Tips on How to Write a Lab Report: A Full Guide
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What Is a Lab Report
Let’s start with a burning question: what is lab report? A lab report is an overview of your scientific experiment. It describes what you did (the course of the experiment), how you did it (what equipment and materials you used), and what outcome your experiment led to.
If you take any science classes involving a lab experiment – or full-fledged laboratory courses, you’ll have to do your share of lab report writing.
Unlike the format of case study writing, lab reports have to follow a different structure. They, along with other lab report guidelines, are likely defined by your instructor. Your lab notebook may also contain the requirements.
But if it’s not your case, here’s what to include in a lab report:
title page;
abstract;
introduction;
equipment and materials list;
procedure;
results;
conclusion;
sources;
appendices.
If this structure looks intimidating now, don’t worry: we’ll break down every component below.
Format for Lab Reports
Different instructors require different formats for lab reports. So, look through the requirements you’ve received and see if a science lab report format is specified.
If no format is specified, see if your school, college, or university has specific formatting guidelines or a lab report template to follow.
If that’s also not the case, then you can choose the most common formatting style for research papers and lab reports alike: the APA (American Psychology Association) format. Other options include the MLA (Modern Language Association) and Chicago styles.
APA Lab Report Style
Let’s break down the main particularities of using the APA style for lab reports. When it comes to the lab report outline, this style dictates that you should include the following:
a title page;
an abstract;
sources (as a References page).
How to format references under the APA format deserves a separate blog post. But here’s a short example:
Smith, J. (2021). A lab report introduction guide. Cambridge Press.
To cite this source in the text, style it like this: (Smith, 2021)
As for the text formatting, here are the key APA guidelines to keep in mind:
page margins: 1″ (on all sides);
indent: 0.5″;
page number: in the upper right corner;
spacing: double;
font: Times New Roman 12 pt.
How Long Should a Lab Report Be?
The appropriate report length depends heavily on the kind of experiment conducted – and on the requirements set by your instructor. That said, most lab reports are five to ten pages long, in our experience. That includes all the raw data, appendices, and graphs.
Need a lab report example? You’ll find three below!
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