Lab Report Guidelines and Rules
Lab Report Guidelines and Rules
Template of expectations for Lab Report rules provided by
previous instructor: Samantha Iverson
General Rules
► Be CLEAR and CONCISE!!
► Length doesn’t always indicate a better report
► Write in the 3rd person
► DO NOT write in the 1st person: no “I”, “ME”, “MY”, “WE”
► With the exception of portions of the introduction and discussion, all writing must be in PAST
TENSE with PASSIVE VOICE!!
► Ex. Hydrochloric acid was added in 50uL portions to Unknown AA-01-00 until a pH of 1.5 was
reached for a total volume of 3.5mL of HCl added.
► Do not repeat yourself, you don’t need to explain the same thing 5 different ways.
► Pages should be numbered starting AFTER the title page
Report Sections
► Title page
► Abstract
► Introduction
► Materials and Methods
► Results
► Discussion
► Conclusion
► References
► Appendix
► Observations
► Note: not all reports/assignments
require every section, please see
lab manual to see what sections
are required for each
report/assignment.
► If you provide sections that are not
required, they will not be looked at
► Any missing section will result in full point
deductions for that section
► Observations must be stapled to the back of
every experiment handed in.
Section: Abstract
► The sole purpose of the abstract is to provide the reader with a summary of the major
accomplishments of the experiment
► Although it appears first in the report, it should be written last because it must indicate a
knowledge of intro, Results, and Discussion
► Do not start with “The purpose of this experiment is….”
► This should be no longer than 200 words (4-5 sentences)
► No equations or references here
► Should include
► Purpose of the experiment
► Brief description of how this was achieved
► Brief explanation of the results (include numerical values)
► What was concluded
Section: Introduction
► Here you provide the reader will ALL background knowledge needed to understand the
experiment
► State the goal of the experiment
► Introduce important methods and why they are used
► Provide knowledge of all relevant theory and concepts
► Start very broad and as you progress, be more specific to the actual experiment
► For example: Amino Acid (AA) titration
► Background on AA
► what is titration
► Indicate what happens to AA as they are titrated (molecularly)
► This section should be filled with in text citations
► The last paragraph should include a hypothesis of what will be seen
Section: Materials and Methods
► This section is used to indicate how the experiment
was accomplished and what exact materials were used
to achieve the goal.
► This section should not be written as a shopping list or
procedure manual but should be written in paragraph
form with high organization and in your own words.
► NO commonly used equipment or materials (i.e., tips, pipettors,
glassware, ect.)
► NO common actions (ie. Glassware was washed, tubes were
labled, ect.)
► Important information to include (but not limited to)
► Chemical names
► Concentrations (with proper units)
► pH
► Company item was purchased from
► If the chemical used was a mix, you must indicate what
is in the mixture as well as each individual
concentration
Materials
► 1X PBS Buffer
► Tris/Glycine/SDS Running Buffer
► Laemmli Sample Buffer
► β-mercaptoethanol
► Ready Gel Pre-Cast Gel
► SDS-PAGE Broad Range Molecular Weight Protein Marker
► Coomassie Blue Staining Solution
► Destaining Solution
Methods
- Prepare Ready Gel Pre-Cast Gels.
- Mix 20 μL of sample and 20 μL of Sample Buffer.
- Heat for 100 °C for 5 minutes.
- Load 20 μL of the samples into the wells.
- Run the gels at 200 V for 40 minutes.
- Stain the gels.
- Destain the gels.
- Dry the gels.
Ex. Hydrochloric acid (HCl) was added in 50uL
portions to Unknown AA-01-00 until a pH of 1.5
was reached for a total volume of 3.5mL of HCl
added.
Section: Results
► This section is used to display all results obtained in the
experiment
► Start this section with a short paragraph (2-3
sentences) introducing the results and giving a short
summary of Materials and Methods
► This is especially important when the report doesn’t require a
full Materials an Methods section
► Results should be portrayed in 3 forms
► Figures
► Tables
► Paragraphs
Section: Results
Figures
► Figures must have a specific title, properly labeled axis, a specific legend (if
graphing more than one line), and a caption. Any important points on the
curve should be labeled (ie pKa, pI, lambda max etc.)
► The caption appears BENEATH the figure and contains the figure number:
title, and brief description of important data
► The caption should be a smaller font than the paragraphs showing a clear
difference between a caption and text
► When referring to figures in text, use the whole word “figure #” at the
beginning of a sentence and the short hand “fig. #” in the middle of a
sentence.
► Do not make sentences like: In Figure X, we see that….. Instead, make the
point and put (Figure X) at the end of the sentence
Section: Results
Good Figure Example
Figure #. Title(same as graph). The caption needs to
indicate what is being presented in the figure.
- Figures with captions are stand-alone
entities, therefore the reader must be
able to understand the figure (and
caption) without having to read the
rest of the text. - The title should be specific
- The axis are clearly labeled, don’t forget
the units. - Caption is beneath the figure and
contains all important information about
the figure (results obtained and how,
etc.).The information on the caption
MUST BE REPEATED in the results main
text. - Important information is highlighted
(equation of the regression line and
linearity)
Y=mx+b
R2= 0.998
Of what?
Section: Results
Tables
► Tables or charts in the results section should indicate important data
► Examples: averages of multiple abs readings, % errors, standard deviations
► Any raw data should appear in tables in the appendix
► Tables should have a number and title ABOVE the table.
► No caption, but you can use a note to indicate any relevant to
understanding the table
► Important data such as wavelength used or pH should be clearly
indicated within the table or title.
► The title should be specific to what data you are showing
Section: Results
Proper Table Example
► Table #: Absorbance of varying
Concentrations of PNP at 400 nm in pH 10
glycine buffer
Concentration of
PNP [mM]
Average Absorbance at
400nM
0 0
0.1 0.1
0.2 0.15
0.3 0.2
0.4 0.25
0.5 0.3
*Note: Raw data of triplicate absorbance
measurements can be seen in Appendix C
Table 1. - Table has a specific title
- Table number and title appear ABOVE
the table - Units are clearly indicated
- Only important data is shown in results
- Raw data is shown in the appendix
Section: Results
Paragraphs
► Open the results section with a brief description of what was done.
► Result paragraphs should summarize trends seen in both figures and
tables
► Reference the raw date and calculations on the appendix.
► Your paragraphs should also indicate unknown sample number as well
as unknown identity or concentration
► Unknown AA-01-00 is consistent with Histidine
► Unknown Spec-01-00 was found to have a concentration of 10 ug/mL of PNP
► Do not explain why you obtained certain results, just state what the
results are
► The why belongs in the discussion
Section: Discussion
► Probably the most important section in the whole report
► Here you are linking the results to the theory and concepts given
in the introductions section
► You are highlighting the full significance of the work here
► Your discussion should:
► Analyze the data obtained
► Mention and explain all results
► Explain any strange data obtained
► Link results obtained to introduction theory and hypothesis
DO NOT JUST RESTATE RESULTS!!!! EXPLAIN THEM!!
You can use outside figures here to aid in any explanations. Just
make sure they are treated like any figure (add a caption) and
properly cited.
Section: References
► References appear after the discussion but before the
appendix, please be aware of the order of the report
► References should be in APA or MLA format (Required by
John Jay)
► Please put in the References section which format you are
using
► In text citations can be in either APA format (Author, year)
or MLA format ([3])
► Period appear AFTER THE IN-TEXT CITATION
► You must have 2 OUTSIDE sources of information
► Outside sources do no include: Biochem textbook, lab manuals,
recitation powerpoints, or lecture powerpoints (these can be used as sources, they just don’t count towards the 3 required)
► 2 outside sources should be primary journal articles (not reviews)
► WIKIPEDIA is NOT an acceptable source of information
Section: Appendix
► An appendix appears in EVERY REPORT or ASSIGMENT (even though it
isn’t indicated in the syllabus)
► Your appendix contains
► Raw data
► Sample Calculations (fully worked out, not just the equation)
► There must be one sample calculation for every calculation used in the report, including
average and standard deviation
► This section should be clearly organized like the rest of the report. Do not
just throw information here and expect the instructor to understand what
you are talking about
► All figures and tables here have titles and captions as they do in the
results. (Just continue with the numbering)
Section: Observations
► Observations are anything that you observe during class
► These observations should be clearly organized and labeled in your
notebook.
► Observations should be attached to the back of the report when
handed in
► Either a photocopy of your notebook pages or the carbon copies are
acceptable
