Laboratory work is a task for the student in which the necessary condition is the implementation of practical actions. This type of work is used for better assimilation of the material covered. All actions performed in the course of laboratory work are recorded in a special report, which is drawn up in accordance with certain standards and requirements. Laboratory work makes it possible to better assess the level of student preparation and to use the acquired theoretical knowledge in practice.
Effective learning involves some kind of activity to solve scientific or life problems. And laboratory work is one of the varieties of independent practical exercises for students of specialized institutions. It helps to better understand the theoretical material and develop the skills of initiative experience.
The main task of laboratory work is to stimulate the intellectual activity of students, form certain skills and teach the methodology of practical work. Exercise is the main part of the practice. In the end, students need to write a lab report. But if you don’t know how to write it or don’t have time for this, get help from a lab report writing service. A writer will write a sample that you can use for writing your own lab report. It will help you to save time.
Table of Contents
Features of the structure of a laboratory report
Those works that are carried out for students at school often do not have a large number of requirements. But the format of a laboratory report for students of higher educational institutions should be done in accordance with common requirements. Another basis for formatting is the methodological instructions of your educational institution. The laboratory report consists of several parts:
- Title page. Here the data of the student and teacher and information regarding the university and department are indicated. The place and year of creating a lab report are written at the bottom.
- Table of contents. The presented part lists all sections, both theoretical and practical.
- It lists brief information regarding the paper itself, the purpose of the laboratory work, describes the methods for conducting experiments, and the execution process.
- Main part. This includes theoretical and practical sections, with a description of the results of laboratory work and their further analysis.
- It summarizes the results of the work and draws the corresponding conclusions.
- List of used literature.
There are some rules for the format of a laboratory report, which will be discussed in our material. If we talk about the content of the paper, then this includes the introduction, the main part, and the conclusion. The introduction should disclose the relevance of the practical work carried out, provide a general description and note the benefits obtained by using these results in practice. A very important point will be to indicate the areas of activity in which the results of this laboratory work will be used. The introduction also indicates the subject and object of the study and substantiates the relevance of the work and the goals that the student wants to achieve in the course of the experimental task.
The main part of the paper is divided into two parts – theoretical and practical. The first is filled with a material with which you can better understand the chosen topic, do the work at a high level and get the necessary results. The practical part of the paper describes in more detail the preparatory part of the process and the progress of all actions.
The conclusion, as mentioned above, provides a summary. In a short form, the student must indicate the results of the work and which goals are met and which are not. The value of the study is also noted.
General requirements for formatting
Font
According to common requirements, the text of the paper is drawn up on a white sheet of A4 format and is located on one side. Use the Times New Roman font, size 12 or 14. A sample of a lab report is usually published on the website of the university, where you can see what font to use.
Indentation
To format a report in a standard Word text editor, you need to set the correct intervals. Open the main toolbar in the “Paragraph” field. Use the intention specified in the requirements of your educational institution. All text should be justified.
Headings
The names of all required fragments of text are the headings:
- Introduction.
- Conclusion.
- Definitions.
- List of references and so on.
The numbers of subsections and paragraphs contain the section number and the number of the subsection/paragraph and are separated by a dot. The number is followed by the name of the structural element of the paper. For example, “1.1 History of Art”. If there are two sentences in the heading, then a dot is placed only between them – after the second, it should not be. You can’t use hyphens in headings. They can be bolded.
Pagination
Start pagination with the number 2. Pages are numbered in Arabic numerals in the center of the bottom of the page without a dot. For the convenience of page numbering in the document, the title page can be placed in a separate file.
Graphic material
For drawings, photographs, and tables, there are also special format conditions. They are regulated by common requirements. Graphic materials in your lab report should be inserted following the requirements:
- line thickness and font in tables;
- image width;
- type of graphic elements. Images and tables should follow the text that refers to them.
Graphic elements should be aligned to the center of the page. The name of the image is written after the word “Figure,” for example, Figure 1 – Diagram of the device. The text is centered on the page.
The content of the table should be clear from the name of the table. The name is placed on the left above the table in one line with the number. For example, Table 1.1 – Information units. More detailed requirements for the format of tables are contained in the manual of your educational institution.
Errors in the format of a laboratory report
As follows from the common requirements and guidelines, when preparing a report, you need to take into account a lot of details. But due to inattention, students make a number of mistakes:
- They do not complete the work to the fullest; for example, they do not use graphs or diagrams.
- Error values are entered into the tables.
- They violate the requirements for the format of graphic materials or recording the results of the experiment.
- Do not measure.
- Make mistakes in calculations.
- They get wrong results and draw conclusions that contradict reality.
If you want to format a report correctly, ask for its template at the department in advance. Carefully study the accepted lab reports of other students.
