How to Write a Laboratory Report to Make Your Physics Teacher Happy!

Title Page

Report

  • Abstract
  • Explain all relevant background information to the lab
  • Purpose
  • Clearly state the purpose of the lab that was carried out (i.e. why was the lab done?). This is one or two sentences.
  • Hypothesis
  • Provide an educated guess as to what you expect the outcome of the lab could be.
  • This must be completed before the start of the lab!
  • Be clear and thorough (i.e. if you are predicting what variables will affect something, state both the variables and the impact they will have on the results).
  • Materials or equipment
  • List any special equipment that was required.
  • Method
  • Refer to a specific handout or text name and page – RECOPYING IS NOT REQUIRED!
  • Observations
  • Present your experimental data in an appropriate form (eg. numerical data should be in chart/table form).
  • Include general observation statements.
  • Results and Calculations
  • Show all calculations and assumptions that lead to your results. What is obvious to you may not be to the reader. If the same equation is used several times (eg. in a table), one sample calculation will suffice.
  • Briefly state what your results mean – interpret them!
  • Graphs (if applicable)
  • Always use “physics” graph paper for a formal report! Print off your own from
  • Label appropriate items and include units.
  • Put any slope calculations on the graph.
  • Under no circumstances should you connect your data points with straight lines from one point to the next! Every graph should be a curve – the term curve also applies to a straight line.
  • Make the data points very small and emphasize them with a circle around them
  • Error Analysis
  • Briefly state any possible reasons for error in your experiment. You may include such things as experimenter error or bias, equipment error, statistical error or any other possible sources that may have changed your results.
  • Always include:
  • percent deviation if an accepted value exists.
  • Conclusions
  • This should be a brief summary of your results.
  • Relate your results to your hypothesis.
  • State whether your results are reasonable considering the experimental error mentioned above.
  • Always discuss knowledge gained from the shape of any graph.
  • State the relationship between the variables identified in the purpose in a clear, concise Englishsentence
  • When a mathematical expression can be derived from graphical analysis, write it, making sure toinclude the appropriate units. State the meaning of the slope and discuss the significance of they-intercept (when appropriate).
  • Describe any new terms that arise as a result of your evaluation of data
  • When your results differ from what is expected, provide a plausible explanation.
  • Analysis Questions
  • Answer any questions that might accompany, or be contained within, the experiment IN FULL SENTENCE FORM.
  • REMINDERS!
  • Remember a title page!
  • Look at the purpose/hypothesis when preparing a conclusion.
  • Never write in the first person – i.e. no “I” or “we”.
  • Always write in the past tense – i.e. “the ball bounced”.