Appendix E

Indiana University Department of Chemistry Laboratory Report Guide

As a chemistry student you will be required to write laboratory reports for some or all of the
experiments you perform. The reader of a well written lab report should understand why the
experiment was performed, how the experiment was performed and what the results of the
experiment were and what they mean The lab report consists of several sections which are
described below. They should appear in your report in the order in which they are discussed.

Header Contains all pertinent information (e.g. name, section, date, AI, lab partner, etc.)
related to lab report.

Objective This is a two or three sentence statement of the goal of the lab experiment.

Introduction The introduction should explain why the goal of the experiment is desirable,
should explain the chemistry underlying the experiment, should introduce the reader to all
special equations that will be used to analyze the data and the theory behind them, and should
describe specific techniques that are going to play a role in the experiment. The introduction may
be used to give a historical context to the experiment.

Experimental Procedure- The experimental procedure should include a list of all chemicals
used during the experiment, a list of other materials used, and a list of specialized equipment that
is used in the lab. In the case of electronic instrumentation the make and model number of the
device should be provided.

Results- This section includes tables or graphical representations of data, sample calculations
and always includes a written section, in paragraph, form of the results and observations of the
experiment. Every table of data, graph, or calculation presented in the result section should be
talked about in the written section, but you do not try to interpret the results in this section.

Discussion- In this section you interpret your results, evaluate the relevance of your results,
analyze the sources of error in your experiment, and place your results in context of previous
results found in the literature.

Conclusion- Three to four sentences relating the results and discussion to the objective of the
experiment.

References- A numbered list of the sources you used to prepare your report. For a book the
citation should include the author or authors, the title of the text, the edition, the publisher, and
the pages on which the relevant information can be found. For a journal article the citation
should include the authors, the name of the journal, the volume number, the year and page
numbers of the article. Corresponding superscripted numbers are used in the body of the text to

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indicate what information is from what source. If a reference isnt cited in the text it should not
be in this list.

Writing Conventions and Style

1. Be sure to divide paragraphs correctly and to use starting and ending sentences that
indicate the purpose of the paragraph. A report or a section of a report should not be one
long paragraph.
2. The accepted standard for scientific papers is use of third person (do not use I or
we) and past tense (since the experiment was already completed!).
I weighed out 25.0 grams of NaOH. (incorrect)
25.0 grams of NaOH was weighed out. (correct)

3. Avoid the use of slang and the overuse of contractions.

The results were messed up. (incorrect)

The results did not agree with theory. (correct)

4. Use the metric system of measurements. Abbreviations of units are used without a
following period.
5. Numbers should be written as numerals when they are greater than ten or when they are
associated with measurements; for example, 6 mm or 2 g but two explanations of six
factors. When one list includes numbers over and under ten, all numbers in the list may
be expressed as numerals; for example, 17 sunfish, 13 bass, and 2 trout. Never start a
sentence with numerals. Spell all numbers beginning sentences.

Audience:

Your writing should be directed at students who have already done the experiment and thus have
knowledge of basic laboratory procedures. You can assume that your audience is familiar with
techniques such as preparing solutions or weighing a sample.

An appropriate excerpt from an experimental section is as follows:

Standard sugar solutions in the concentration range 4-16% (wt./vol) were used to calibrate the
hydrometer.

An inappropriate excerpt is as follows:

The 4% (wt./vol) solution was prepared by adding 4 grams of sugar to a volumetric flask then
adding water until the flask was nearly full. Then a Pasteur pipet was used to add the water
dropwise until the bottom end of the meniscus reached the mark. The other solutions were
prepared in the same manner but 8g was used to make the 8%, 12 g was used to make the 12%
and 16 g was used to make the 16%.

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This excerpt is inappropriate because it provides too much detail on how to prepare the solutions.
Anyone who has performed the experiment should be able to repeat the procedure from the
simple one sentence description given above.

References

This section lists all articles or books cited in your report. It is not the same as a bibliography,
which simply lists references regardless of whether they were cited in the paper. The listing
should follow American Chemical Society (ACS) style and format. Details on this format can be
found at the following link.

https://pubs.acs.org/userimages/ContentEditor/1246030496632/chapter14.pdf

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone elses work, including the work of other students, as
ones own. Any ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must
be fully acknowledged, unless the information is common knowledge. What is considered
common knowledge may differ from course to course.

a. A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, opinions, theories, formulas, graphics, or pictures
of another person without acknowledgment.
b. A student must give credit to the originality of others and acknowledge whenever:

1. Directly quoting another persons actual words, whether oral or written;

2. Using another persons ideas, opinions, or theories;
3. Paraphrasing the words, ideas, opinions, or theories of others, whether oral or written;
4. Borrowing facts, statistics, or illustrative material; or
5. Offering materials assembled or collected by others in the form of projects or collections
without acknowledgment."

(quoted from Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct, Part II, Student
Responsibilites, Academic Misconduct, By action of the University Faculty Council (April 12,
2005) and the Trustees of Indiana University (June 24, 2005).)

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