1. Formal Lab Report Guidelines
SNC 2D – Ms. Pasic

2. Lab Report Checklist Title page Purpose or Objective
Materials/Apparatus
Procedure
Results or Observations
Results/Analysis
Conclusions
References/Works Cited

3. Bottom of page at left (can also be centered middle of page)
Title Page
Centered title
Neat and professional
Includes
Title of Experiment
Name
Name of Partners
Date submitted
Teacher you are submitting the lab report to
Class
Bottom of page at left (can also be centered middle of page)

4. Purpose and Procedure Titles each underlined Purpose or Objective
Why are you doing the experiment?
Do NOT use personal pronouns
I did this, we did that… etc.
Use third person language and passive voice.
The purpose of the lab is…
This was done to…
2 5 sentences long. Succinct
Procedure
What you will do in the experiment (see sample lab for more details)
Can be numbered to help organize steps

5. Titles each underlined
Materials
Materials
list
Apparatus and safety equipment
Chemicals used (include concentration)
Titles each underlined
Bullet points

6. Results Data table Graphs Figures
Other observations or changes in procedure
Text is centered in table
Consistent significant digits used in each column

7. Results – Data Table
Table should have a title and listed as “Table 1, Table 2” etc., including what is in the table
The table size should fit the data (does not need to be full page width)
Tables must not be split across two pages.
Text is centered in table
Consistent significant digits used in each column

8. Figure 1 because it is the first figure in the paper
Results -graphs
Figure 1 because it is the first figure in the paper
Each figure is clearly labelled “Figure 1, Figure 2”… etc. so figures can be referenced in the analysis or discussion questions.
Figures do not need to take up the entire width of the page. Other text from the results section can be wrapped around it.

9. Title is italic, capitalized,
Results - Graphs
Title is italic, capitalized,
left justified
Labelled x and y axis
Clear title of graph
Limited white space
In this example:
Scatterplot
Trend line used
Trend line
Label for each axis

10. Analysis Analysis of results is guided by your discussion questions.
The analysis should reference your data, class data (if applicable) and figures. Include Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. while analyzing data, so that the audience can reference the tables or figures easily during reading.
References to outside sources may be used here. Include a partial citation of the author’s last name and year of publication in the text (Author, 2017). The full citation will be listed in the references/works cited section.
In text citation

11. Conclusions and References
Brief summary of most important findings
Extensions to other contexts, applications or “real world” examples
References
Alphabetical by author last name
Include author(s), year of publication, Title, url or book title.
For full referencing in APA format there’s a great site at 0/01/
Alphabetical by authors last name

12. General guidelines
Do not use personal pronouns during the lab report (I, we, you, our)
Write in third person and passive voice
Be as succinct as possible
Font
12 font
“serif” font such as Times New Roman
All margins same size on all pages
Spacing consistent throughout paper (either double or single)
Use consistent font within tables, charts, and graphs where possible
Use full words,
do not use short forms or conjunctions such as don’t, can’t etc.
Do not use abbreviations or slang terms