How to Write An Introduction

The introduction section of the lab report is your chance to convince your reader
why what you did in your experiment is important. In order to write a good
introduction, you need to have the following components within this section:
Background information for the topic that you were studying
A clear purpose for the lab that you are performing
Hypothesis for the experiment
You should begin the introduction section my introducing any and all
background information for what you are examining in your experiment. You
need to provide the reader with enough background so that they can understand
the chemistry that was the focus of your experiment. You should make sure to
answer the following questions in your background information paragraphs:
What chemistry topics were covered in the lab that you performed?
What equations did you need to use and why did you use these
equations?
Where do we use the equations and concepts in our everyday lives and in
other chemistry topics (i.e. what other parts of chemistry besides the area
studied in the lab would you use these concepts?
After you have introduced the background information for the lab you should
focus the readers attention to the specific purpose of the lab. This should be no
longer then a paragraph. It should answer the following questions:
What was the purpose of the specific lab that you did?
How did you use the background information to carry out the lab?
What was the final goal of the lab?
Finally, the last paragraph should inform the reader what your hypothesis was.
This does not have to be a very long paragraph, but it should clearly and
concisely state the hypothesis. Just a quick note on hypothesizes:
A hypothesis is an educated guess about what should occur in the lab.
This hypothesis needs to be testable.
This is a possible solution to the purpose that you discussed previously
The hypothesis should be written in the form: If ______________, then
_____________ or It was predicted that __________________ because
of _________________.
Grammar for Introductions
The following grammar rules should be followed for introductions:
You should only use 3rd person. NEVER use 1st or 2nd person. This means
you cannot say I, me, we, us, etc.
If you used outside sources in your background information they need to
cited using the correct format (MLA or APA).

You should have multiple paragraphs

Header for the

section

Example Introduction
Introduction

Background
Information

Scientists often predict the amount of information that they are going to
form in a reaction through the use of stoichiometry. Often times, an experiment is
run and scientists obtain a different amount of product then was predicted
through stoichiometry. Therefore, it is necessary to calculate the difference
between what was predicted to form and what actually formed. This is known as
calculating the percent yield. The percent yield for any reaction is calculated by
dividing what was obtained in an experiment by what was predicted to form. This
yield can be described by the equation:

ActualYield
100% = PercentYield
TheoreticalYield
By calculating the percent yield, multiple aspects of the experiment that was

performed can be analyzed. From the percent yield, potential sources of error
and areas where there were problems with the experimental design can be
identified. Many important things can be learned from the percent yield and it is
an invaluable tool in countless chemistry experiments.
This lab focused on the application of the principle of percent yield. In
order to study this principle, the reaction between baking soda and vinegar was
utilized. When baking soda and vinegar are combined, the following reaction
occurs:
NaHCO3 (s) + HC2H3O2 H2O (l) + CO2 (g) + NaC2H3O2 (aq)

Purpose of the
lab

Because the initial amounts of vinegar (HC 2H3O2) and baking soda (NaHCO3)
were known, the amount of CO2 that should form was predicted. By capturing the
CO2 gas that was actually formed when baking soda and vinegar react, the
actual yield of CO2 can be determined. By comparing the actual amount of CO 2
that was produced and the theoretical amount of CO 2 that should be produced,
the percent yield can be determined for this lab. From this percent yield, possible
sources of error and ways in which to improve the experimental model can be
identified and discussed.
From the information that was predicted for the lab it was predicted that the
percent yield would be lower then 100% because of the way the experiment was
designed and because of the inaccuracy of the tools that were used to measure
the volume of CO2.

Hypothesis for
the lab

Important Things to Notice:

1. Written in 3rd person
2. Background information,
purpose, and hypothesis present
3. Necessary equations stated