All practical reports should

include your name, your

partner’s name, the date
Writing a laboratory report. One or two short sentences that
and the title of the
describe the reason for doing the
experiment. Name: Alexander Leach
Why write a laboratory report? experiment. It will often begin
with:
Scientists perform experiments to find out To find out … Soluble or insoluble?
To investigate …
answers to their questions. When their Date: 11/3/09 Partner: James Stewart
To compare …
experiments are completed, a report is To make … Aim: To investigate the solubility of a range of substances.
written to tell others about their work.
Materials & Methods: As per textbook p35 (Nardelli, 2004).
It is important that these reports are written using
the correct format, in order to ensure that Results:
all the important information is included. Substance mixed with Solution (soluble) or
A list of all the chemicals & equipment Clear or cloudy?
water suspension (insoluble)
To help you write your laboratory used, together with the set of steps you
followed to do the experiment, including
reports correctly, follow the Salt clear solution
any special safety precautions. The
guidelines given on this page. method needs to be clear enough so that Sugar clear solution
anyone reading the report would be able
to repeat your experiment. If you are Flour cloudy suspension
exactly repeating a published method,
Coffee clear solution
you may be able to cite the source
rather than write out the full method Sand cloudy/clear (initially suspension
cloudy, but settled on
bottom over time)

Measurements and Copper sulfate clear solution

observations made during
Copper carbonate cloudy suspension
the experiment. These are
often recorded in a table or
on a graph.
Discussion:
1. Salt, sugar, coffee and copper sulfate all dissolved in water.
What your results show and a
2. You can tell if a substance has dissolved by looking at the mixture. If it is
possible explanation of them.
cloudy or there is sediment on the bottom, then the substance has not
Any difficulties you had or
dissolved. If the mixture is clear then it has dissolved.
ideas for improving the
experiment may also be 3. Mixtures of flour, sand and copper carbonate could all be separated by filtration.
written in this section.
Conclusion: We investigated the solubility of several substances in water, and found that
salt, sugar, coffee and copper sulfate were all soluble. Flour, sand and copper carbonate
were all insoluble in water. If a substance dissolves in water the mixture will be clear. If a
substance does not dissolve in water it will form a cloudy suspension, and may eventually
A short statement
settle to the bottom.
describing what you found
out. The conclusion relates Reference: Nardelli, D. (2004). Science Alive 1. Brisbane: John Wiley & Sons.
back to the aim.

If you use material or information

that is directly based on the work
of another writer, then you should
always make reference to it.