The learning process is not only lectures but also the student’s own efforts in applying the learned theory in practice. One of the types of independent workshops is a laboratory report. But often, when performing it, a student arises the question of how to properly format it.
What is a laboratory report?
In the modern education system, more and more attention is paid to the development of a research form of education. Therefore, students must be prepared to participate in a variety of experiments. Laboratory work helps students to combine theoretical and practical skills.
If you want to draw up a lab report correctly, ask a lab report writing service like gpalabs.com for its sample in advance. Study the lab report sample written by a writer carefully. An example of a high-quality report will clear things up, and you will deal with writing quicker.
General requirements for formatting
In fact, a laboratory report is a concise scientific report on the work done with the conclusions made by the student within the assigned topic. The document helps the teacher assess the level of the assignment implementation and identify the general professional training of the student.
A laboratory report plan usually consists of 6 points:
- Goals and objectives.
- The theoretical aspect of the question.
- Equipment used.
- Experiment done.
- Analysis of the results.
- Conclusions.
Since there are no strictly established procedures for formatting the text of some scientific papers, each college or university may have its own requirements. But in general, in 2021, the essence of the content of the scientific report should still reflect the student’s actions in the learning process.
- Font
The text of the lab report is drawn up on a white A4 sheet and is located on only one side. When working with Word, it is preferable to use Times New Roman font, 12 or 14 point. Along with the specified standard, information from the guidelines for your institution should be considered. A sample of this document is usually published on the university website.
- Headings
The main part of the lab report should be divided into structural elements: sections, subsections, and paragraphs. The names of these text fragments are headings:
- Introduction.
- Conclusion.
- Definitions.
- References and so on.
- Graphic material
Before inserting graphic materials into a report, you need to unify them – bring them to the same size and appearance:
- line width and font in tables
- width of images
- type of graphic elements. If you have drawn up one pie chart, similar ones should be used throughout the work.
- How to write a lab report
So that the lab report does not have to be redone, you need not only to be well versed in the topic but also to write it in accordance with basic requirements. This means that it is necessary to correctly present the results of experiments carried out within the framework of the study.
- Title page
For each type of scientific report, the title page is drawn up differently. When it comes to a laboratory report, place information on the first page as follows:
- The upper field contains the full name of the educational institution and department.
- In the middle field – the type of report (laboratory report), discipline, and name of the study without quotation marks are written.
- On the right side of the page, the name of a supervisor is indicates
- On the left side, the full name of the student is written.
- At the bottom of the sheet, the year of the study is indicated.
- Purpose of work
In this section, you need to formulate the goals and objectives of a laboratory report, justify its relevance, that is, the degree of importance of conducting research to solve a certain problem or task.
- Brief theoretical information
The main part of the report contains theoretical material and a description of the stage of the experiments. The theory section provides the following information:
- description of the studied aspect
- sources (articles, textbooks)
- laws, formulas, and calculations by means of which tasks were performed.
- Technical equipment
The essence of the practical part of the laboratory is reduced to the application of the knowledge gained in the course of studying the theory. But since specialized equipment is used to conduct the research, the report should separately mention which technical means helped the student conduct the experiments.
- Description of the experiment
The part devoted to practical activities describes the research methodology, a detailed list of actions, methods of obtaining results, and methods of analyzing them.
- Data analysis
An experiment will not play a special role in the process of assimilating knowledge if it is not accompanied by a detailed analysis of the data obtained. The student should be able to interpret the results and draw certain conclusions.
- Summarizing
The final part of the laboratory report is devoted to summing up – confirming that the goals are achieved, and the tasks are completed. This section should briefly mention:
- what have you researched
- what measurements were taken
- what result you got.
- what graphs, diagrams were built, and what conclusions were drawn on their basis.
Many consider writing lab reports to be a difficult assignment, but this process can be easier for you if you follow this guideline. Now you are well-versed in lab report writing principles and know how to create it properly. Good luck!