Biology Lab Write-Ups
Keep in mind that a lab report or presentation of data is a communication tool – you are explaining what you did, why you did it, what happened, and your interpretation of what it means. Aim to do your best story telling in an internationally accepted format.
Formal Lab Paper Requirements:
All informal requirements plus formal lab paper, which should include the following sections:
➢Abstract
➢Introduction
➢Materials and Methods
➢Results
➢Discussion
All sections should be written formally (and typed) in paragraph form, have headings labeled, and should be in accordance with the following descriptions…
TITLE:
Make sure the title of your lab is specific and professional. For example, instead of "Mitosis Lab," you could use something like "Estimation of time spent in each phase of the cell cycle in Allium root tips." This should be one sentence.
ABSTRACT (20 pts):
This section is a SHORT summary of the entire lab (for our purposes, usually 6 to 10 sentences). It should include a 1-2 sentence summary of each of the parts of the paper:
intro (purpose)
methods (what you did),
results (what you found)
discussion (what your results suggest/ conclusions).
Although this section is often written after the rest of the lab is completed, it should nevertheless always be the first section that a reader comes across in the paper and should be done in bold or italics (to distinguish it from the rest of the paper). Abstracts are often all that people read or initially have access to. Then if they’re interested in reading the details of the study, they obtain the full formal lab text.
INTRODUCTION (10 pts):
This section should introduce the study. It should state the purpose of the lab, your hypothesis, and it should start out with background information (i.e., the “big picture” context of the lab, major scientific concepts being explored and addressed, and any other relevant research published on the same topic). This section differs from the abstract in that it concentrates on background information (setting the stage) and does not mention methods, results, or conclusions.
Although some information will come from your textbook, you can also cite (through paraphrasing-- NOT direct quotes) primary and secondary literature in your formal lab papers.
METHODS (10 pts):
This section should describe the lab techniques used to accomplish your objectives. The materials you used will be interspersed in this section when appropriate to describe your procedure (i.e., you will NOT make a separate list of materials used). Please summarize your procedure in your own words. Do not simply copy paragraphs from a lab handout. Each student’s methods section should read differently, as there are hundreds of different ways to explain the same procedure. It is particularly important that you describe thoroughly any ways in which what you actually did in the lab differed from the procedure described in the lab handout. If your teacher set up apparatus, made solutions, or carried out steps of the procedure in your absence, this must be noted in the methods section of the lab.
RESULTS (10 pts):
This section should summarize the major findings of your study. It should include relevant graphs, tables and diagrams. These data tables should be used to supplement the text (words) of your results section; they should NOT be the only part of your results section. In other words, you are going to summarize in words your major findings and refer to the appropriate data table or figure when applicable. Scientists generally classify these in two categories: “tables” (data tables, charts, etc.) and “figures” (everything else, including graphs, diagrams, pictures, etc.). Make sure all tables and figures are labeled (e.g., Figure 1: The Effects of Temperature on Dissolved Oxygen in Bullough’s Pond) and referred to as such in your text (e.g., Figure 1 shows the direct correlation of temperature and dissolved oxygen…). Make sure that you do not discuss your results at all in this section. Simply state the facts. Interpreting results, and discussing their significance, must be saved for the next section.
DISCUSSION (20 pts):
This section is a discussion/ interpretation of your results. It should address questions similar but not limited to the following ones below. DO NOT answer each question and throw them together in a paragraph.
Why did you find what you found?
What is the significance of your findings?
How do your findings compare to similar studies already published?
If different than your hypothesis or other research, what new light does this shed?
Was your hypothesis actually flawed or were there more likely errors in your experiment?
What sorts of errors might you have made? Please do not write “human error.”
What assumptions were made in this study?
What are the limitations of your study/ results?
What would you do differently next time, if you could do it again?
What sorts of follow-up studies do you recommend?
How do you findings tie all of the content material together?
Your discussion should end with a conclusion of the entire lab. Like other sections, it should be typed formally in paragraph form. (Avoid using the word “prove”: instead of writing, “these results prove that…,”, you should write, “these results suggest/ imply/ indicate…”)
REFERENCES (aka: works cited):
Make sure all background information and everything that is not your own thoughts and data is properly cited. For information on citing literature and formatting works cited section see linked article and other primary source articles you come across in your research for formatting examples. You can also refer to the Library website for extensive information about citations. Typically in scientific journal articles, either parenthetical documentation (author, year of study) or endnotes are used. Footnotes are uncommon in most scientific journal. At our stage of the game a list of websites may also suffice.
See the page below to view a sample journal article from the Journal of Ecology: