AP BIOLOGYLAB REPORT FORMAT

Your lab report should contain the following sections. This is an abbreviated description that explains what questions/concepts should be addressed. The specifics of what should be contained in each section of your lab report are described in detail on the following pages.

Title Page / The title should be descriptive; be sure to include your name, class period and the due date
Abstract / Briefly summarize the experiment
Introduction
A. Purpose (Problem)
B. Hypothesis
C. Background Information / Why is this experiment being done?
Write at least one prediction of what will happen in the experiment.
What information aided the development of the hypothesis (or hypotheses)?
Materials and Methods
  1. Materials and equipment
B. Procedure / List the materials and equipment used in the experiment.
Omit except when experiment is of experimenter's own design.
Results (Data)
  1. Tables, Graphs, Drawings
B. Summarize results illustratedin graphs, tables, etc.
Interpretations and Conclusions
  1. Analysis (Discussion)
B. Conclusion (Summary / Relate data to purpose; look for patterns in data.
Did the results answer the question(s)?
Did the results support your hypothesis? Explain.
Draw some conclusions; support with your data.
Make new hypotheses: support with evidence in data.
Explain sources of experimental error.
Final closing remarks, summarizing your interpretation and conclusions.

Writing a Lab Report

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Format

A formal lab report should follow the general format used for a research paper published in a scientific journal. Although different journals require different formats, all papers have a similar outline. They reflect the basic scientific method of asking a question, formulating hypotheses, conducting experiments to test the hypotheses, and interpreting the results.

Although not all journals require authors to divide their papers into clearly labeled sections, this practice will help you develop good habits in reporting your findings. Therefore, you are asked to clearly label each section in your lab report.

Title (5 points)

The title should consist of a few well-chosen words indicating the subject of the report. "Well-chosen" means that the title reflects the scope of your report accurately. For example, ‘Enzyme Catalysis’is a better title than ‘Lab 2.’ ‘Lab #2: Enzyme Catalysis of Hydrogen Peroxide by Catalase’ is even better. Be specific!

Abstract (10 points)

The abstract is a short paragraph of 150 words or less that summarizes your experiment, including pertinent information about your experimental subjects, materials and methods, results, and conclusions. This is the part of the paper scientists read to decide whether they are interested in looking at the rest of the paper. Thus, the information the abstract contains should help people decide whether your research sheds any useful light on what they are studying.

Introduction(15 points)

The introduction gives the background of the experiment. It should include an explanation of background of the general problem or area being investigated, telling why this problem is of interest and outlining what information is already known about the problem.

In this section you should discuss the underlying principles that are related to the lab problem. For example, in the formal lab report of the osmosis and diffusion experiments, you would discuss the basic principles of osmosis and diffusion in terms of concepts like hypertonic/hypotonic relationships, the effects of solute concentration on diffusion, water potential, and semi-permeable membranes. This section should be between 300 and 400 words long and should be referenced, but do not copy the background material directly from the lab manual.

Determine the critical features that apply to the experiment you performed in class, and present them in a logical, organized manner. You are expected to do some research in your textbook, lab manual and class notes for this section. You should use endnotes or parenthetical notes if you quote directly. Use the “Before doing this laboratory you should understand” section of the objectives for each lab to get an idea of what to include in this section.

The introduction should also present the question you are trying to answer or the hypotheses you are testing. You should include what outcome you expect, and how it would help support or refute your hypothesis or answer your question.

For example, if you measured the rate of photosynthesis in isolated chloroplasts that had been incubated in light, dark, and in boiling water, a GOOD statement of problem would be:

The purpose of this experiment is to measure the effect of light and high temperature on the rate of photosynthesis in isolated chloroplasts.

~OR~

The question being tested in this is experiment is: how do light and high temperature affect the rate of photosynthesis?

Examples of POOR statements of problem are:

The purpose of this experiment is to learn something about photosynthesis.

~OR~

The purpose of this experiment is to observe photosynthesis.

~OR~

The purpose of this experiment is to measure the rate of photosynthesis.

~OR~

The question being tested in this is experiment is: What is the rate of photosynthesis in isolated chloroplasts?

Materials and Methods (10 points)

This section should include a concise description of the materials, procedures, and equipment used. There should be enough detail so that someone else could repeat your work. Therefore, brand names of equipment, concentrations and amounts of solutions, species, size of age, sex, and other information about the experimental subjects should be included. If you follow directions from a book or paper, just say so. You need not repeat them in your paper. For example, if you follow the procedure in the lab manual, simply write:

“The procedure was followed as described on pages xx-yy in the lab manual.”

If, however, you change the procedure, you should explain exactly what you did differently and why.

Do not include the rationale for your work in this section. Also, be sure to report your procedure as a past event rather than writing this section as a set of directions to your reader. You do not need to report attempts at the experiment with techniques that failed unless these techniques are very likely to be tried by other people in the future.

Results (15 points)

Present your findings in a logical, not chronological order. Give the results that you found, not what you think you should have found. The organism is always right! You may have to do some thinking, however, to find out why the results came out as they did. Do not explain your results in this section.

Results can often be reported more effectively in the form of one or more tables or graphs or drawings. These should have clear labels and captions. Be sure to indicate whether the data reported in tables are single readings or averages. Statistical analyses of your data should also be included here if appropriate.

All graphs should have titles, and all axes should be labeled. Graphs should be drawn on graph paper or constructed with a graphing program; they MUST be inserted in the appropriate location in the report,NOT at the end of the paper. Best-fit lines should be drawn or constructed (as on the Graphical Analysis program) for your data. Under some circumstances, as in the enzyme lab, a curve may be the best-fit line.

In addition, a written description should summarize the results illustrated in the graph or figures. This should point out trends or inconsistencies but not include explanations or opinions.

Discussion/Analysis (20 points)

Here you should give your interpretations of the data and relate them to the questions you posed in the introduction. Be careful to avoid making this section just a repetition of the introduction. If you have any data to explain, do it here or make a new hypothesis as to why the results came out in a way you did not expect. Did the results answer your question? Did they support or reject your hypothesis? The results and discussion section of your lab report should rival your background section in length. I expect more than a couple of cursory, obvious statements here. The emphasis is on discussion!

Conclusion(10 points)

Draw some conclusions about your experiment, supporting them with your data. What is the significance of your results? What are the main principles demonstrated by your results? What further experiments should be performed to clear up discrepancies or ambiguities in your results? How might your work best be continued or extended?

The conclusions should always reflect the data and address the problem. For example, if the problem was to compare the rate of respiration of germinating peas at room temperature and 10oC., an appropriate generalization might be:

At lower temperatures peas respire at a greater rate (assuming the data support this).You would then discuss why peas respire at a greater rate at lower temperatures.

Like the abstract, the conclusion is a short paragraph of 150 words or less.

Works Cited(5 points)

You must refer to all the sources of information that you used in your lab report. Failure to do so is a serious offense- plagiarism- and will result in rejection of your laboratory report or worse. All of the sources in the works cited list must be cited in the paper and vice versa. The Marist Style Sheet is included with this handout for your reference.

FORMATTING:

Lab reports should be typed single spaced using 12-point size in one of the following fonts:

Times New Roman

Georgia

Arial

Cambria

Calibri

Lab reports should be printed one-sided with one-inch margins.

Each section of the lab report should be labeled and either bold-faced or italicized (or both) to be easily distinguished. Separate each section of the lab report by two spaces.

WRITING TIPS:

Your report will be easier to read and understand if you follow these tips and try to conform to the accepted style of scientific writing that is required for scientific papers. Conformity can be a good thing if it increases communication!

1. Write in the past tense, not present or future: "Two rats were anesthetized and..."

2. Use metric units (gram, meter, litre, second) and the Celsius temperature scale.

3. Use correct abbreviations without periods:

10 milliters = 10mL

12 liters = 12 L

3 micrograms = 3μg

7 grams = 7 g

24 kilograms = 24kg

663 nanometers = 663 nm

8 micrometers = 8 μm

21 centimeters = 21 cm

9 meters = 9 m

37 degrees Celsius = 37ºC

4. If you start a sentence with a number, write out the number: "Twelve grams of minced toad brain were..."

5. For solutions, use report concentrations in molarity:

5 molar = 5 M

0.005 molar = 5 x 10-3M or 5 mM

0.000005 molar = 5 x 10-6 M or 5 μM

6. Refer to animals and plants by their scientific names. (This is not necessary when referring to humans and common laboratory animals.) Always underline or italicize the genus and species names of organisms, for example, Stentor coeruleus.

7. Avoid boring the reader with copious verbiage and excessively formal writing. It is perfectly all right to sound excited about your work if you have worked carefully and have interesting results to report.

When in doubt, ask your teacher or try to find an example in a recent journal.

HELPFUL HINTS:

  • Refer to the Marist Student Handbook for information on plagiarism.
  • Your lab report needs to be typed and submitted to turnitin.com in order to receive full credit. Failure to submit your lab report to turnitin.com by the due date and time will result in an automatic 10-point deduction, and no excuses are accepted.
  • Lab reports turned in 1 calendar day after the due date will receive no more than 50% credit. Lab reports turned in 2 calendar days after the due date will receive no more than 25% credit. Lab reports will not be accepted more than 2 calendar days after the due date.
  • For the best possible score:
  • Do not deviate from the recommended form.
  • Turn the report in on time.
  • While you performed the lab with a lab partner, your lab report should be your own work.
  • There will be five to six lab reports turned in this term.

Adapted From

Mr. Graba and Mrs. Thorstenson

William Fremd High School

and

Mrs. Grosz, Pine Crest School

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AP BIOLOGY LAB

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE GRAPHICAL ANALYSIS PROGRAM

  1. Log on to the computer.
  2. Click on Start.
  3. Click on Programs.
  4. Click on Science.
  5. Click on Graphical Analysis.
  1. The Graphical Analysis main screen will come up.
  1. You will now see a screen with a Data Table window and a Graph window. Rename the data table columns by double clicking on the box at the head of the column (X or Y) and typing in the new column name. For Lab 1, the X column would be named SUCROSE CONCENTRATION with M as the units and the Y column would be named CHANGE IN MASS with % as the units. If you need more columns (as in the transpiration lab), click on Data on the tool bar and click on New Manual Column. Now label the column.
  1. To enter data, click on the first box under the X column and begin entering data. Data can be entered for the entire row or you can type in the X values and then the Y values. Enter all data. The points will be graphed as you enter them.
  1. To identify your graph, click in the text window. Type your name and period.
  1. The points on the graph will be connected like a connect-the-dots game. You need to either draw a best-fit line or have the program construct one. To have the computer construct one, get rid of the connect-the-dots line by double clicking on the graph and unchecking “connect lines.” Now select the R= button (the second button from the right on the tool bar). You will now have a regression line on your graph. You may click on and move the features box if it covers part of your graph. Leave both the plotted points and the regression line on the graph unless you are graphing multiple sets of data on the graph.
  1. To title the graph, click on the graph, then on Options, then on Graph Options. Type in a title for your graph. You may have to shorten it or use abbreviations to get it to fit.
  1. If all components are not within the margins when you print, click on Page and then Page Layout View and then “yes.”
  1. To print the whole screen, click on FILE. Click on PRINT and then OK.

That’s all I know about Graphical Analysis at this writing. Play with it if you want to pursue it or you may complete your graphs by hand on graph paper. It is your choice.

Revised 3/09

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