Typing Template for Lab Reports

John Q. Student

Chemistry

Month, Date, Year


Typing Template for Lab Reports

Purpose

This template is designed to help you understand exactly what goes into a good lab report. It is divided into sections based on the grading rubric you were given at the beginning of the year. It is intended to be simple to use and look like a polished document should. All you have to do is fill in each section; replace what’s written on this template with information relevant to your current experiment.

Hypothesis

Your hypothesis goes here. Ensure that it relates to the purpose of your experiment and states what is being tested.

Materials

Provide a list of materials here that you used in your experiment. A bulleted list works well.

Safety

In chemistry and in any scientific discipline there comes a time when you work with dangerous equipment and/or substances. Provide information here about the items you’re working with and any dangers that may be present.

Procedure

Your procedure goes here. It should be a numbered list of instructions to complete the experiment, sort of like a recipe that goes step-by-step.

Data/Results/Computations

Any data tables, graphs, calculations etc. appear in this section. If you have a printed page separate from the rest of your report, please make a note for the reader to refer to that page.

Discussion

This is the final section of your lab report and should consist if a well-thought essay. It doesn’t have to be lengthy, but it should be concise and explain what you learned in your experiment very well. A good way to go about writing your discussion is to remind the reader of the purpose of your experiment first, then a thorough explanation of your data and what it tells you. Sometimes it will help to add visuals such as particle diagrams to aid in your discussion. Remember that labs are used to help you learn something new, so your writing should reflect what you already know and what you learned during the course of the experiment. When your discussion is complete, a small conclusion/summary paragraph is appropriate to end your report. For those of you following the grading rubric, you do not need a section labeled “mechanics;” that simply refers to my grading how well your report is written.

As always, if you have any questions over this form or as you write your report then feel free to ask me for help. I hope this template helps you and answers a few questions you already have.