outcome is not close to what you expected. Even then, after checking your results, give reasons
why you believe that outcome is not consistent with the expected. Make it plain, simple. Make
factual statements such as “graph 1 shows a linear variation of temperature with reaction
rate/speed”.
• State the discrepancies between the experimental results and the model (theory), and discuss the
sources of the differences in terms of the errors by offering logical inferences.
• Suggest improvements

Conclusion
A brief statement describing the success of the experiment and the results you used to support this
claim. No more than two or three sentences are usually necessary. Do a comparison of the actual
experimental result to an expected value, if available, commenting briefly if the two values differ
significantly.

Lab Report Submission

The lab report for each experiment is due five working days after completion of the experiment – the day
of the lab inclusive. For example, if the lab session is on Monday, the lab report shall be due for submission
on Friday. For those experiments that require two lab sessions to complete, the report shall be due three
working days after completion of the second part of the experiment.

General Report Requirements

• Neatness matters. The use of a word processor, such as MS Word, and a spreadsheet program, such
as Excel, as well as a printer, are strongly recommended for preparation and submission of lab
reports.
• Although these do not make an exhaustive list of do’s or don'ts, they nevertheless offer a framework
around which one can write an effective report. We expect that the lab reports (typed) should be
neat, clear, and organized. Points will be deducted for these, as well as for missing units and failing to

Make-Up Labs
Make-up labs are available only for a University-excused absence or because of an illness on the date of a
lab period (for which you must have a written statement from a physician). If a make-up lab is justified,
contact the LS to make the necessary arrangements.