Guidelines for Writing Formal Laboratory Reports in Biology Once you have carried out the scientific method in your investigation, you can communicate your investigative approach and findings in writing. Often for biology labs, students write formal laboratory reports to organize and communicate this information. The following guidelines are used in writing these formal laboratory reports, and your instructor will use the rubric included (Table 3.4) when grading your lab report. You will be writing a formal laboratory report for the Ecology lab, but your instructor will introduce the guidelines today. THE PARTS OF A FORMAL LABORATORY REPORT Title Straightforward (informational is better than catchy) • Less than ten words • Reflects factual content of the report Abstract • An abstract is a brief summary of the lab report's main points. • Include one or two summary sentences for each of the lab report's section (i.e. Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion). • Include your hypothesis. A hypothesis is a clearly stated single idea that you explore in the rest of your report. It is not a fact or question. All facets of your study should revolve around your hypothesis. Introduction • A reasoned statement of why you did the work in the first place. It should contain the following: • Description of the problem/question being addressed. Summaries of existing relevant research on the topic to provide the reader a reasonable framework for understanding your work. Express the hypothesis addressed in your study. Express the purpose, scope, and general methodology of your study. o 0 o Methods A description of all experimental protocols followed during your investigation. It should contain the following: . A statement of the steps taken during experimentation. o Mathematical equations and statistical tests should be described. • A reader should be able to repeat your experiments using only this section. Scientific Method, Information Literacy, and Graphing Laboratory 3 44 23 Results · A presentation of the data collected during experimentation with text, tables, and figures. It should contain the following: . ALL results should be presented, even those that do not support your hypothesis. NO CHERRY PICKING! • All statements in your report must be supported by data contained here. . Discussion An explanation of how the results of the study are significant and how these results fit into the broader scope of existing knowledge on the topic. It should contain the following: o A summary of the important findings of your study. For each result, explain how the data relate to expectations and to your references cited. Explain any agreements, contradictions, or exceptions. • A statement of the theoretical implications of your results. Extend your findings to the big picture: Do your findings help the world better understand the topic? o Describe what additional experiments may be performed to enhance understanding of the topic. Works Cited • A listing of published works that you have cited in your report. For science papers, these are generally listed in order of appearance in the article, with each citation assigned a corresponding number for in-text references. Table 3.4: Rubric for formal laboratory reports. (Your instructor will use the following rubric to grade your lab report.) Nearly Meets Standard Does Not Meet No Evidence Score Category Meets Standard (3pts) (2pts) Standard (1 pt) (Opts) Title Evidence of 4 Evidence of 3 Evidence of 2 or less Absent Exceeds Standard (4pts) Title, Your Name, Instructor's Name, Course and Section Number, Date. Neatly Finished with No Errors Clearly and concisely states the paper's purpose in a single sentence, which is engaging and thought provoking Engaging, states hypothesis, and previews content of Clearly states the paper's purpose in a single sentence Hypothesis States the paper's purpose in a single sentence Incomplete and/or unfocused Absent States hypothesis and previews content. Introduction Absent paper. Absent No clear introduction States hypothesis but or hypothesis. does not adequately Content preview preview content. missing. Describes wrong Describes some of the materials or materials and equipment. equipment. Describes all steps in a Describes steps sequential fashion that are out of order, not not easily followed. easily followed, or incomplete. Discusses all materials and equipment. Discusses all steps in a detailed, sequential order that is easily followed. Methods Describes most of the materials and equipment. Describes all steps in a detailed, sequential order that is not easily followed. Absent Incorrect data provided, regardless of inclusion or presentation of all other criteria All data recorded and organized clearly. All visible observations provided. Complete and correct date analysis provided. Errors of experimentation provided. Restates hypothesis, supports or refutes it, and explains role of experimentation in making decision. All data recorded and organized clearly. All visible observations provided. Analysis of data provided with few errors. Errors of experimentation provided. All data recorded and organized clearly. Visible observations missing. Analysis of data provided with few errors. Errors of experimentations provided. Results Restates hypothesis and supports or refutes it Absent Supports or refutes hypothesis without restating it Does not address hypothesis Discussion Done in the correct Done in the correct format format with many Done in the correct format with no errors. Includes more than 3 major references. Done in the correct format with few errors. Includes 3 major references. with some errors. Includes 3 major references. Absent or inappropriate references used (e.g. Wikipedia). errors. Includes 3 major references. Citation Х No errors in punctuation, capitalization, and spelling Almost no errors in punctuation, capitalization and spelling Many errors in punctuation, capitalization and spelling Mechanics Numerous and distracting errors in punctuation, capitalization and spelling Numerous and distracting errors in sentence structure and word usage Almost no errors in Many errors in sentence structure and Х No errors in sentence structure and word sentence structure and Usage word usage word usage usage Scientific Method, Information Literacy, and Graphing | Laboratory 3 46 T-Mobile 6:55 PM 17% Done Photo Table 4.3: Number of survivors for each generation. Population 2 (death from predation and disease) Population 1 (death from predation) Percentage surviving Number surviving Percentage surviving Number surviving Generation 0 80% 1 2. 3 4 5 6 7 100% 20 100% 20 16 80% 16 55% 9 35 10 50% 8 3% 2 Pro 8 40 เ 2 15% 6 30% 25% 2 15% 5 5 25% 2 15% J 25% + to sa 5% 4 나 20% 3 15% 3 15% 1 139 3 - 15% 3 15% 10% 8 9 Bonamom 10 S% ses 0% 11 12 13 14 N 15 20 Erology Laboratory 4