Lab Report Format

Folks,

For the lab reports, I would like to see a structure much like a scientific paper. This is a format you will come to use more and more often as you continue your studies so it is good to get practice early. This form is also logical and can be as long or short as the complexity of the report requires.

Here is an outline of what I expect to see, together with some approximate lengths.

Introduction

• provide a brief description of the purpose of the lab and any background information that you think is useful as context for the lab itself.
• ideally, your introduction will be coupled to the discussion. In the discussion you should explain what you found and what those findings suggest to you and so in the introduction, you can lay the basis for the discussion to follow by including any necessary relevant background.
• .5-1 page in length

Methods

• describe briefly the methods you used. Do not copy anything from the lab instructions; instead use your own words and be clear, concise, and especially precise in your choice of words.
• always use the past tense for the description; it should not be another version of the same instructions you received but a summary of what you actually did.
• be organized, use sub-headings as necessary, and choose a consistent level of detail.
• try and use the active voice as much as possible; "blah, blah, blah was done..." makes for very boring reading so find ways to convert such sentences to active voice, e.g., "we performed blah, blah, blah" or "the purpose of this step was to blah, blah, blah..."
• 1-2 pages in length

Results

• describe the results in some brief and organized fashion, with graphics, figures, and tables as useful.
• use the past tense in this description and also avoid the passive voice.
• integrate the figures, tables, etc. into the flow of the text rather than gathering them all at the end or having special pages for figures. This will require some skill with your word processing package but learning these skills will pay off quickly.
• try and create figures that tell your store; if you want to compare two signals, try and include them in the same figure with the same scaling or even on the same set of axes. See where you can extract information and show it in summary figures. For example, consider the first frog lab in which you measured the pre-tension and the contraction for a range of tension levels. First extract the pre-tension value and the strength of contraction from each run of data you recorded--there should be one pair of numbers for each of the tension settings. Then plot contraction as a function of tension and do not bother to plot any of the contraction time signals. In the drug applications, try and superimpose plots of control signals and those that followed application of the drugs.
• consider creating a table of the findings in which you list the various drugs you applied and then list in the table whether heart rate changed and in which direction, how contraction strength changed, and any comments you would include to summarize the response.
• total length approximately 3-8 pages (depends a lot on how you package the figures and tables)

Discussion

• the discussion is the most important part of any report or paper because it contains the points of the exercise. The results should serve to support the discussions points and all good results deserve discussion.
• in this case, there should be a point in the discussion for each of the drugs you applied in which you briefly describe the resulting data you recorded/measured and then propose an interpretation or explanation. For example, for the application of cold Ringer's solution first, you would report what changes you saw in rate, amplitude, and signal shape (morphology) and then explain why such results might arise, which mechanisms might explain them. You might explain any unexpected results and why they were unexpected.
• total length 1-2 pages.

So that's it! Please do try and write carefully and concisely--don't pad with extra text as this will lead to worse grades, not better ones. There is a style to scientific writing--see your own textbook as an example--so try to emulate and then develop your own style.

Have fun!

Rob MacLeod