Instructions for biology laboratory reports
Title Page: You should have a title that is limited to your subject matter, but as descriptive as possible. Avoid overly general titles, ex. “The termites”. A more appropriate title might be, “A demonstration of ink preferences in wood-dwelling termites”. This page should also include a list of your fellow experimenters. While you will complete the experiments in groups, each student must individually complete and write his or her own lab report.
Introduction: This section should introduce the topic of your experiment and should include any PERTINENT background information needed to understand the experiment. Cite references for background material where appropriate. At the end of this section, you should state the major objective or purpose of your experiment (this should be concise) and clearly state your hypothesis.
Materials and Methods: In this section, you should describe the materials used and the EXACT procedures that you followed while performing your experiment. If you used a different procedure than listed in the lab manual, you should describe the procedure that you actually used. A person should be able to read this section and perform your experiment exactly the way you did. Do not give the results of your experiment in this section, only materials and procedures.
Results: This section should include 2 parts: 1. a written description of the results in the body of the paper, 2. a graph(s) or table(s) on a separate page displaying the results. Do not explain or comment on the significance of the results here, just give the data. Every table or graph must have a descriptive title (“termite data” is not descriptive enough) and labeled axes with units of measure clearly indicated. Tables consist of columns and rows of numbers or other information and should be numbered in sequence and referred to in the written results section, ex. “Termites followed the red ink for an average of 5 seconds (Table 1).” Graphs are called figures and are referred to in the same manner, ex. Fig.1.
Discussion: In this section, you should indicate if your hypothesis was supported, explain your results, and indicate the significance of the results. A hypothesis cannot be proven by a single experiment. You should interpret your results as “supportive of” or “failed to support” the hypothesis. To the best of your ability, you should explain what was occurring during your experiment, why you got the results that you did, and any possible sources of error. You should also indicate the significance of your results. How might this information be used? What are the implications of your results? Lastly, if your results did not support your hypothesis, you may want to develop further experiments that might be used to support to the hypothesis, or develop a totally new hypothesis based on your results.
Clinical Implications: In this section, explain how the information you learned from this experiment relates to clinical/hospital procedures.
Literature cited: Whenever you cite a fact or an idea, cite the reference giving credit to your sources. This should be done in the body of the report so that it is clear to the reader. For example: “That cytochrome included three distinct enzymes was first shown by Keilin (1925)” or “It is known that cytochrome consists of three distinct enzymes (Keilin, 1925).” The literature cited section consists of a list of references which should include the author’s name, initials, year of publication, journal, specific volume, and the pages. For example: Keilin, D., 1925. Proc. Rev. Soc. London, B98: 312-329
When referencing books use the following form: Eckert, R., and D. Randell, 1978. Animal Physiology. 1st ed. W.H. Freeman and Co. 510 pp.
Additional points:
- The report should be concise. Three to six typewritten pages should be sufficient.
- Avoid the first person, ex. “the termites were placed on the paper, and the time each termite followed each line measured with a stopwatch” not “Suzi placed the termites on the paper, and I timed how long each termite followed the lines”.
- Use precise English and avoid useless words such as “First,…Next,…Then,…” or “then we proceeded to”.
- Use complete sentences with good grammar and spelling.
Please see “Grading and Lab Reports” document on iCollege in the Class Information folder for more information on lab reports and for information on turnitin.com
A hardcopy of your report will be handed in 2 weeks after the experiment was performed. No late papers or papers not uploaded into turnitin.com will be accepted.
Lab report guidelines for Anatomy Labs
Content: 80%
INTRODUCTION: 25%
Introduces the topic of the experiment, with sufficient background to exhibit a clear understanding of the material covered
States major objectives clearly
States HYPOTHESIS properly
MATERIALS AND METHODS: 10%
Includes all materials used through the entire experiment
Describes all procedures as they were performed (NOT as a recipe or as written in the lab manual)
RESULTS: 15%
Explains clearly and concisely, in paragraph form, data and observations
Displays relevant graphs/tables/diagrams
References all graphs/tables/diagrams in the written portion of the RESULTS Includes only results (no interpretation of data or conclusions)
DISCUSSION and CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS 30%
Discusses how results support or fail to support hypothesis, and implications
Explains possible sources of error
Describes how information might have practical uses in a clinical setting
Formulates further experiments to test hypothesis, or proposes a new hypothesis and experiment (based on observations in current experiment)
Format: 20%
GENERAL: 15%
The report has a descriptive title
Materials are written in paragraph form
Each graph/table has a descriptive title
Axes of graphs are properly labeled
Sections are properly titled
Length is 4-6 double-spaced pages
References are cited correctly in the paper and in LITERATURE CITED The report and each section are logically organized
ENGLISH: 5%
Grammar, syntax, spelling, and punctuation
