What is Chemistry Lab Report Format

Lab reports are an important part of all college laboratory courses and usually, account for a significant part of your grade. Students who study chemistry spend most of their time writing lab reports which are rather challenging tasks as they require strong analytical and writing skills. This short guide will explain some major issues in writing chemistry lab reports and provides you with some writing tips about accepted conventions and appropriate style for general chemistry as well as some tips for writing an organic chemistry lab report. A chemistry lab report is a written version of the experiment that you performed in the laboratory. After you have finished a lab experiment, and have gathered all the essential information and any additional data from different analytical instruments in your notebook, you have to write a lab report about your results. The main goal of writing lab reports is to describe exactly what happened in an experiment you have performed or your observation and analyze the results. A formal lab report in chemistry organizes and clarifies the data that can be found in detailed lab notes, and adds some background information and a more detailed discussion about the results that were achieved during the experiments. You should convey your information and the conclusions that you have made to other people so that they can understand. That’s why you must follow certain formalities. This is why this piece of writing is called a formal report. If you are not sure how to write a chemistry report, here is a general format for a lab report you can use. It usually includes the following sections: The abstract is a brief summary of the lab report which includes information about the goals of the experiment, the methods that were used, the results, and the major conclusions. The introduction describes the problem of your research and gives background information to provide a context, contains the statement of purpose and the hypothesis. The materials and methods section gives a detailed description of experimental procedures so that everyone could replicate the experiment. The results section includes the data that have been collected and summarizes them with tables, text, charts, and figures. The discussion section explains why the results are important, summarizes the findings, and suggests their theoretical implications. The conclusion section provides a concise summary of what exactly was done and how it was done as well as the results of the experiments and your own conclusions. The references section gives a list of books and articles that were cited in different sections of your lab report. Here are some general chemistry lab report tips: Keep in mind that analytical chemistry lab report should convey what you have done during your experiment or observation in a concise, well-organized, and easy to read manner. You should write your report in the past tense and use the passive non-personal voice. All the above-mentioned sections should be clearly labeled and present the relevant information. You should write in complete sentences with proper sentence structure and correct grammar. Calculations, equations, and structures can be written by hand even in the typed report. The ACS citation style is commonly used for writing academic works in chemistry. Need Help with Organic Chemistry Lab Report? Writing lab reports in organic chemistry differs from the way is usually performed in general chemistry. The goal of any lab course in organic chemistry is to teach students the main record keeping methods that are commonly used in research labs. There are two types of reports that are usually assigned in an organic chemistry lab course: lab reports that are records of experiments conducted in the lab and special assignments that are to be completed outside the laboratory. Lab reports in organic chemistry have a set format. They can refer to physical experiments and chemical synthesis experiments. Physical experiments may be of two types: purification techniques or separations and characterization techniques. Lab reports for chemical synthesis refer to experiments where students have to prepare substance from certain starting materials which involves a chemical reaction. Synthesis lab reports must always include chemical equations. Many students find chemistry, especially organic chemistry, challenging. You have to learn a lot of structures and equations to succeed in writing good chemistry lab reports. Besides, you should write lab reports that are proper in style and error-free. If you are still not certain that you can complete your numerous chemistry lab reports on your own, you can take advantage of hiring a professional writer on our custom paper writing service and order a model lab report in chemistry. Your custom lab report can serve you as a practical guide that will help you understand how to write a chemistry lab report that deserves a high grade. Our experienced writers have knowledge and skills to cope with any challenging chemistry topic and provide you with a perfect sample you can follow.