Scribd
Upload
225 views

The Scientific Method and How To Write Up Lab Reports

What is the scientific method? Who invented it? How to write up lab reports for science in school?

Uploaded by

Kevin Small
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
225 views

The Scientific Method and How To Write Up Lab Reports

What is the scientific method? Who invented it? How to write up lab reports for science in school?

Uploaded by

Kevin Small
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 18

The Scientific Method &

How To Write Up Lab Reports

A Complete Guide For Pre-medical Students

The Scientific Method


The scientific method is a process, or series of steps
taken, to produce reliable results in order to answer a
specific question or solve a particular problem.
Scientist follow this method in order to gain knowledge
and understanding about the world around us.
The Two Key Components are:
Observation
Experimentation

The Scientific Method


There is no one person that should be credited with
inventing the scientific method.
It was formed over time by many great thinkers
throughout history in their pursuit of developing their
own laws of logical analysis.
Therefore the scientific method that we have today,
was made by the collective efforts and contributions of
various scientists, and has seen many improvements
throughout the years and is still improving.

The Scientific Method


I would still like to mention a few key figures in history that made significant
contribution to the overall scientific method.

Aristotle (Greek Philosopher, 384-322 BCE)

Archimedes

Ibn al-Haytham, Al-Biruni and Ibn Sina

Galileo

Roger and Francis Bacon

Descartes

Sir Isaac Newton

Steps of The Scientific Method


Ask A Question or
Identify A Problem

Construct A Hypothesis

Test With Experiments


If Hypothesis is
unsupported
by your results

Allow yourself and


other researchers
to test and
scrutinise the
results

Analyse The
Results/Data

Formulate A Conclusion

Share

How To Write Up A Lab


Report As A Student
The purpose of doing labs in school is usually to help
you better understand a concept, and the presentation
of your findings is done through a lab report that outlines
how the experiment worked and what the results were.
In the next sections we will be going through the various
guidelines to follow for writing such a repot.

0 - General Rules

All lab reports should be typed in black ink in the font Times New
Roman with a spacing of 1.5 or 2 and 12 point font.

All lab reports should be submitted on letter size paper (8.5 x 11).

All drawings, diagrams and graphs should be labeled and


underlined.

Each student will write up their own lab report and turn it in
individually.

Lab reports should be done neatly and should be easy to read


with few grammatical errors and proper sentence structure.

0 - General Rules
General lab reports should consist of the following sections:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Cover Page
Aim / Purpose / Problem Statement
Theory or Hypothesis (Planning and Design)
Apparatus and Materials
Method / Procedure
Results and Observations
Discussion and Analysis / Questions
Conclusion
References

1 - Cover Page
Lab reports can be submitted with a cover page that helps to identify the
owner of the lab as well as the lab number and title.

Use a blank

Write the department and lab number on the top centre of the page.

Include the title of the lab on the top centre of the page in capital letters
and underline it.

Put your name, supervisors name and submission date on the bottom
left corner of the cover page.

NB. Pictures or diagrams should generally NOT be on the cover page but is
sometimes allowed.

2 - Aim
This is supposed to identify the purpose of the lab or what
you are trying to determine from the lab.
It is usually stated in one concise sentence.
At this level it may be given to you by your instructor or
from a textbook.

3 - Theory or Hypothesis
In this section you will either be required to state the
underlying theory behind your lab or you may be asked to
formulate a hypothesis if it is a planning and design lab.
Hypothesis: A tentative explanation tested through
experimentation. (i.e an educated guess to reason or the
relationship between the variables)
Theory: An explanation of the general principle of certain
phenomena with considerable evidence or facts to support
it.

4 - Apparatus and Materials


A comprehensive list of all of the equipment, materials and
chemicals need to conduct the experiment.
At this stage they will be given to you in the lab manual,
but remember to make the necessary alterations during the
lab. (i.e only state the equipment that you actually used)
In some cases it may be better to draw a labeled graph or
the set up of the experiment to accompany your list.

5 - Method
This is where you write down the detailed steps or instructions
that you need to do in order to perform the lab. It can be done
in point form or in paragraph form.
The method should always be written in reported speech and
the only exception will be for planning and design labs where
it will be in present tense.
The method should only report what you the individual student
actually did during the experiment, therefore if any deviations
or changes were made you modify the method to suit.

6 - Results and Observations


This is where you record the data or information gathered while
doing the experiment or present your qualitative and
descriptive observations.
You should make this section as neat as possible and arrange
your data in a table with the correct title and sections heading,
completed with units.
Your data should be visually represented in the form of a graph
or chart where applicable.
You should include sample calculations where applicable.

Graph Work
Remember:

Use appropriate scale

Title graph and labeled your axis

Input data points correctly

Draw line of best fit

Find the gradient

y
y
m=
x x
2

Interpolation and Extrapolation

7 - Discussion
This is the section where you make the necessary
connections and correlations with the data obtained.
In this section your instructor may give you specific
questions to answer.
In this sections you may also write about any errors or
complications that occurred during your lab. Remember
All Labs Have Errors.

8 - Conclusion
The conclusion is to be written as a small concise
paragraph that will answer the Aim of the experiment and
state if your hypothesis was supported or unsupported.
In the confusion you also summarise your findings.

9 - References
All academic work that assisted in formulating the
conclusion to your lab should be properly referenced and
all pictures should be labeled and captioned.

You might also like