Laboratory Report Format for Physics

All formal lab reports should be clearly written in either black or blue ink or they should be word-processed. They should be neat and easy to read. Lab reports are an important part of your grade. They constitute as much as one third of your grade during the second marking period. Formal Lab Reports are worth 20 pts. The writing style for lab reports is report style. This means that you should be impersonal and factual. Opinions based on analysis of the data can only be expressed in the Analysis of Data section of the report. Opinions should not be expressed anywhere else in the report. Your feelings about the lab are not part of a report. You can express them as an addendum at the end of the report if you wish. Start with a title that gives the reader some idea as to what principal was being investigated. Titles should be approximately three to five words in length. They should not be a complete sentence. I Purpose: Your purpose statement should be one or two sentences and should tell the reader what the independent and dependant variables were for the lab where appropriate. The purpose should what relationship was being investigated. For example, in the first lab that we did, you might say; To determine the relationship between position and time for a cart moving on an inclined plane. Or To analyze the graph of position vs. time for a cart moving on an inclined plane. The purpose is important and if omitted will cost you 2-3 points on your grade for the lab. II Procedure: This can also be referred to as Methods. It is a brief description of the steps involved in collecting the data. It can include diagrams or sketches that illustrate the process. Hand drawn sketches with cartoons and faces are always appreciated. III Data: This section contains tables of values collected in class and graphs constructed from the data collected. It should also include calculations, such as slope, percent error, etc., that need to be made in order to analyze the data. IV Analysis: This section is divided into three sections. A) Theoretical Analysis. This is where the student explains the underlying physics principles that need to be understood in order to make sense out of the laboratory investigation. It can include force diagrams and mathematical steps needed to analyze systems. Normally, this information is covered in class shortly before the lab investigation is conducted. Taking good notes in class becomes important to writing a good theoretical analysis. The textbook is also a good resource of obtaining information needed to write a good coherent analysis.

B) Analysis of Errors: This section is usually both a qualitative and quantitative

analysis of the various types of errors that affect the data being collected. Students need to carry their explanation of error into their calculations of data. For example, if a timing error for a cart moving on a surface is made, then the velocity being calculated will be affected. Students need to explain how an error in timing in a given direction affects the velocity, etc.

C) Analysis of Data: This is where students interpret the data collected and form
valid generalizations based on the interpretation of that data. Analysis of data always ends with generalizations made as conclusions based on data interpretation.