Lab Report Writing

Concise Language

The main reason for writing a lab report or scientific paper is to communicate the results of a scientific study to the public (or your teacher). Keeping this purpose in mind, there are some important things you want to remember when writing your lab report.

Use concise language that clearly communicates what you are trying to say. Scientists like to get straight to the facts without any distractions, so there is no need for the kind of "flowery" language you might use in a short story, poem, or personal essay. The sentences should provide enough detail so the reader knows what happened, but not so much detail that it gets overwhelming.

Answer the quiz question below to see if you can spot good scientific language.

Test Yourself (Concise Language)

Which of the following examples do you think best illustrates the concise lanuage you should use in a lab report?

a. The plants exposed to full sunlight showed amazing amounts of growth after a couple weeks.
b. The entire lab group laughed when the water spilled out of the test tube.
c. The plants exposed to full sunlight grew an average of 3 cm in 14 days, while the plants left indoors grew only 0.5 cm on average.
d. The plants grew.

Click on the question, to see the answer.

Third Person, Past Tense

Another important point about lab reports is that they should usually be written in third person, past tense. This means you should not use personal pronouns like "I" or "we." And all the procedures you used in your study should be written about as if they happened in the past. It can be a little awkward writing in the "passive voice" like this because most English classes teach that this style of writing is incorrect. But in science, we try to use language that is impersonal and objective. Some scientists are not as concerned about this rule as they used to be, but your instructor may require your lab reports to be written this way.

Test yourself to see if you can spot the best use of third person, past tense.

Test Yourself (Third Person, Past Tense)

You did an experiment in which you added 20 mL of water to a test tube.  How would you describe this inyour lab report?

a. I added 20 mL of water to a test tube.
b. 20 mL of water is added to a test tube.
c. 20 mL of water was added to a test tube.

Click on the question, to see the answer.