Use Standard Written English; avoid slang. This means using proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Scientific writing often entails the use of passive voice; if you are unfamiliar with this style, look at a handful of papers available free on the library website.
Give the full names of your lab partners, if any. Capitalize the title of the report, and leave a blank line after, before continuing with the text.
Write exactly what YOU did. If the experiment calls for 1.0 g of tin, and you did not weigh out exactly 1.0000000 g of tin, do not say so. Write that you weighed out (for example) 1.0285 g tin. If the solvent for the reaction has been changed, your failure to note this in your report will persuade me that you were not listening carefully to directions.
If the experiment was a computer simulation, say so. Note that a computer might simulate an experiment, but it doesn't imitate one.
Very important: Copying another student's text word-for-word is plagiarism (aka cheating), and will result in an F for the course. Lab partners may freely share their data, but not their text, figures, or graphs.
The purpose of an experiment is to answer some scientific question, not to make a graph.
When a table extends over several pages, headings are required on each page, each follwed by "continued" or "cont'd". Give descriptive titles for graphs. Merely listing x vs. y is worthless; the reader can easily determine this himself by looking at the coordinate labels. Therefore, label the coordinate axes properly. The units are listed by putting a slash (/) and then the name of the unit. Angles, for example, can be measured in degrees or radians, so you must tell the reader which one was used.
If applicable, determine the limiting reagent. If you improperly determine the limiting reagent, your theoretical and percent yields will be incorrect.
Each graph should be given its own number, so that it can be unambiguously referred to in the text. They are labelled Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.
Tables must be carefully labelled at each heading, and the table itself must be numbered, e.g. Table 2 - The Number of Alpha Particles Scattered as Function of Incident Parameter.
© 2004, 2005 by Lawrence T. Sein. All rights reserved.
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