Writing Lab Reports See Course Website for “Academic Integrity” and “Writing Lab Reports” Handouts

6 sections Title Introduction Procedure or Methods Results Discussion or Conclusion References

Title Same as in notebook brief statement about what is to be determined and how. The title should be descriptive enough that you do not need the “purpose” section that you may have written in high school. DO NOT COPY THE HANDOUT TITLE AS IT MAY NOT BE DESCRIPTIVE

Introduction NEW explains the chemical principles behind the experiment. It should explain what you are trying to determine by performing the experiment explain why you are using the chosen method. Explain the chemistry of why the method allows you to determine what you are looking for. It is often helpful to give the chemical reactions and EXPLAIN what is happening at each step. Third person present tense Best to prepare before performing the experiment.

What should the intro for this experiment include? What is the reaction? Be sure to explain the reaction instead of just drawing it out. What types of chemicals are reacting with each other and what are they forming? What is the stoichiometry? Important because it is used in calcs Differences between primary and secondary standards What are the conditions for the system at the endpoint? What was used to indicate when to stop? Why was it chosen? How the titration allows for you to find %KHP in the unknown

Be sure to answer all of these questions in intro What happens during a titration? Define primary standard. What was your primary standard? Define secondary standard. What was your secondary standard? What type of reaction is being evaluated? What types of reactants are being used? What is the specific reaction that is occurring? What is the stoichiometry of the compounds that you need to consider? What is the condition of the system at the end of your titration? What tells you when you have reached the end of this titration? What properties of this particular indicator made it a good choice for this titration? How does the amount of NaOH tell you the %KHP in the unknown?

Method/Procedure Similar to notebook Complete sentences and paragraphs Third person past tense

Results Similar to notebook All in Computer-generated Tables and graphs/charts Tables/Graphs labeled with “Table/Graph #” & Descriptive Title All paired data kept together All values have units All values have appropriate significant digits Important observations can be paired with the appropriate results

Discussion/Conclusion Same as notebook I will be looking very heavily at your logic for errors and conclusions Must be third person Well structured, grammatically correct paragraphs – not just a list of results

References MLA/APA/CBE format (learned in English classes) Cited within the appropriate section of the text of the report, as well

Week Two What did we do last week? Made ____________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ This week????? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ The unknown consists of _____________________ + __________________________________ If you determine __________, you can determine % by mass How do we accomplish this? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

Data and Results Before beginning the experiment you will know: ________________________ from last week, the reaction: ______________________________ -, _____________ of reactants from reaction equation, _________________________ For each of the titrations you perform you will have the following: _______________________, __________________ Knowing this, how do you think last week’s determination of M NaOH could affect this week’s results?

Observations???????

Announcements Writing Communication is a BIG part of science Say what you mean and mean what you say Grammar, sentence structure, paragraph structure The Writing Center Tutoring by appointment Take paper with you for critiquing Are your ideas coming across clearly? Are you using appropriate grammar? Are you well organized vs. throwing out random thoughts? Other stylistic issues? To make an appointment Call Stop by 559 French Hall