Writing good lab reports is a skill that will help you do well in your classes.
This mini course is designed to help you write better lab reports for advanced high school or introductory college-level science courses.
Use it with your AP Physics course, chemistry, or physics class. I’ve tried to keep it general enough for any of them.
Why Write Lab Reports?
While the fun part of doing science is experimenting in the lab, a key part of the process is sharing your results with other members of the science community. We share our information through posters, talks, and journal articles. Introductory science class lab reports are a place to learn how to communicate our results.
What is in this Course?
The course will help you write good abstracts, procedures, and conclusions. You’ll learn how to make tables, graphs, and diagrams.
Lab Reports for All Science Classes
While I am a college physics professor, most of the materials here would be appropriate for other sciences as well.
Every field of science has preferences on content, style, and formatting for lab reports, posters, and journal articles. For example, I prefer that students write a separate “Results” and “Discussion” sections in their labs. Other professors may have you write a single “Results and Discussion” section. Be sure to follow the specific guidelines provided by your professor.
Start Writing
Follow the advice in this mini course and you’ll be writing good lab reports in no time.