Goal of writing a report¶
Report writing is important – for you!
In this Lab Course, you practice not only conducting experiments but also writing reports about them. When doing this, you have to arrange your data logically, summarize what you have done and develop a feeling for what is really important and what is not. Your written lab report is the natural culmination of the experimental process, enabling anyone who is interested to learn about your findings.
But writing a good lab report is much more than that. In many ways, this written account of a single experiment is very much like other scientific texts: journal articles, conference papers and so on. In terms of structure, they are all quite similar. So practising with lab reports also starts preparing you to compile those other documents. In your future scientific career, there is a good chance that you will spend a fair amount of time producing – and assessing – such papers, so you need to learn to do that well and efficiently.
That may seem a long time off, but remember too that lab reports have a very personal component. They describe what an individual has actually been doing. For the writer, producing a good report should be matter of pride. The reader of a poor report will not think much of the person responsible, whereas a good one demonstrates that the author has understood their subject and is able to convey it clearly and comprehensibly. This makes readers more likely to take that person seriously. So written reports give you the chance to make a good impression. When applying for a job, for instance, a good account of your graduation project makes for an excellent “calling card”.
This course is about writing reports of your experiments during the Introductory Laboratory Course. These experiments will be limited in scope, in that you are not making any new discoveries, but the basic principles that you learn here apply equally to simple lab reports and ground-breaking articles revealing important scientific breakthroughs.
Structure and content of a report¶
We provide a LaTeX template. If you adhere to this template, all necessary content, described below, is covered.
Title + title page:
Complete and concise. Contains no pagination errors. Provides an overall picture of the report. Front, core and back matter are numbered correctly.
Summary/abstract:
Correctly and concisely summarizes the report in the order topic, problem, method, results, discussion, conclusion in not more than 250 words. Can be read independently by someone with little time. No references.
Introduction:
Provides background information. Includes a definition of the problem, a key question and the reason for the experiment. Explains the importance of the outcome. Briefly introduces the experimental principles and method used. Briefly describes the structure of the report. Can include a boxed text.
Theoretical framework:
A brief theoretical framework is presented which is necessary to understand the experiment. It should be clear how the research question can be answered using this theoretical framework. All symbols are explained.
Experimental method:
Describes the experimental method and setup used, preferably with a clear sketch. Only a limited number of essential formulas are included, with correct references. A working formula derived from these can clarify the experiment and introduce a brief error analysis; any longer error analyses are provided in an appendix.
Results (can be combined with Discussion; tables and graphs are assessed separately):
Contains the results of the measurements explained under “Experimental method”, in the form of tables and graphs. These are introduced in the text. The reader is informed of the outcome. In a short report, a discussion of the results can follow immediately (see “Discussion”). The number of significant figures is correct for the error found. Good distinction between main text and any appendices; the main text can be read without referring to the appendices. Appendices are numbered and the main text contains references to them.
Discussion (can be combined with Results):
The results actually obtained are compared correctly with those expected or obtained in previous experiments. Discusses or suggests the likely causes of any anomalies. Describes the implications of the results in a way that shows that the student understands the topic.
Conclusion (and recommendations, if relevant):
Answers the key questions. Conclusions follow naturally from the contents of the previous sections and are presented concisely but fully. Any recommendations follow on logically from the conclusions. Can be read as a text in its own right. Contains no references.
Literature/References:
Entries comply with the format requirements. Contains only titles referred to in the text, and contains all of them.
Figures (graphs):
Figures are numbered, are referred to in the text and do not have a title. Comprehensible in black and white. Include an informative caption (underneath). Axes are labelled with value symbols, units and possibly some text. Symbols and lines are explained in the caption, and preferable not in a legend. Error flags are either included or their absence is discussed. Scale marks (“ticks”) are legible. Only multiples of 1, 2 or 5 are used, with axes preferably including an “0” point. Figures are not “print screen” cut and paste.
Tables:
Tables are numbered, are referred to in the text and have an informative caption (above). Rows and columns are clearly “headed” with symbols and units. None contain constant values. (The number of significant figures is assessed under “Results”.) Tables with no more than 5 measurements should be within the text. Tables with more than 5 measurements should be given in the Appendix.
Structure of writing¶
Writing a report is difficult. Many students struggle with it. We can not teach you how to write a report within a three-week course. However, we can provide some tips.
Try to reverse engineer writing the report. That is to say, start with the conclusion, the claim you want to make and are able to defend. It can be very short: In this free-fall experiment, the gravitational acceleration is found to be 9.813 ± 0.002 m/s2, what is in strong agreement with the literature value of 9.812 ± 0.002 m/s2. If that is the claim you can and want to defend in the study, you can figure out what graphs and calculations (results section) is to be provided to have peers agree with you. Write, in bullet point format, what graphs will be included, what you will say about the graphs, what additional calculations are provided etc.
Then it is probably time to write, again in bullet point format, the introduction. Use the V-shape structure, i.e., introduce the topic of interest in a general way, making clear how it is important to many. As the introduction proceeds, it should become more and more specific and end to the specific issue addressed in the study.
Since you have analyzed your data, you will be able to provide the theoretic content that is required to understand the experiment. This should not be a big problem to write down.
In the method section you write down what you did, but more important, why you made specific choices (range / interval / measurement instruments). In other words, substantiate every choice and elaborate why other choices result in less reliable/valid data or were not an option. This might be a limitation in financial resources, time constraints, limitations to the given equipment, etc.
Resources¶
The best resource is probably the TA. However, the available time is limited. Provide an discuss an outline as quickly as possible. Do not produce many pages of text if there is no agreement on what should be in the report.
There are other resources as well, we provide some:
Reporting results van Van Aken & Hosford provide a concise book with unwritten rules of presenting results. The book also provides a clear overview of measurement and uncertainty.
A guide to effective writing offers guidelines for various texts. Although the focus is on Industrial Design, the essence of writing a clear and concise report is the same.
Nature Physics offers, as many other journals, a list of requirements addressing text, length, figures, tables, lay-out etc. You can click on submit article and see the author’s guidelines.
Physics review: provides as well a list of requirements and guidelines.
Checks¶
There are two scheduled day-parts were you ought to work in the first report. The first day-part is voluntary, you can agree with your partner to work at home. However, the second day-part has a mandatory aspect. You need to show your report or draft version at least once to a TA. The TA will help you by providing feedback. This prevents you from making often made mistakes or mistakes that could be easily avoided, such as forgetting to write a clear, concise subscript for each figure.