Laboratory Reports for SPH3U

Reference

• Appendix A4 of text. pp 560-564

What to Include

• You must include the sections which are specified in the instructions for a particular experiment. Depending on the suitability and emphasis of a particular experiment some or all of the following may be required;
  • Title Page
  • Purpose
  • Question
  • Hypothesis/Prediction
  • Design
  • Materials
  • Procedure
  • Observations
  • Analysis / Conclusion
  • Evaluation / Discussion
• If the laboratory instructions specify that a reference to a document is all that is required then that is acceptable otherwise the section should be completed as per the detail below.

Details of Sections

• Title Page
  • A title page must include;
    • the title of the lab
    • your first and last name
    • the name of any partner (and some indication as to the extent of the partnership, eg. 'lab work and data gathering')
    • teachers name and period of the class
    • date the lab was conducted
    • date the lab was written or submitted
• Purpose
  • See Appendix A4 in Text
• Question
  • See Appendix A4 in Text
• Hypothesis / Prediction
  • See Appendix A4 in Text
• Design
  • See Appendix A4 in Text
  • A picture is worth 1000 words. Often the design section will refer to a diagram by number and title (eg. 'refer to Fig 2 - Diagram of Test Set Up'). The diagram should be numbered, titled and appended to the back of the report.
• Materials
  • See Appendix A4 in Text
  • When appropriate indicate the serial number of equipment used.
  • A picture is worth 1000 words. Often the materials section will refer to a diagram by number and title (eg. 'refer to Fig 2 - Diagram of Test Set Up'). The diagram should be numbered, titled and appended to the back of the report.
• Procedure
  • See Appendix A4 in Text
• Observations
  • See Appendix A4 in Text
  • If the data is tabulated in the appendix, refer to the data by number and title. (eg. 'refer to Fig 4 - Table of Displacement and Time Values')
  • Observations are only those physical quantities which you observe.........with your senses.......(vision, smell, sound, touch, taste). You do not calculate an observation. Observations usually include the raw data that you read or measured.
  • You may include anecdotal observations especially if you are going to use the observation in the evaluation section. For example if your evaluation explains that your data could be in error because 'the wheel had a bump in it', or 'the cart didn't go straight' or any other legitimate reason, I would expect to see this information first in the observation section of the report.
  • If raw data is required to be handed in (like a ticker tape or a ray diagram) then it should be attached to a sheet of paper (if required) numbered, titled and appended to the back of the lab report.
  • You may be required to indicate uncertainty in any quantitive observations. If this is a requirement of this lab then;
    • include the specified uncertainty of the instrument if it is known
    • if the uncertainty is not known, record the data to one more decimal place than the smallest increment on the scale of the instrument and claim an uncertainty of +/- one half of the smallest increment on the scale. [eg 37.3 +/- 0.5 mm would be appropriate reading for a distance scale in which the smallest increment is 1 mm, in this case the data was estimated to one tenth of a millimeter and an uncertainty was claimed of +/- one half of a millimeter.]
• Analysis / Conclusion
  • See Appendix A4 in Text
  •  
• Evaluation / Discussion
  • See Appendix A4 in Text
  • this section includes a discussion about the % error or % difference calculation. (see Appendix A5 p565 in text)

Format

• appended information
  • all diagrams, tables, figures, calculations, photographs, and graphs should be numbered (Fig 1, Fig 2 etc.), titled, and appended to the back of the laboratory report.
• word processing
• calculations
  • format of written calculations
    • example of calculation in correct format
  • format of computer generated calculations
  • common use of variable names
• tables
  •  
  • common use of variable names
• graphs
  •  
  • common use of variable names
• diagrams
  • your diagram should be legible
  • items on your diagram should be labeled
  • common use of variable names
• photographs

Authenticity of Work

• Plagiarism
• Working in Partners
• Referencing and Quoting

An Exemplar