Writing a laboratory report
Describing lab experiment has puzzled students since the invention of a course work and scientific studies. Now, we will explore the definition together with the procedure, taking into account the duration of the experiment, academic sources and requirements provided.
So, why do teachers assign this kind of paper? There is a number of reasons:
- Scientific research needs to be conducted.
- Students should learn the hypothetic structure of the paper and analyze theories, based on scientific assumptions.
- Related literature has to be studied on a higher level.
- Statistics are taken into consideration and other students need to reapply your work.
- Your theories have confirmed to be successful and now require publishing.
- Abstract explanations are not enough to guarantee confidentiality of the paper.
- The chosen theme has to be explored properly, regardless of the deadline.
You have to bear in mind single explanation is not sufficient for a lab report, therefore you have to provide the target audience with as many relevant theories as possible, given they correspond to the chosen topic.
Lab reports. Explanation
When writing a laboratory report, you do not have to struggle for theory confirmation. If your arguments are not valid, single out the contextual patterns that allow you to move further on. This way, you will be able to prove the usefulness of your research and its interpretation in general.
Moreover, the summary of the report may provide other students with valuable findings, encouraging them to proceed with their own studies. In case it happens, however, you should remember about unpredictable obstacles and conditions during the course of the experiment, leading to the opposite result.
Many have argued about the usage of active voice in the reports. Though we have witnessed a significant change in the recent years, it still remains preferable. Modern scientists, on the other hand, give reasoning as to the third person and back up their positions by the grammatical style of the lab report. Nevertheless, you have to remain consistent throughout the work in order to give your readers a full insight on the matter.
Lab report discussion
The body of the laboratory work is the discussion. In some of the requirements, teachers may indicate “results” as a separate section, but generally, they are considered the same thing. When creating the discussion part, one should not forget about the course of the experience and its influence on the modern science.
You can combine the sections if you want to outline the importance of the outcome, but be careful with the separate sections as they need coherent connections and logical approach. By tossing the sentences in one paragraph, make sure you know what you are talking about, otherwise you will have to point out your views and theories again. When you are writing a longer laboratory report, the conclusion section is compulsive.
The discussion section, however, is not about the analysis alone. It also has to deal with certain implications, or flaws, as we call them in the process of the work. For example, if you have been conducting an experiment that has ended successfully, but you still had minor errors, you have to accentuate the origins of these errors and the way they influenced the whole report.
This helps us understand the general purpose of the laboratory paper and move further on if there is nothing more to discover. The liability of the conclusions can be presented in sections, called graphs, that are used for academic purposes and scientific reports. These are numerical representations, generally loved by students, for they help to differentiate the meanings and clear the terms in writing.