Lab Report Requirements Please print off and read the lab instructions before coming to the lab! The goal of the Lab Report is the accurate description of your experimental investigation. Lab Reports are to be written individually. They should represent your thoughts and understanding of the experiment. Each Laboratory Report must include the following: Heading • Your name • The name of your lab partner(s) • Your section • The lab number (Lab #1, Lab #2, etc.) and title Introduction A few (at least two) sentences describing the objectives of the lab. Label each section of the lab the same way and the same order that it is given in the lab. Each segment of the lab must include your Procedure, Results, and Discussion. Procedure Describe your experimental procedure in your own words and in enough detail that someone who does not have the lab instructions could repeat your experiment exactly. Include pictures/diagrams of your set-up. Label each item so that the TA knows what it is. Results s • Measurements Show your actual results. Include any numerical data you have taken and display them appropriately in graphs, tables, etc. Organize this section so that it is clear which section of the lab the measurements are from. When the lab instructions say “graph” or “plot,” the graphs should be computer generated; when the lab instructions say “sketch,” your plot may be drawn by hand. Label everything with appropriate units. • CalculationsDescribe and calculate the expected/theoretical results of the experiment. Show any work done for calculations. Label everything with appropriate units. When possible, calculate the theoretical (expected) values for experimental measurements. Whenever you know both the theoretical and experimental values, calculate the Percent Error. You should organize this section so that it is clear what section of the lab you are performing calculations for. Discussion • Questions Be sure to answer all questions for each segment of the lab. When answering questions from the lab instructions, paraphrase the question before answering it, and make sure that it is clear which section of the lab the question came from. • Analysis What results did you expect from the lab? Talk about why your experiment did or did not work as expected. If you calculated the Percent Error for something, discuss possible sources of experimental error. Discuss any external factors that may have influenced the values you got for your measurement. Conclusion Summarize the key points of the lab. Draw appropriate conclusions from each section of the lab. Discuss what you learned about the subject. Other things to note: • Label sections with titles, not with simple numbers or letters. For instance, name the section “Conclusion” rather than “4”. • All figures and tables used should be appropriately labeled. • All calculation must be supported by the formulas and values used to derive them. Any calculation where it is not clear how you derived the answer, e.g., values are not labeled appropriately, units are missing or incomplete, or the answer is incorrect may result in deducted points. • If you observe significant error percentages (see below) between your calculated and experimental values and you can identify and report the likely sources of error, this is good! On the other hand, if you make no attempt to justify a significant error percentage, then you will lose points. Accepting large experimental error without justification is contradictory to the learning objectives of the lab: how to do credible experimental research.• When you write about what you expect to observe, please do yourself more justice than “I did not know what to expect”. If you’ve attended lectures and read the pre-lab material, you’ll have plenty with which to make an educated guess based on your scientific intuition. Formulating the questions that the experiment is designed to answer is part of learning how to do this. • Organization is important. If your lab report is well organized, the reader should be able to find the information they are looking for in under 20 seconds. Make extensive use of sections, subsections, tables, lists and labels. Please do not structure your report like an essay, because it becomes extremely difficult for a reader to quickly extract information • Every person is required to write their own lab report. Helpful Tip: Calculating Percentage Error When finding the percentage error of a measurement, you are comparing an ideal or expected value - typically found from an ideal circumstances calculation - with what you actually measured: %Error = 100*(Measured – Expected) / Expected • A negative percentage error implies that you’ve underestimated the expected value. • A percentage error of 100% should mean that you’ve measured a value that was exactly twice the ideal value. Yes, you can have a percentage error that is bigger than 100%. We hope not but: If it is apparent that you have copied from another person’s lab report, all students involved will lose all points for copied