Blog on How to Write a Biology Lab Report

The lab report is a complete description of the activities, experiments, findings, and the whole learning experience. It is used to elaborate on the details of the experiments being done in the lab rooms. If you are studying biology as a subject, along with the theoretical assignments you need to perform practical experiments in the labs too. After performing the experiment it is necessary to develop a complete report. A lab report will answer queries, like what is the purpose of the experiment, what your performance was, what results have you obtained and how much information have you taken from the experiment.

Formation of a biology lab report:

Generally a best lab report includes:

§  A suitable title

§  Precise introduction

§  List of materials and methods involved

§  Results of the experiment

§  Summary and conclusion

§  Accurate references and citation

Let’s discuss these elements one by one in detail keeping in mind that these are for a general lab report, if your teacher has given you some special instructions, you need to follow them.

Ø  A suitable title: The best title describes the main theme of a particular piece of writing. So, a lab report’s title states the focus of the experiments done in the lab. Normally a title is supposed to be brief, accurate, and to the point. The standard word count for the title is 10 words or less, but if your teacher demands a separate title page, then consult your supervisor to design a suitable title page, it will include, the topic of the project, name of the experiment, date, and day, name of the supervisor, as well as, the participants.

Ø  Precise introduction: In the introduction of a lab report, you need to state the objectives of the experiments. One must include the hypothesis, and your decided methods to test your hypothesis in the introduction of your lab report. Usually while writing lab reports, supervisors suggest writing the introduction after completing the materials and methods, and results and conclusion parts of your experiment, to make sure that you have a complete understanding of the experiment.

Ø  List of materials and methods involved: Different kinds of biology experiments are performed by different methods and obviously different materials are used to perform different experiments. So in your lab report, you need to mention all the materials and the particular method that is involved to perform the experiment. Also, provide the measurements and accurate time to use these materials. Avoid unnecessary details but the information should be given enough for someone else to repeat or test the experiment.

Ø  Results of the experiment: You need to collect all the results from your experiment table in a calculated manner. Form tables, graphs, charts, and any other observations you have found during the experiment and to make it easy for the readers, write a summary for these illustrations too. Also, notice and describe the direction of the findings or particular observations you get during the experiment.

Ø  Summary and conclusion: Here you will explain your experiment theoretically, how have you started, what were the steps involved, what happened during the experiment, what did you learn from your results, did your results align with your hypothesis, if not then why. The conclusion section of the lab report demands a complete interpretation of the whole information you have given before. Summarize it well so that if a reader just goes through with your conclusion section, he can get an idea about the whole process. In the summary of a lab report, you can also include suggestions which you think are necessary to improve the results of the experiment.

Ø  Accurate references and citation:  While compiling your lab report, or giving it a final touch, write all the references at the end, which are being used in the report. Name of the authors, title of the books, date of their publications, publisher’s name, edition number, and place, each and every detail is important to mention as a reference. If you have taken something from a journal, give the reference completely like that. Proper citation is also a compulsory element in a lab report. There are different types of citation; you should ask your supervisor to suggest you which type of citation is needed for your particular lab report.

Ø  Avoid plagiarism: While writing your biology lab report, write whatever you have done in the lab, give credit to your lab partner for whatever he did in the lab. Due credits are very important to be mentioned. Write the actual happenings, don’t try to cheat or copy data from others work, because at the end of the time while taking your exams, you are going to suffer.

After performing the experiment in the lab, format a comprehensive report including all the above elements, no one can challenge the authenticity of your report.