TROY UNIVERSITY
BIO L320
Genetics Lab
HOW TO WRITE A SCIENTIFIC LAB REPORT GENERAL IN APA FORMAT:
Scientific laboratory reports or any other APA style paper written at a collegiate level have a
standard format. The following are standard for APA papers:
1 inch margins on all sides
12-point font and the font style should be either Arial, or Times Roman
Some type of Header (Running Head:)
Numbered pages except the Title Page
Paragraphs indented 1-tab space
DOUBLE-SPACED throughout the paper including Title Page and Reference Page.
Scientific laboratory reports have a separate Title Page and a separate Reference page. scientific
reports have HEADINGS on each section of the report. These headings are:
Introduction
Materials & Methods
Results
Discussion
TITLE:
The first page of the lab report is the TITLE page. Do NOT number the Title page unless
instructed to do so.
The title of the lab report should NOT be too general but should reflect more specifically about
the experiment. For example: “Fingerprinting” is too general for the title but instead, use
something like: “Fingerprinting as an Effective Forensic Tool in Solving Murders.” The title
should be informative; it should not be “cute.” A Running head is needed as a Header on all
pages including the title page. The Running Head should appear as Running Head: SHORT
TITLE OF PAPER IN ALL CAPS (but not in bold).
Compiled by Rashmee Silwal for use in BIO L320
TROY UNIVERSITY
NOTE: The title is in Title case (first letter of each word is capitalized except nonessential
words.)! The Title page information should be absolute centered on the page. The Title page
should NOT be numbered! (unless instructed). The Title page must be doubled-spaced, have a
center indentation and include the following information:
Title
Lab Number
Your Name (author)
Names of those in the experimental group (do not put “Group Members” next to names)
Instructor
Class name
Name of Institution
Date of submission
Example:
Laboratory II – Mendelian Genetics – Genetic basis of the Principle of Segregation in F2
progeny of a monohybrid cross
LAB 1
Group Members: Jane College, Harry Potter, Norman Rockwell and Barry Allen
Dr. Jacqueline Jones/ Ms. Rashmee Silwal
Genetics Lab Biol320 (A/B)
August 15, 2017
Compiled by Rashmee Silwal for use in BIO L320
TROY UNIVERSITY
Introduction
The paper must be written in THIRD person. Do NOT use I, me, we, them, they, he, she or us.
The Introduction does just that: INTRODUCES the topic or concept on which an experiment was
performed. It is in the Introduction where you explain the ideas or concepts and NOT the
experiment. Explain why the topic is important and if needed, a short background. How does the
topic relate to your experiment? You don’t have to make it too wordy if you can introduce your
topic correctly.
You will need to cite at least two references in your Introduction section. ALL resources
(references) MUST be properly CITED in the Introduction. Correct in text citations for the APA
format must be present. Helpful links are posted on your course syllabus in Required Textbooks
and Supplementary Materials. It is considered PLAGIARISM if credit is not given. Always
Paraphrase. Avoid using direct quotes.
In the Introduction, NEVER:
Discuss results
Write in first person
Include information just to fill in space.
State how data were collected (data are plural!)
Use numerous quotes instead of paraphrasing. But, avoid paraphrasing that isn’t
written in your own words!
Plagiarize literature reviews or anything else in the paper (use quotations if directly
quoting otherwise paraphrase or use your own words)
Start the Introduction with “In this experiment…” or “We experimented on….”
Include unnecessary information. “A Sharpie was used…”
Be wordy!
Triple space between paragraphs or next Heading
Start the Hypothesis with “I hypothesize… or “My group hypothesizes…” or
anything else that is first person.”
Compiled by Rashmee Silwal for use in BIO L320
TROY UNIVERSITY
The last paragraph in the Introduction is for stating the Purpose and Hypothesis. As it is a part of
introduction, you don’t need a title for this. It’s just the end sentence or section on Introduction.
The Purpose is stating why the experiment was performed. Do NOT make statements such as:
“The purpose of this experiment is to learn more about solutions.” Or, “The experiment will help
me learn more about fingerprinting.” Or better yet, “It’s part of my grade.” The purpose should
be logical and scientific. Basically, what was the lesson learned?
Materials and Methodology
This section is used to describe HOW the experiment was performed. There should be enough
information so that another researcher or layperson can repeat the experiment and get the same or
similar results. This section is written in sentence (narrative) format DESCRIBING the materials
and/or equipment used and EXPLAINING the steps taken to collect data. You should NEVER just
LIST materials used and steps taken. These should always be explained in a narrative, sentence
format.
DO NOT LIST!!! Do not plagiarize information from the lab manual or experiment
handout!
This section should always be written in PAST TENSE since you have already completed the
experiment. Remember that you are describing what you did or how you set up the equipment so
that data was collected and what materials were used. However, you must include enough detail
that another person could set up the experiment the same way you did!
Do NOT make any statements about the data collected. This will be in the Results section. Do not
include unnecessary information such as: “A blue sharpie pen was used to label….” Or “Three
marks were made on test tube #1…” Use statements such as: “Three mls of water and 3mls of
methylene blue were added to each of three test tubes marked 1-3.”
Results
This section is for PRESENTING the data that were collected in the experiment. Your presentation
of the data should allow readers to draw some type of conclusion about your experiment. You
MUST include Tables and Figures (graphs) in this section about the data you collected. All tables
and figures should be described in NARRATIVE format. You MUST describe the data in a
narrative form and not just insert a table or graph or some type of listing. Follow the sentence
descriptive form as with any section of the lab report except you will also insert a table(s) and
Compiled by Rashmee Silwal for use in BIO L320
TROY UNIVERSITY
figure(s) displaying the mathematical data. You should NEVER DISCUSS what the data MEAN
in this section. Other readers should be able to easily read and understand what was measured from
the table and figure. TABLES AND FIGURES MUST BE NUMBERED and have an informative
title. The number and title are placed ABOVE the Table or Figure and double-spaced. The
information inside the table is not double-spaced.
Figures are also numbered and can include Graphs, Charts and Illustrations
Figures (Graphs, Charts and Illustrations) must have Legends, Specific Titles, X & Y axes named,
numbered and a short explanation of the figure.
Discussion
In this section, you will EXPLAIN or analyze the results. The hypothesis(es) should be restated.
Your conclusions should be well organized and thoughts not scattered about in different
paragraphs. You can also in-text cite references again in the discussion to support your thoughts.
In this section, your results are INTERPRETED! Why are the results the way they are? Are the
data similar to previous experiments? INTERPRET! Were your group results similar to other
groups? Why or why not?
Include a short discussion as to whether the data SUPPORTED or did NOT SUPPORT your
hypothesis. A hypothesis cannot be Right or Wrong! It cannot be correct or not correct or good
or bad. A hypothesis can ONLY be supported or not supported by the data collected. Do not make
statements in your discussion such as “The results showed that my hypothesis was right (or
wrong).” There is no right or wrong!
If your hypothesis is not supported by the data, it does not necessarily mean that you did something
wrong. You may have not done the experiment correctly but more than likely, there were other
factors that may have altered the outcome. Discuss whatever you may think was a factor and it
went wrong.
Assumptions about any possible ERRORS while collecting data should be discussed. Refer to the
data to support your speculations about the experiment. Do not state that “something went wrong”
or “I was not clear about the instructions.” Compare your group data to those of other groups to
see if your data are similar to the other groups.
Compiled by Rashmee Silwal for use in BIO L320
TROY UNIVERSITY
The last paragraph should state the major findings of the experiment/study.
References
References are the scientific/scholarly articles from VALID and RELIABLE sources about similar
studies.
NEVER use WIKIPEDIA as a reference. It is NOT valid or reliable!!
References for Scientific papers should be listed in APA (American Psychological Association
Writing Journal) format.
The best way to gather your references is to do a database search in the Troy Library resources or
Goggle Scholar first. A book is another great source that can be cited. Other reliable web sites
include WebMD.com, CDC.gov, nih.gov, or nih.gov/PubMed.
The Reference Heading should be centered at the top of the page. The heading should NOT be in
bold, italicized or underlined. References are never bulleted or numbered.
References should be listed on a separate page and in alphabetical order.
Basic Format for List of references at the End of the Lab Report : APA style dictates that authors
are listed last name first followed by first name initials; publication year goes between parentheses,
followed by a period. The title of the article is in sentence-case, meaning only the first word and
proper nouns in the title are capitalized. The periodical or journal title is italicized and in title case
(first letter of each word is capitalized except non-essential words such as in, of, a, and, etc…),
and is followed by the volume number which, with the title, is also italicized. If there is an issue
number, it is in parentheses next to the volume number and is not italicized. Page numbers are in
the format xx-xxx. If the article was retrieved from the internet, include the URL. It should be
written as Retrieved from then the web address.
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical,
volume number (issue number not italicized), pages. Retrieved from
http://www.xxxx.xxxx
For more help, its best to refer the Supplementary Materials listed on the Course Syllabus.
Compiled by Rashmee Silwal for use in BIO L320
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