1. Write a Conclusion for a Formal Lab Report February 21, 2012

2. Writing a Conclusion Special Rules for Science Writing: Use 3 rd person (not “I” or “you”). Don’t use a “hook” or “attention grabber” at the beginning of your essay. Use correct and formal terms throughout the conclusion. Do not use conjunctions (i.e. instead of don’t, write do not) Use transitions to help the reader understand the organization of what you are saying. Don’t write about how you felt about the lab – keep it focused on the facts.

3. Conclusion Rubric 5 Restates purpose of the lab. 5 Briefly but thoroughly summarizes lab procedures. 5 Accurately reports findings that provide an answer to the purpose question. 5 Uses data to support findings. 5 Accurately identifies and explains if hypothesis is supported or refuted. 5 Discusses errors in the data. 5 Suggests improvements for future execution of the experiment 5 Proposes further investigation that could be performed to build on the findings of the lab.

4. Restate the purpose of the lab to remind the reader about why we completed the lab: The purpose of this experiment was … Summarize the lab procedures – briefly tell the reader what you did: To accomplish this, … Summarize the results - tell the reader what you found out. Use actual data numbers from the experiment to support your results. The results show that the rocks, in order of least to greatest density, were… According to this data, X comes from the continental crust… Identify and explain why your hypothesis was right or wrong. Either way, it doesn’t matter (the important thing is that we gained knowledge, even if it wasn’t what we expected), but you have to identify and explain if your hypothesis is supported or refuted by your findings. The hypothesis was… Briefly discuss the errors in your data – were you off by a lot, or were you pretty much on point? Use your percent error values to support your claim. The percent error in density values was … What could have caused this error? Make suggestions for improvements to the experiment that might help to reduce this error if you or someone else performed the experiment again in the future. To minimize this error and obtain more accurate density measurements in the future, it is suggested that … As we learn more, we ask more questions to build on the information that we do have. Discuss a possible experiment that could build on your findings from the lab. Further investigation could be… Sentence Starters for Conclusions Paragraph 1 : Paragraph 2 :

5. Exemplar Conclusion The aim of this experiment was to find the density of four different rocks so that their origin could be determined. To accomplish this, the mass and volume were found for all four rocks. The mass was then divided by the volume to determine each rock’s density. The results show that the rocks, in order of least to greatest density, were granite (2.2 g/mL), basalt (3.1 g/mL), magnetite (3.5 g/mL) and hematite (4.1 g/mL). According to this data, granite comes from the continental crust, basalt comes from the oceanic crust, magnetite comes from the mantle, and hematite comes from the core because density increases with each layer that is closer to the center of the Earth. The hypothesis was partially correct because it was predicted that granite came from the continental crust and basalt came from the oceanic crust, and this was supported by the results. However, it also incorrect because it was predicted that hematite came from the mantle and magnetite came from the core, and the results indicate the opposite. The percent error in density values was high, especially for hematite and magnetite, which had percent error of 21 % and 32%, respectively. To minimize this error and obtain more accurate density measurements in the future, it is suggested that more samples of each rock are tested to get a better average value of density. Additionally, it would be better to use a smaller, glass graduated cylinder because it would be easier to read the small changes in volume measurement, thus making them more accurate. Further investigation could be done by determining the melting point of each of the rocks. If this information was obtained, it would be possible to determine if each of Earth’s layers exists as a solid or a liquid.

6. Turn it in! Turn your conclusion into the Drop Box before you leave today. I will look them over and make suggestions before we will type it up tomorrow. Meet in 313 tomorrow! Conclusion is due Friday.