Guidelines for preparing lab reports

Tree Biology - FOR3342C
Instructions and guidelines for preparing lab reports
FOR 3342 Lab Report Guidelines Page 1
The laboratory exercises are designed to provide you with hands-on experience with topics covered in
lecture. As part of your grade in this course, you will be required to hand in written laboratory reports
after the completion of each exercise. All reports must be typed.
Due Dates: Lab reports will usually be due at the start of the following week's lab. The exact due date is
indicated on the syllabus and on the lab handout. No late reports will be accepted.
Grading: Each report will be graded for your comprehension of the lab exercise (50%), clarity of
presentation and communication of ideas (35%), and punctuation and grammar (15%).
If you wish, you may correct and re-submit the report for lab exercise #1for a new grade. If you choose
to do this, you must also re-submit the original, graded lab report for comparison. The corrected lab
report will be due one week after the original report is returned to you.
Write Independently: Class time lab exercises are done in groups, but writing should be done
independently. Do not copy or paraphrase others’ work without citation. Do not copy material, including
the format of data tables, from the course website. These are examples of plagiarism and will be dealt
with harshly.
Length and Content
Lab reports should be 2-3 pages long (i.e. 2-3 pages of text, excluding cover page and large figures), and
follow the following format:
1. Title page: Your name, the title and date of the lab exercise.
2. Introduction: A brief (1-3 paragraphs) introduction to the lab exercise, written in your own words,
laying out any background information necessary, and describing any hypotheses to be addressed in
the lab report.
3. Results and Discussion: Present and summarize data from the experiment in tables and / or graphs.
Describe the data and any patterns you see in well-written paragraphs. Discuss what the data
demonstrate or show about the concepts discussed in lecture and in the introductory material for the
lab.
4. Questions: Answer the questions posed in the lab handout.
More detailed guidelines:
1) Read your lab handouts and listen in lab: The lab handouts and the introductory lectures for the lab
exercises contain abundant introductory information and material that you should use as you are writing
your lab reports. Please use them.
2) Report data in tables and/or figures. Tables and figures provide a way to present large amounts of
data in an organized fashion. I will often ask you to report data collected by several lab groups. DO NOT
PRESENT “RAW” DATA in graphs or tables. When you are reporting multiple measurements of a
variable, report the MEAN and some measure of variability such as standard deviation or standard error.

FOR 3342 Lab Report Guidelines Page 2
Each table should include a heading above the table giving the table number and a brief description of the
contents of the table. Each column of data in the table should be labeled and include the units of the
measurement, where appropriate. See the table below for an example.
Table 1. Rates of net photosynthesis at various light levels for loblolly pine seedlings.
Light intensity Net Photosynthesis Rate
(umol/m 2 /s) (umol/m 2 /s)
0 -2.5
100 0.25
500 1.25
1000 2.05
2000 2.20
Figures (i.e. graphs) should include a label below the graph giving the figure number and a brief
description of the contents of the graph. Each axis should be clearly labeled with the name of the variable
and the units in which the variable is expressed. See the graph below for an example.
Net Photosynthesis Rate
(umol/m 2 /s)
3
2
1
0
-1
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Light Intensity
(umol/m 2 /s)
Figure 1. Rates of net photosynthesis at various light levels for loblolly pine seedlings.
3) Describe and discuss the data in well-written paragraphs. Arranging numbers in tables or graphs is
just the first step in presenting scientific data. By describing the data in each graph verbally in a
paragraph or two, you can point out trends in the data, highlight unusual or interesting data points, and
discuss the significance or meaning of the data. This is where the data "come to life", and is a critical part
of your lab report.
4) Answer questions completely. Answer questions in complete sentences (or paragraphs, if necessary).
5) Proofread your lab report carefully. Immediately after your report comes out of the printer, read
through it carefully, looking for misspellings the computer missed (remember that most spellcheckers
don't deal with scientific terminology very well), grammatical errors, and other typographical errors.
Imagine that a prospective employer will be reading your lab report. Would a professional resource
manager want to hire a someone who misspelled Pinus taeda?