A Good L ab R eport

1. A Good Lab Report An How to Guide

2. Conclusion Paragraph • Directions • Summarize the purpose of the lab and your hypothesis • Summarize the essential lab data. • Show how the essential data answers the lab purpose (question) and support or not your hypothesis • Identify the one area of the lab most likely responsible for measurable experimental error and explain it. (Think carefully about this one.)

3. Example: First Paragraph • The purpose of this lab was to see how many observation we could make on a candle. I hypothesized that I could only make a few observations because I have seen a candle many times and there is not much to observe.

4. Ex. : 2nd Paragraph • We were able to make 20 observations on our candle. We made the most observations during the period in which the candle was lit.

5. Ex.: 3rd Paragraph • This experiment showed us that we can make many observations when given a fixed amount of time and various ways to observe. The lab procedure called for observing the candle before, during and after lighting it. That gave us opportunities to observe the candle in different conditions. Also we were given a ruler, so we were able to make quantitative observations in addition to the qualitative such as smell and wax dripping. Therefore, we made many more observations than I hypothesized.

6. Ex.: 4th Paragraph • Even though this experiment had a straightforward and simple procedure, the area that could have caused most error was the fact that we found the candle a little boring and we got distracted in timing the 2 minutes. We made most observations when it was lit, because during that period we liked the candle and we were more focused. If I could design this experiment I would choose something I have never observed before like the nickel and nitric acid reaction the teacher showed us on the first day. I think that something novel would make us be more focused and we could make more interesting observations

8. Procedure Summary