Lab Report Guidelines ( How to do the report)
You should consider the last section of each lab experiment as well as 1.5 Report Preparation part when writing a lab report.
The Materials and Methods and results section should be written in the past tense, since your experiments are completed at the time you are writing your paper.
Your lab report should include the following sections:
Cover Page
- Include the title of the experiment, name, group number, and the date on which the experiment was performed
Introduction
- Purpose of experiment
- Background Information
Materials and Methods
- Equipment Used
- Schematic diagram of main equipment used (if required )
- Test procedure generally contains information on the physical nature of the experiment, such as the type of instrumentation used, the variables controlled and those that are not controlled, and any unusual conditions. Here is an example of a section of that type.
The experiment was carried out with a Nicolet Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer. The resolution of the spectrometer was set at 1 cm-1 for all spectra. The experiment involved the accumulation of a background spectrum which were subtracted from the spectrum of the sample to provide the response of the sample. The detector was a nitrogen-cooled cadmium-telluride detector. Each experiment resulted from the average 64 transient responses coadded, with the background spectrum being the accumulation of 64 spectra without the sample present. The data were analyzed by Fourier transformation using the software of the instrument. The data were saved to disk, and were subsequently analyzed with a spreadsheet program, in this case, Microsoft EXCEL. Theoretical values of the parameters were predicted by computation with the program GAUSSIAN.
The section need not be long, but it should include everything about the experimental setup that the author thinks is important.
retrieved from”https://www1.udel.edu/pchem/C446/example.pdf”
Results
- Present your data using text AND figures/tables.
- Describes your major findings in the data presented in the figures and tables.
- Don’t interpret the data. It could be done in the Discussion section of the lab report.
- All figures and tables are properly formatted with numbers, titles and legends that are easy to the reader to follow.
- DO NOT ATTACH YOUR LAB DATA SHEETto show your results.
Discussion
- Summarize what you found.
- Explain and interpret your results. It may involve comparison of the test results with existing empirical relationship
- Source of errors if any
- Other details not included in the report