Laboratory reports are written for several reasons. One reason is to communicate the laboratory work to management.

In such situations, management often bases company decisions on the results of the report. Another reason to write laboratory reports is to archive the work so that the work will not have to be done in the future. This web page presents a commonly used organization for laboratory reports: Abstract, Introduction, Procedures, Results and Discussion, Conclusions, and Appendices. You should not assume, though, that this organization will serve all your laboratory reports. In other words, one organization does not "fit" all experiments. Rather, you should pay attention to the organization requested by your instructor who has chosen an organization that best serves your experiments.
Types of lab report
Why do we write Lab Reports? You did an experiment or study for your science class, and now you have to write it up for your teacher to review. You feel that you understood the background sufficiently, designed and completed the study effectively, obtained useful data, and can use those data to draw conclusions about a scientific process or principle. But how exactly do you write all that? What is your teacher expecting to see? To take some of the guesswork out of answering these questions, try to think beyond the classroom setting. In fact, you and your teacher are both part of a scientific community, and the people who participate in this community tend to share the same values. As long as you understand and respect these values, your writing will likely meet the expectations of your audience including your teacher. So why are you writing this research report? The practical answer is "Because the teacher assigned it," but that's classroom thinking. Generally speaking, people investigating some scientific hypothesis have a responsibility to the rest of the scientific world to report their findings, particularly if these findings add to or contradict previous ideas. As you can probably imagine, people reading such reports have two primary goals:

They want to gather the information presented. They want to know that the findings are legitimate. Your job as a writer, then, is to fulfill these two goals.

*http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/lab_report_complete.html Lab Report Types: Formal Lab Report/Independent Science Project: Students may be provided with the problem or purpose of the lab. They may also be provided with a general procedure for the experiment. Students will be expected to independently perform the procedure and complete all necessary work or calculations required in the results section. That information will be referred to in the discussion to support the conclusion that is drawn. Once the experiment, including data collection, is complete the student must write up a formal lab report, which includes the following sections: abstract (not always), introduction, materials and methods, results, and discussion. Often significant background research is required to support lab data. Structured Lab Reports: Students will be provided with the problem or purpose of the lab. They will also be provided with a procedure for the experiment. Students will be expected to perform the procedure and follow the directions provided in the results section. Students may be provided with some steps that will assist them in the analysis of their data, calculation of results, and drawing final conclusions. Once the experiment, including data collection, is complete the student may write up a lab report, which may include some of the following sections: abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, and discussion. Guided Lab Reports: Students will be provided with the problem or purpose of the lab. They will also be provided with a detailed procedure for the experiment. Students will be expected to follow the steps of the procedure and will be provided with several steps to assist them in the analysis of their data, calculation of results, and drawing final conclusions. Science reports
1. Title For a science fair, you probably want a catchy, clever title. Otherwise, try to make it an accurate description of the project. For example, I could entitle a project, 'Determining Minimum NaCl Concentration that can be Tasted in Water'. Avoid unnecessary words, while covering the essential purpose of the project. Whatever title you come up with, get it critiqued by friends, family, or teachers. 2. Introduction and Purpose Sometimes this section is called 'Background'. Whatever its name, this section introduces the topic of the project, notes any information already available, explains why you are interested in the project, and states the purpose of the project. If you are going to state references in your report, this is where most of the citations are likely to be, with the actual references listed at the end of the entire report in the form of a bibliography or reference section. 3. The Hypothesis or Question Explicitly state your hypothesis or question.

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Materials and Methods List the materials you used in your project and describe the procedure that you used to perform the project. If you have a photo or diagram of your project, this is a good place to include it. Data and Results Data and Results are not the same thing. Some reports will require that they be in separate sections, so make sure you understand the difference between the concepts. Data refers to the actual numbers or other information you obtained in your project. Data can be presented in tables or charts, if appropriate. The Results section is where the data is manipulated or the hypothesis is tested. Sometimes this analysis will yield tables, graphs, or charts, too. For example, a table listing the minimum concentration of salt that I can taste in water, with each line in the table being a separate test or trial, would be data. If I average the data or perform a statistical test of a null hypothesis, the information would be the results of the project.

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Conclusion The Conclusion focuses on the Hypothesis or Question as it compares to the Data and Results. What was the answer to the question? Was the hypothesis supported (keep in mind a hypothesis cannot be proved, only disproved)? What did you find out from the experiment? Answer these questions first. Then, depending on your answers, you may wish to explain ways in which the project might be improved or introduce new questions that have come up as a result of the project. This section is judged not only by what you were able to conclude, but also by your recognition of areas where you could not draw valid conclusions based on your data.