September 2008Guidelines for Lab Report # 2

Your lab report needs to have a title and needs to be organized into the following sections:

Title

Introduction

Material and Methods

Results

Discussion

References

N.B. An Abstract is not required for this particular Lab Report.

General Comments:

  • Keep your writing impersonal; use third person past tense. Avoid using I and We
  • Pay attention to grammar and punctuation and divide paragraphs correctly.

Some Suggestions for the Introduction:

  • Discuss time & distance. How are they measured? Why is it important to have accurate measurements of time & distance?
  • How does a photogate time work? Be specific. In this part, you should incorporate the answers to questions 3a –e of lab 1.1. You should also discuss the resolution of the timer.
  • Discuss reaction time.
  • Define & explain resolution, accuracy & precision. Use wrench activity from 1.1 as an example of precision. Incorporate the answers to questions 6b and 7b of 1.1.
  • What is an experiment?
  • Controlled vs. uncontrolled experiment?
  • Control vs. experimental variables you can be specific to this experiment; use this experiment as examples…what variables are controlled? which ones are experimental?
  • Any other information that must be known in order to understand this experiment.
  • State your objectives/purpose
  • State your hypothesis, with a brief explanation

Material and Method:

  • This section is to be written in paragraph form – i.e. narrative form
  • Briefly describe the experimental procedure and equipment that you used in 1.2. Yu are only writing about the steps taken in the controlled experiment we completed with the ramp & car. **Be sure to note the variables that the other groups were testing as well. This experiment was done as a whole group, so it’s important to incorporate the variables that were tested by all of us.**

Results:

Class data table

  • 2 line graphs: one for Group A results, one for Group B results

Some suggestions for the Discussion

  • Include an interpretation of your results.
  • Was the hypothesis supported? Explain.
  • Incorporate answers to questions 3 a-b & 4 a-b from 1.2.
  • Were there any errors made that could have skewed the results?
  • How can the procedure of the experiment be improved?
  • Ideas for other experiments, based on this one?
  • Were the objectives of the experiment met?
  • Can you make a connection between this experiment and the real world?

References

List all your resources (books used, data tables, web sites consulted) that you used in writing the introduction and discussion and cite your references using the APA guidelines