Basic Instructions

Table of Contents:    

• Fill in with Title and page number if written in lab notebook

Date:

• Place on top right-hand corner. 

Title:   

• Choose an appropriate title for the lab or use the one provided in instructions

Purpose:         

• The goal of the lab activity, what you are investigating, your expectations.
• Write a hypothesis here if appropriate.  Not all lab activities are experiments.
•  Sometimes a hypothesis is formed after a lab activity is completed.

Materials:        

• List apparatus and supplies you plan to use.  Include all pieces of equipment, chemicals, books, charts,  supplies, organisms,  etc

Procedure:      

• Describe what you plan to do or, better, what you did if you changed a procedure or if you were instructed to  design the activity

Results:           

• Includes data, observations, calculations, and graphs.
• All quantitative data should be recorded in appropriate data charts or tables.
• Use mean, median, mode, range and other descriptive statistics as appropriate.                        
• Qualitative observations or descriptions should be organized and easy to read;   often observations can be placed in data tables as well. Data tables need titles!
• Graphs should be on graph paper and have a title and clearly labeled x-axis and y-axis.  Colored pencils may be used to draw lines or bars.
• Show equations used for calculations.  All numerical answers should be labeled with an appropriate unit.

Discussion:      

• Restate your purpose and discuss any patterns in your data, try to explain your results, describe sources of  error and factors that may have influenced your results. 
• Form a hypothesis if appropriate.

Conclusion:

• Generally, a brief testable statement about what you can conclude about the lab activity. If the activity had a goal, was the goal achieved?
• If the activity had a hypothesis, was the hypothesis supported or not
• If the activity was a series of observations about some phenomena, what can you conclude from your observations.
• The statement should follow from your results but must also be TESTABLE.

Reflection:      

• Make a personal comment on the lab activity and relate it to "REAL LIFE: 
• Did you like it, did you find it helpful, did you understand what you did, did it raise or answer any questions, can you suggest improvements, how might it relate to some aspect of your life?  
• Your opinion matters