Science or lab report structure

Traditionally, lab reports have been written in the passive voice using the third person, for example:

• 'The study was conducted by Smith and Jones (1996)'
• 'It was hypothesised that…'

More recently, it has become acceptable to use the active voice as well as the first person when it is relevant, such as:

• 'Smith and Jones (1996) conducted the study'
• 'I hypothesised that…'

Check your assignment instructions or ask your course coordinator for clarification and keep the voice consistent throughout the report.  

If you are using a style guide, then follow the style guide consistently. For example, the American Psychological Association Publication Manual (6th ed.) recommends that you use the first person to avoid ambiguity and anthropomorphism.

Source: Use of First Person in APA Style

The introduction is the first section of the report. However it is usually easier to write your introduction in conjunction with the discussion section. In your discussion section, it is often important to follow up on 1 or 2 of the studies mentioned in your introduction.

The central purpose of the introduction is to justify your hypothesis. Begin by introducing the general area of interest relevant to your study. Summarise any major theories, models and studies which relate to the focus of your hypothesis.

When choosing which studies to include:

• It's always useful to mention an original, pioneering study which led the research path. This could have been carried out years or decades ago, or the topic area may be an emerging one where the original study or pioneering works occurred more recently.
• If the research findings in the topic area have been fairly consistent, except for 1 or 2 outcomes, you can include the inconsistent studies to highlight the lack of consistency and the need to continue the investigation.
• If there are a range of studies which highlight different aspects of the study you conducted, prioritise which studies are most relevant. For example, priority could be based on the technique used or the findings and type of research question.

The introduction can be one of the hardest sections of a report to write because it is difficult to know where to start and how much to include at the beginning. We recommend you write the introduction in pieces, summarising 1 study or 1 theoretical framework at a time. Put these pieces together in the order which most convincingly leads up to the reasoning for your hypothesis. Include definitions for any relevant terms and concepts, including any acronyms you use throughout your report.

The introduction is generally the second most important section, and should make up about a quarter of your word count. For example, in a 2000 word lab report you should aim for about 500 words in the introduction. This may change depending on how many words you need to describe the method and results sections. If these take substantially fewer words, you may be able to increase the introduction accordingly.

The method section can be the easiest to write because it follows a straight forward structure. Therefore, it is often the best section to start with when writing-up your report. There are 3 sub-sections in the method:

• participants
• materials or apparatus
• procedure.

Participants

Give enough details about the participants so that someone could repeat the study using people with the same characteristics. For example, the number of participants, their gender, whether they are students and how they were recruited. It's also important to mention whether participants volunteered and if they were randomly assigned to experimental conditions.

Materials or apparatus

Give details about the equipment required to carry out the study. If this includes a particular type of technology, state a model number and brand name.

If you used a paper-pencil survey, which was designed specifically for the study, then you need to provide enough details so that someone could replicate it if they wanted to repeat the study. It may be appropriate to attach a copy of the survey in an appendix at the end of the report. If you do so, give general details in this section and refer readers to the appendix for a full copy. If a paper-pencil test is well-known, you may only need to mention its name.

Procedure

Repeat the exact instructions that were given to the participants. If it is important to express instructions to participants using particular words and phrases, then mention these exactly as they were stated in the study. You may also need to include activities and tasks you undertook as the researcher.

We recommend you write the results section after the method because it can provide clarity on the findings, before you embark on thinking about possible explanations for the findings in your discussion. Ensure that you only mention the findings in the results section – you don't need to discuss what they mean in relation to the study.

Name the type of analysis carried out on the data, and state whether the data was changed in any way from its raw form before you undertook the analysis. Mention the difference or lack of difference between groups with respect to the activity they participated in during the study. If relevant, you can express this by including each group's score numerically in brackets.

Back this up with statistical evidence to support the difference. You need to name the statistical test using appropriate statistical symbols, such as t, F, M. With each test, include the degrees of freedom, the value of the statistic, and the level of probability. For some tests, you may also need to provide the N value or number of participants.

State whether the difference was 'significant' or 'not significant.'

If you have a lot of data, it may be convenient to display it in a table or graph and summarise the main features or patterns in words. Do not duplicate information. For example, if you have a table with data, you don't need to repeat this data in sentences.

If your table or graph has a title:

• The title should be at the top of the table.
• The title should appear below the graph.

This section is usually allocated the most marks for your assignment, so take your time to do it thoroughly. Begin with a sentence or paragraph summarising the results and whether they support or disconfirm the hypothesis. You may also choose to highlight any similarities between your findings and previous studies.

The bulk of your discussion should be devoted to explaining, interpreting and justifying your findings where relevant. Repeat some of the theoretical frameworks or models you mentioned in the introduction, but with a greater focus towards making sense of the outcomes in the current study.

You should also consider any alternative explanations for the findings, such as studies that presented inconsistent findings with the theory. You may also be able to draw on aspects of the study left to chance or not experimentally controlled.

In the last part of the discussion, mention any flaws in the study, such as a lack of diversity amongst participants, small sample size or other characteristics of the sample population. If you can think of other disadvantages associated with the design of the study, discuss these if you can.

Consider the future application of your findings and whether there is a need for further investigations, for example, to investigate unexplained aspects of the research findings. Complete the report by reaffirming your findings and their significance to the research area.