How to write a Lab Report

Title (less than 50 words)
Should be biologically meaningful and informative

Introduction (300-500 words)
What is the context in which the experiment takes place?
Here, you should go into background information relevant to your experiment.
For example, for dental formula, it would be appropriate to discuss when the dental formula was first used, why it is useful, and what it has been used for.

Methods (200-300 words)
What did you do and how did you do it?
You can be brief here, and refer to the lab manual, but there should be enough information for a reader to understand the basic methods used in the experiment.

Results (200-400 words, including figures and tables)
What did you find?
It’s OK if your results are unusual or unexpected. Be as detailed as possible in including your data and observations. Present your data visually, using tables, figures, or graphs where possible. Figures must have a figure legend and tables must have a title. Refer to the figures and tables in your text where appropriate. Put each figure or table on a separate page, at the end of the manuscript.

Discussion (300-600 words)
What do your data mean?
What else is known about the topic and how do your results fit in? Did you get the results you expected and why/why not?It’s OK to speculate here, but you should have good reasoning or references to back up your speculation. You can also talk about questions raised by your experiment that you then found out more about.
For example, for dental formula, you may have noticed the large, unusual front teeth of the beaver. You would then discuss the purpose of these teeth and relate this to structure. This would not be included in the introduction because it follows on directly from observations made during the experiment.

References (not included in word count)
Use Harvard style referencing.

Resources and Tips
1: There are many helpful websites that talk about how to write lab reports.
Try this interactive guide that helps lead you though working on each section.
http://labwrite.ncsu.edu/Descriptive%20Labs/descriptivelabs_PO.htm

2: Before you start writing:
– Make an outline.
– Decide what figures and tables to include and make those.