LABORATORY REPORTS
A laboratory report is a formal document consisting of five or six sections, each identified with a heading and similar in format to those in a scientific paper, but with some simplifying features. Like a scientific paper, a lab report should describe your work and the results you obtained, in sufficient detail to allow the reader to understand and duplicate your experiments. It should be typed, using a 12 pitch typeface, double-spaced, and with wide margins (1 in.). Proper spelling, grammar and syntax are an important and integral part of any written document and will be considered in its evaluation. While every lab report is an individual effort, it may be appropriate to acknowledge and credit co-workers or others who contributed to the final product. These contributions may run the gamut from the manual aid of a lab partner to ideas for analysis or suggested improvements from a colleague or other investigator.1. Abstract - This is a précis of the experiment or exercise. It should briefly (~100 words) state what was done, the major result(s), and the major conclusion(s).
2. Introduction - This section gives the hypothesis and rationale behind the experiment, and as briefly as possible, the minimum necessary background material to understand the hypothesis and rationale. It should be written for an informed reader, but one who may not be expert in the technical procedures: for example, a student in chemistry who has not yet taken the lab.
3. Experimental (Materials and Methods) - This section is a careful description of the procedures, protocols, materials and solutions used in the experiment. The information should be in sufficient detail for the informed reader to understand and duplicate your experiment. Statistical methods used to analyze the data should also be reported. If the procedures used are adequately described in a previous publication, for example in a journal article or lab handout, it is generally sufficient to describe them briefly and cite the source. However, if any changes or additions were made, they must be clearly noted. Be sure to specify the quantities of materials used and their units. The Experimental section is usually, but not always, presented immediately following the Introduction.
4. Results - This section presents the findings of the experiment, in narrative form supplemented when appropriate with figures, tables, diagrams, graphs, illustrations, etc. The narrative should make reference to the figures, to point out salient features relevant to the hypothesis or rationale of the experiment. All figures must have complete legends, including a descriptive title and the information necessary to comprehend the figure. The Results section and the Discussion section may be combined or presented separately. Even if the Discussion section is presented separately, some analysis may still be appropriate in the Results section. You must exercise judgment in this regard.
5. Discussion - This section contains a careful analysis and interpretation
of the data presented in the Results section. It is often useful to give
a re-statement of the hypothesis of the experiment, coupled with an assessment
of it in light of the experimental findings. The data obtained should also
be compared to those reported in the literature, and sources of error,
as well as possible further studies discussed. A description of the relevance
of the results to larger questions in the field may be appropriate here
as well.
6. References (Literature Cited) - This section is a listing
of all the references used in the report. Whenever possible, citations should
be of the authors of the original work rather than of the authors of review
articles. References serve several roles; they acknowledge the sources
of information or ideas used in the paper, and so help to identify what
is your work. They also provide a connection to other work in the area,
and a permanent intellectual history of the topic. Internet sites often
fail to meet the necessary requirements for useful reference: frequently
the author(s) are not identified, and the internet generally lacks any form
of peer review. As a result, internet sites frequently contain information
that is misleading or downright wrong. Worst of all, the sites are impermanent,
and their contents, and even their existence, may change from one day to
the next without a record. For these reasons, with few exceptions, INTERNET SITES ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE REFERENCES.
If you must present information from an electronic source, it should
be referenced appropriately. Citation guidelines for electron sites can
be found at the Smith Libraries
Research, Style Manuals, & Citation Guides webpage (Smith College
Library 2004).
References should be presented "in a form acceptable to the discipline"
(Garrett-Goodyear et. al. 1986), which is usually the form used
by a commonly cited periodical in the discipline. Within the body of the
text, a citation, in parenthesis, should immediately follow the statement
referenced rather than be listed at the end of a paragraph.
Garrett-Goodyear, J., Harries, J., Patey, D., Shook, M. Writing Papers: A Handbook for Students at Smith College, 2nd Ed.. Littleton, MA: Sundance Publishers Inc., 1986.
Clark, J. and Nicklas, W. (1970) The metabolism of rat brain mitochondrial preparations. J. Biol. Chem. 245: 4724 - 4731.
Clark, J. and Nicklas, W. The metabolism of rat brain mitochondrial preparations. J. Biol. Chem. 1970; 245: 4724 - 4731.
Clark, J. & Nicklas, W. 1970. The metabolism of rat brain mitochondrial preparations. J.Biol.Chem. 245: 4724 - 4731.
Tyler, D.; Schmidt, M.; Gray, H. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 105 (1983): 6018.
Poli, R.; Owens, B.; Linck, R. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1992,
114, 1302 - 1307.
Smith College Library. The SCL Research, Style Manuals, & Citation
Guides page. Available at: http://www.smith edu/libraries/research/stylemanuals.htm.
Accessed August 30, 2004.
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Biochemistry 353