How To Write Biology Lab Report

Students who pursue a Biology course will have to encounter lab experiments of different kinds. Because of this, there is a likelihood that you might be assigned to write Biology lab reports. The primary purpose of a report is only to determine how you have performed your experiments, how much you have learned from them and finally how you will submit the knowledge accurately.

You need to check out a well-written Biology lab report example so that you may be in a position to get more knowledge about how to write a successful assignment and get high grades. To become a competent writer, you can follow these tips on how to write Biology lab report.

Creating a Title that’s Clear and Brief

In this section, you are required to give an idea about the analysis that is clear. Therefore, you must not overthink about the title but elaborate about the experiment. To bring the point home, don’t use sentences that are more than ten words

A title should state the main aim of your experiment and the same principle of not using more than ten words in a sentence is still applied here. Just in case a title page may be required, you need to consult your examiner concerning the specific format that is required for the page.

Include Your Name As You Write Your Title Page

If you want to receive credit for the work done, you are required to include your name in that report, in case you did it alone. However, if you did the work as a group, you need to add the names of all the people in your group.

The Introduction

The beginning of a lab report one should state the primary purpose of the experiment. Your theory should include the presentation and a brief statement that’s intended to test your hypothesis.

Primarily, an introduction is the framework for the Biology lab report and shows you the importance of studying. Elaborate the reason that you were reviewing and why it is significant, and the methods that you are using to gain the knowledge.

How You Present Your Theory

Here, you should state the observations that you expected to observe and the course of the experiment. The approach will not always be confirmed by the outcome, but there is a prediction that will be made before experimenting. A theory that is good, should be started like this, “we had a hypothesis, and in the end, as we had anticipated, the results of the experiment were that A has affected B.

Background Information for the Reader to Know Why the Analysis is Required

One needs to include in this part a background that covers the theory to the research. First of all, you are required to define the terminology; and in doing this, you are to explain this in the introduction.

Use vocabulary that is appropriate to explain exactly what it is that you are doing because in truth, your choice of words reflects what`s happening within your report.

Writing an Abstract in the Biology Lab Report

In this section, you are required to mention the lab reports in a summary of the whole experiment. The abstract must also cover the methods that have been used together with the main result. Often in this section, only one paragraph is required (that is about 200-300 words in length).

An abstract comes typically at the beginning of a Biology lab report; after the title. The trick used in a lab report must be to compose it after everything else has been completed.

Listing All the Materials and Procedures that Are Used in the Lab

Material descriptions are to be made in an explanation that is procedural. This can include specific amounts, times and measurements. You are needed to write a highly detailed procedure for your experiments, without any inclusion of unnecessary information that may leave a reader overwhelmed. Describe whatever you have gathered, specimens, factors that may affect the analysis among others.

Write in Past Tense

A report should not read like a manual for instructions, but like you are accounting for what you have done. In this section, it is advisable to use the first-person perspective by using either passive or active voice. Some requirements based on academics are best used in the view of the third person. You are needed to write your report as straightforward and as comfortable as possible.

Explaining the Results

All the data in this part of your biology lab report that is factual is required to be brought forth from the experiment. You are supposed to begin with the text first and then to show your data. You could use visual aids like diagrams, tables, pie charts, and graphs to make your work easier.

Though these visual aids are quite conspicuous to the eye, one needs to explain more about their data in a given text. An example can be that, bacteria are increasing in population by the influence of high temperature. However, the community of bacteria has now decreased because the levels of temperature had also reduced.

Organization of the Data

The presenting of data in an organized manner is something prudent. This enables a reader to understand the biology lab report quickly. Ensure that every table, pie chart, graph, is well labeled so that in the paragraph that is accompanying it explains the information that is contained.

Writing the Conclusion

This section is mainly composed of the summary of data and should not be copied word for word from the data section of the Biology lab report.

Discussing the Possible Errors in the Experiment

You are to comment on whatever you think may have caused the mistake. You need to give an explanation about how the analysis is to be corrected and discuss the errors that can be verified by the data in your study.

Present the Conclusion in a Systematic Way

This is where you are required to interpret the results of an experiment by agreeing or disagreeing with the theory, and you must elaborate why. The goal here is to merely convince the reader that you are well conversant with the data and have intelligently considered it. You can easily do this by stating something such as, The theory was accepted because… then you can proceed with your explanation.

Have a Considerable Conclusion of About 1-2 Pages

One should note that having a long conclusion does not make it necessarily better. The information can be presented in a way that is relevant to your conclusion and in a manner that is well organized.

Summarize your work in such a way that you will thoroughly discuss the information at hand. You are required to address whether there were any errors made or not and if you have learned something new or not. Also, you should state whether there is something about the experiment that can be improved on.

Giving Credit Where It’s Deserved

Always ensure that the sources where you get your information are appropriately credited. This is because you would not want your work to be discredited for a task of forgetting to cite a source. You need to be aware issues concerning plagiarism are considered to be a severe offense whenever writing any type of report, biology lab reports included!

As you cite a source, note the format to maintain consistency in your Biology lab report. So, the way you are to cite a source is to first of all beginning with the name of the author for example “Crew Jonathan”. Note that the last name is the one to start then followed by the first. The first initial year example can be “1998 was the year of publishing.”

Paraphrasing the Ideas You Borrowed from Others in Your Report

In the field of science, some professors don’t like quotations in a Biology lab report. They prefer if one would paraphrase the ideas borrowed from sources and convey the information into text in their own words. Craft the data in such a way that your phrasing may seem original and unique.

As you paraphrase, it is easy to confuse information hence making it the reason as to why people are advised not just to change some words, but ensure that the primary idea is still clear to the reader.

How to Format Your Lab Report

At all times, to be on the safer side, you are required to have a font size of 12 as you present your work. Unless specified otherwise, it is much advisable to use the fonts that are referred to as traditional. Examples of such font types include; are New Times Roman and Arial.

Also, make sure that the margins are 5 inches at least. This is because there are many recommendations for this, but most professors prefer reports that have margins that are at least 1 inch apart. Therefore, it is only prudent for you to check with your professor to see what is agreed upon in your class.

Another thing that you should be keen for is page numbers. For you to be in a position to present work that is admired by the professor, make sure that you number the pages of your biology lab report. You can either put the numbers at the top or the bottom of the page, according to your preference or that of the professor. Check for any additional information such as your final name of which you can add in each page.

All in all, make sure to check with your professor for the recommended biology lab report format to follow. Some institutions also have a general format or template which you should stick to make sure to confirm if this is the case for you.

Conclusion

Always remember that Biology lab assignments are tasks mainly meant for individual students. Therefore, if you are assigned a lab partner, it would be best for you to make sure that the work you do is personal because this material can be easily tested again in the exam. Anyway, all having been said, these are the tips to having an excellent lab report. We hope they will be of much help to you. Also, make sure to go through a biology lab report sample to see how others have done theirs.