Laboratory Report Guidelines

Report Format:

1. Title page
2. Background and Theory
3. Experimental Materials and Procedure
4. Results
5. Discussion
6. References
7. Appendices

Title page:

The title page should include the title of the laboratory report, list of authors, start date of
experiment, university name, department name, course number, and course section. The title of
the report should be short (typically less than ten words) and provide insight to the research. An
example of a title for CEE 370 is “Laboratory Report #1: Stream Flow”.

Background and Theory:

Introduce the topic of the laboratory by providing background information regarding the theory
(including necessary equations) and relevance in the broader research field. Discuss the purpose,
objectives, and hypothesis for the research. The “Background and Theory” section should
provide information necessary for the reader to understand the results. All information
referenced from literature must be cited.

Experimental Materials and Procedure:

The experimental procedure describes the methods used to perform each research objective and
should be written in paragraph form. Materials should be mentioned and described if necessary
within the appropriate procedure. Analytical methods and laboratory parameters are described.
All methods should be sufficient for another research to duplicate but written succinctly. Any
referred published method must be cited.

Results:

Data obtained from relevant experiments are presented in paragraph form with applicable
figures, tables, and equations. Major findings are described.
Discussion:

The data obtained are analyzed for important statistical trends and compared to theory. The
meaning and importance of the data are evaluated. Sources of error should be discussed and
calculated if applicable. If results do not match theory or expected values, comment on why this
may have happened and what could be done in the future to limit the variance. The discussion
section also includes the answers to relevant questions often provided for a laboratory write-up
and draws significant conclusions from the data collected.

References:

The references section includes a full bibliography of all sources referenced or referred to in the
report. The purpose of the references section is to give credit to the researchers who provided
their knowledge for the basis of your work. Only reliable sources should be referenced in the
report. Reliable sources include peer-reviewed journal articles, academic works, and “trusted”
websites including government and academic sources.

Appendices:

Supporting information that may not be necessary to include in the results portion of the report
are typically included in the appendices. Examples include tables, figures, and equations which
readers may want to reference if they are looking for more information from the results section.
Each appendix should be grouped according to topic, i.e. figures from literature, extensive
laboratory results, or derivations leading to a main equation.

Formatting:

All laboratory reports must be typed using Times New Roman 12 pt font with one inch margins.
Each page must be numbered accordingly. All equations, figures, and tables must be numbered
sequentially. Each table and figure must be titled. Labels for figures are written below the figure
and labels for tables are written above the table. An example of the formatting of equations,
tables, and figures is below:
𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚
𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 𝐶ℎ𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 � 𝐿
� = 𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 𝐶ℎ𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 � 𝐿
� − 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 𝐶ℎ𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 � 𝐿
� (Equation 1)
Table 1. Free, total, and combined chlorine concentrations by dose of chlorine added accounting
for dilution

Chlorine Dose Total Chlorine Free Chlorine Combined Chlorine

(mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L)
1 0.97 0.33 0.64
2 2.625 0.28 2.345
3 3.325 0.47 2.855
4 3.775 0.85 2.925
5 3.375 1.05 2.325
6 3.25 1.225 2.025
8 3.3 1.65 1.65

9
Chlorine Concentration (mg/L)

8
7
6
5 Total Chlorine
4 Free Chlorine
3 Combined Chlorine

2 Applied Chlorine

1
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Chlorine Dose (mg/L)

Figure 1. Residual chlorine curve

All appendices must be ordered alphabetically and titled appropriately.

All referenced material in text must be cited with the format of the author(s) last name followed
by a comma and the year of the reference according to APA referencing format. When
referencing a reference with two authors, the two last names are cited. When referencing a
reference with more than two authors, the first author’s last name is cited followed by “et al.”.
The following are examples of in-text references/citations:
One author:

(Reckhow, 2015)

Two authors:

(Reckhow & Tobiason, 2015)

More than two authors:

(Reckhow et al., 2015).

When using one sentence from a source, the reference is included within the sentence. When
there is more than one sentence with credit from a source, the reference is included outside of the
sentence. The following are examples of reference placement:

One sentence referred:

These primary forms of chlorine for disinfection include hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and
hypochlorite ion (OCl-) (Droste, 1997).

“Chlorine dioxide gas is highly explsive at partial pressures exceeding 0.1 atm in air and thus
cannot be compressed or store commercially” (Benjamin & Lawler, 2013).

Multiple sentences referred:

Continued addition of chlorine will create a surplus of hypochlorite ion and hypochlorous acid,
this is known as free chlorine residual. Free and combined residuals can be summed to find the
total chlorine residual of the water. These residuals server as the secondary, or long term,
disinfectant of the water. (Droste, 1997)

A bibliography must be included in the “References” section. At minimum, each reference in the
bibliography should include the authors, title of work, publication date, source, and page
numbers. Citations should be listed alphabetically by last name of the first author. An example of
a proper citation is below:

Davis, Mackenzie; Masten, Susan. (2009). Principles of Environmental Engineering and

Science, Second Edition; McGraw-Hill: 437-441.

Multiple references, different publications:

(Reckhow et al., 2006; Benjamin and Lawler; 2013).