LAB REPORT RUBRICS
General Instructions:
- All labs must be written in pencil and be submitted to the teacher in a spiral notebook.
- Always use third person (NO personal pronouns — me, I, you, we, etc.) when writing all parts of a lab report. (USE HE, SHE, THEY, THEIR, THEM, ETC.
- The following things should be written clearly in marker on the front cover — “Subject” Lab Notebook, teacher name, student name, period.
- Number each page of the spiral notebook in the lower right hand corner.
- On Page 1, write the subject, year, student name, class period, and teacher name.
- Page 2 should have “Table of Contents” written at the top and two columns, one for “Page” and the other for “Lab Title”.
- Begin writing the first lab on page 3 of you notebook. DO NOT WRITE ON THE BACK OF YOUR PAPER!
- SKIP A LINE BETWEEN EVERY SECTION!
- TITLE and UNDERLINE each section & then begin writing on the NEXT LINE!
Your lab report should be written using the following format: (Be sure to left align & underline headings)
Title (center on top line; on the right of line 2, put date & lab #)
The title should indicate clearly & concisely the subject and scope of the report.
Introduction – 20 points (PARAGRAPH FORM)
- The introduction should give background information about the experiment.
- It should also state the purpose of the investigation.
- This section will be two or more paragraphs in length.
Hypothesis – 20 points (SINGLE SENTENCE)
- The hypothesis should be a single statement telling the exact thing you are trying to prove in your experiment.
- NEVER write this statement using “first person”. Write the hypothesis in past tense (third person.)
Materials – 5 points (SINGLE SENTENCE)
- This section should be written in sentence form and name all of the materials and equipment used.
- Be sure to include specific amounts and concentrations of chemicals used.
- Start the statement, “The materials used include _____, _____, etc.”
Methods (Procedure)- 5 points (STEPS; NUMBER)
- This section includes the step-by-step procedures used.
- The procedure should be so thorough that someone else could use your listed materials and procedures to conduct the same experiment and get the same results.
Results (Data & Questions) – 20 points
- All data should be collected and organized in a logical order. Results should be illustrated as charts, tables, graphs, &/or diagrams. All graphs should include a title, the independent variable labeled on the horizontal axis, and the dependent variable labeled on the vertical axis.
- All lab questions and answers should be included also with this section. ( NUMBER & UNDERLINE the questions & then write, but DON’T UNDERLINE the answers)
- SKIP ONE LINE BETWEEN EACH QUESTION!
Error Analysis
- Include any important factors that you think may have actually affected your results.
Discussion and Conclusion – 30 points
Discussion is the most important part of your report, because here, you show that you understand the experiment beyond the simple level of completing it.!!
- Your conclusion MUST CONTAIN YOUR SUPPORTING DATA!
- This is where you give a detailed account of what happened in the experiment.
- Explain all observations and results in your experiment.
- Analyze and interpret why these results were obtained.
- Be sure to tell the significance or meaning of the results.
- Restate the original hypothesis and explain whether the experiment succeeded. If the hypothesis was not correct, you should analyze why the results were not as predicted.
- Explain experimental errors that appear in the results.
QUESTIONS MUST BE ANSWERED & CONCLUSION WRITTEN TO RECEIVE LAB CREDIT!
Additional help with Conclusions
CLICK HERE FOR NOTEBOOK COPY OF WRITING LAB REPORTS
Click here for Notebook paper Layout of Lab
