Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Overview
What is the general format of a lab report?
Typical Components
Title Page
(Abstract) depending on the nature of the research/project/experiment
Introduction
Methods and Materials (or Equipment)
Experimental Procedure
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
References
Appendices
Further Reading
Introduction
particular question/hypothesis
Must Have:
May include:
you must show that the chosen area, in general, is important, problematic (problems
of the research area), interesting, central to the field of research, or its relevance to the
field.
in doing so, you must introduce the previous research carried out in the same area
Second step;
Third step;
employing the niche;
Now look at your lab reports and answer the following questions?
What was I investigating?
Why was it important?
What was already known about the subject of my research/experiment?
What did I expect to know after doing my research/experiment?
How did I approach the problem?
3
The experiment is already over. Use the past tense when talking about the experiment.
The report, the theory and permanent equipment still exist; therefore, use the present tense:
Note: The most commonly used pattern in research/lab reports is to start the
introduction as;
The objective of this research is/ The aim of this project is, This paper examines (not
preferred, though). However, the following introduction differs from traditional
writing style. Discuss.
Recent advances in space technology (1) ........................ ........... (provide) the
possibility of studying the survival of different microorganisms in the harsh
environment of space (Demets et.al., 2005; Boglioni et. al., 2007). So far, lichens
(2) ................................................. (be) the only organisms able to survive exposure to
such extreme conditions (Sancho et. al., 2007; de los Rios et. al., 2010).
It is believed that, if sufficiently protected by meteorite-like material, microorganisms
may also survive the journey through space. However, Brandsttter et. al.,2008)
(3) ............................... (report) that microorganisms embedded in 2 cm thick rocks on
the outer surface of a re-entry capsule, simulating the entry of a meteorite,
(4) ................................. (not surive).
The aim of this work (5) ................................. (be) to obtain further information on the
resistance of rock-colonising microbial communities and lichens to outer space
conditions, during the Biopan- flight of ESA on board a Russian Foton satellite.
Source: Cambridge English for Scientists