Chemistry 467 Lab Report

Lab Reports - Last update on Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Lab Reports

You must submit copies of your lab notebook for each experiment. This will suffice as your lab report, with two exceptions as explained below.

A formal lab report is to be submitted for two experiments of the student's choice. Report deadlines are

Lab Report Guide*
Title Page	Experiment Title Student Name Partner's Name(s) Date Report is Due
Objective	A one- or two-sentence statement of the goals or purposes of the experiment, in your own words.
Introduction	The nature of the problem and why it is of interest. Clearly and succinctly describe the background information (with literature citations if applicable), and the objectives of the experiment.
Procedure	This section must be written so that someone else can repeat your work. If you followed the written procedure exactly, it is sufficient to provide an explicit reference to the source(s) of the procedure. If you modified the procedure, however, you must include the modifications in your report. Do this after the source reference.
Results	Include all data, calculations, and other findings. When appropriate, provide: observations, actual amounts used and yields, theoretical yields and percent yields, examples of calculations (one example suffices if more than one trial were performed), any other information written down during the course of the experiment. Plot data with a spreadsheet program. Present data in tables as much as possible. State the results of your work briefly. The identity of any unknowns or the final desired result should be stated at the end of the section.
Discussion	The analysis and interpretation are important elements of the report. What do the results mean? How do they relate to the objectives of the project? To what extent have they resolved the problem? This is the place to prove, in your own words, that you understand the concepts included in your laboratory experiment. When writing this section, assume the reader is not familiar with the laboratory experiment. The discussion section is not a list of points. It should be written in an essay format. The following is a suggested approach to writing the discussion section. Restate the purpose of the laboratory activity (1-2 sentences). Explain in your own words the chemical concept(s) involved in the experiment (1-2 sentences), e.g., the chemical reaction occurring or the constant being found. Explain how the laboratory work you did connects to the chemical concept(s) and purpose(s) of the experiment. Be sure to include equations for the reactions and calculations, when applicable. State the results of the experiment (1-2 sentences). Discuss the results. Points to consider addressing include: How close are you results to the theoretical values? Were any trials omitted and why? What criteria did you use to identify your unknown? What is the percent deviation of your trials? What additional information can you find to support your results and conclusions, etc. If you were unable to accomplish the objectives of the lab, discuss possible sources of error or other factors that may have complicated the experiement.
Conclusions	This is a separate section outlining the main conclusions of the experiment. It is a paragraph summarizing the main features of the report - the objectives, the findings, and your conclusions.
References	Literature references should be cited in the format used by the journal, Inorganic Chemistry. Sources may include books, journals, chemical or spectral libraries, catalogues, websites, and private communications.

* from McMillan (2006)

Refer to the ACS Guidelines for additional details on how to write and what to include in your report. You must use a word processing program to produce your report and submit both a hard copy and an electronic copy to your instructor by the due date.

Remember, a good scientist must write well, not only to convey results to colleagues, but also to enable nonscientists to understand and appreciate the significance of the work s/he has done.