All lab reports must be typed in third person and passive style. Your lab report should
include the following sections. After you finish writing your lab report, you will submit it to
Canvas for grading. Please note your submission is monitored by Turn-it-in. If plagiarism
is detected, you will receive a Zero for the experiment. Also, there will be other
consequences. Some modules will contain multiple experiments. However, you are only to
write a single lab report including all the experiments.
Lab Report Format:
Title Page (first page of your report): You must include your Name, Date, Lab section
(1046L-RVC), and the title of the lab.
Purpose: State the purpose of the experiment(s) in your own words. It should be a broad
statement about the purpose(s) of the lab. 1-2 sentences
Introduction: This section should cover the chemistry concept(s)/theory involved in the
experiment(s). You will need to explain what this experiment is about and how the goal(s) of the
experiment will be accomplished in your own word. It is also important for you to define key
terms. For example, you are writing the introduction for the titration experiment. You should
define key terms such as analyte, titrant, indicator, etc. If your introduction only contains a bunch
of definitions, you will receive a zero for this section. The introduction should not be a lab
procedure. Feel free to use your textbook from the lecture as a resource in understanding and
explaining the principles underlying the lab. You should also use other sources such as scientific
journals and articles to help you write the introduction section. Be sure to cite your sources.
Procedures: This section should contain general procedures that you followed to complete the
lab written in your own word. There is NO need to go into great detail, but you need to report
enough detail that a reader understands how you completed the lab. Think about whether the
reader can complete the experiment based solely on your own procedure. Do not screenshot the
procedures from McGraw Connect and paste them on your lab report as the procedures.
Data/Observations: For most of these labs, you will record your primary data, such as weighing
measurements, volume measurements, observations of chemical reactions, in your laboratory
notebook as you are experimenting. It is very important to record the data and observations
accurately and neatly in your lab notebook. The reason is that you will use them to create
data/observations tables and or graphs for your lab report. I understand McGraw Hill Connect
provides data tables for you to record your data and assists you in creating the graphs. It is
acceptable to use screenshots of those data tables as a part of your data section. However, you
will need to recreate any graphs on your own and include them in your lab report.
Please note it is always good practice to record data in your lab notebook. Do not record any
primary data on paper towels, napkins, or scratch paper.
Copying or presenting someone else’s data as yours are considered plagiarism and academic
misconduct. It can have serious consequences.
All lab reports must be typed in third person and passive style. Your lab report should
include the following sections. After you finish writing your lab report, you will submit it to
Canvas for grading. Please note your submission is monitored by Turn-it-in. If plagiarism
is detected, you will receive a Zero for the experiment. Also, there will be other
consequences. Some modules will contain multiple experiments. However, you are only to
write a single lab report including all the experiments.
Lab Report Format:
Title Page (first page of your report): You must include your Name, Date, Lab section
(1046L-RVC), and the title of the lab.
Purpose: State the purpose of the experiment(s) in your own words. It should be a broad
statement about the purpose(s) of the lab. 1-2 sentences
Introduction: This section should cover the chemistry concept(s)/theory involved in the
experiment(s). You will need to explain what this experiment is about and how the goal(s) of the
experiment will be accomplished in your own word. It is also important for you to define key
terms. For example, you are writing the introduction for the titration experiment. You should
define key terms such as analyte, titrant, indicator, etc. If your introduction only contains a bunch
of definitions, you will receive a zero for this section. The introduction should not be a lab
procedure. Feel free to use your textbook from the lecture as a resource in understanding and
explaining the principles underlying the lab. You should also use other sources such as scientific
journals and articles to help you write the introduction section. Be sure to cite your sources.
Procedures: This section should contain general procedures that you followed to complete the
lab written in your own word. There is NO need to go into great detail, but you need to report
enough detail that a reader understands how you completed the lab. Think about whether the
reader can complete the experiment based solely on your own procedure. Do not screenshot the
procedures from McGraw Connect and paste them on your lab report as the procedures.
Data/Observations: For most of these labs, you will record your primary data, such as weighing
measurements, volume measurements, observations of chemical reactions, in your laboratory
notebook as you are experimenting. It is very important to record the data and observations
accurately and neatly in your lab notebook. The reason is that you will use them to create
data/observations tables and or graphs for your lab report. I understand McGraw Hill Connect
provides data tables for you to record your data and assists you in creating the graphs. It is
acceptable to use screenshots of those data tables as a part of your data section. However, you
will need to recreate any graphs on your own and include them in your lab report.
Please note it is always good practice to record data in your lab notebook. Do not record any
primary data on paper towels, napkins, or scratch paper.
Copying or presenting someone else’s data as yours are considered plagiarism and academic
misconduct. It can have serious consequences.
Calculations and Results: In this section, it should contain any chemical reactions, formulas,
and calculations involved in the experiment. If the same calculation is repeated more than once,
only show an example and present the final result for the others. Pay attention to the subscript
and superscript of the chemical formulas, units, and significant figures. Do not screenshot the
reactions/calculation example from McGraw Hill Connect. You will need to type the reactions
and calculations for your lab report.
Please note: Not all experiments have a calculation section. Some experiments may have a
combined Data/Calculation section. Some may have only an Observations/ Results section. Be
sure to choose the correct format for each lab report.
Conclusion/Discussion: This section should summarize your finding and explain your results.
Remember, the data/calculation section contains numbers and the observation section contains
statements. In this section, you need to explain the meaning of these numbers and suggest
plausible reasoning for the observations. In addition, the conclusion should reflect the purpose of
the experiment and whether it was accomplished. If you identified an unknown, you would
support your claim with evidence from the experiment to show your reasoning. If the
true/theoretical value is known, make sure you determine the percent error of your experimental
value. Don’t restate the procedure in this section. Be sure to include your learning from the
experiment.
Lab reports should be typed using your computer and submitted on Canvas for grading. If you
completed an experiment but failed to submit a lab report, you would get a “ZERO” for that
experiment. Late reports will lose 20% of the points for each day they are late.
Feel free to contact your lab instructor via email or the Canvas messaging tool if you have any
questions.
All lab reports must be submitted individually unless specifically advised by the Lab instructor
to submit a joint report. Submitting lab reports with the exact same content is not advisable,
even if you two are lab partners. This is considered plagiarism and academic misconduct and
you can be prosecuted for this. We recognize that your data will be the same, however, the rest
of the lab report has to be different.
Calculations and Results: In this section, it should contain any chemical reactions, formulas,
and calculations involved in the experiment. If the same calculation is repeated more than once,
only show an example and present the final result for the others. Pay attention to the subscript
and superscript of the chemical formulas, units, and significant figures. Do not screenshot the
reactions/calculation example from McGraw Hill Connect. You will need to type the reactions
and calculations for your lab report.
Please note: Not all experiments have a calculation section. Some experiments may have a
combined Data/Calculation section. Some may have only an Observations/ Results section. Be
sure to choose the correct format for each lab report.
Conclusion/Discussion: This section should summarize your finding and explain your results.
Remember, the data/calculation section contains numbers and the observation section contains
statements. In this section, you need to explain the meaning of these numbers and suggest
plausible reasoning for the observations. In addition, the conclusion should reflect the purpose of
the experiment and whether it was accomplished. If you identified an unknown, you would
support your claim with evidence from the experiment to show your reasoning. If the
true/theoretical value is known, make sure you determine the percent error of your experimental
value. Don’t restate the procedure in this section. Be sure to include your learning from the
experiment.
Lab reports should be typed using your computer and submitted on Canvas for grading. If you
completed an experiment but failed to submit a lab report, you would get a “ZERO” for that
experiment. Late reports will lose 20% of the points for each day they are late.
Feel free to contact your lab instructor via email or the Canvas messaging tool if you have any
questions.
All lab reports must be submitted individually unless specifically advised by the Lab instructor
to submit a joint report. Submitting lab reports with the exact same content is not advisable,
even if you two are lab partners. This is considered plagiarism and academic misconduct and
you can be prosecuted for this. We recognize that your data will be the same, however, the rest
of the lab report has to be different.
