PERMANENT PAPER
Short-Form Lab Report - Student Template
Title – this is the name of the lab investigation you are doing. You may be given the title, or may be expected
to create your own. When creating your own, choose something that describes the overall lab idea.
Pre-lab –In instances where you are given a lab introduction or background information, you will answer any
pre-lab questions in complete sentences.
Purpose / Problem – If this information is not provided to you by your teacher, then you will write a
statement of the overall purpose of the lab, or describe the problem you are trying to solve.
Hypothesis – The hypothesis is a statement that includes your prediction for what will happen and why. Your
hypothesis should be written in a format that includes the cause, effect, and rationale for the results of your
experiment.
If I add more fertilizer to a plant, then it will grow faster because it is provided with more nutrients.
Note: Not all labs will have a hypothesis. This will be based on the type and purpose of the lab investigation.
Procedure – In this section, you will write a short paragraph summary of how you conducted the experiment if
asked to do so. Other readers should be able to understand the main points of how the investigation was
carried out without having to read the entire procedure.
Data / Results / Calculations – This section will include any and all data tables, as well as any calculations.
Data can be qualitative (observational) or quantitative (measurements) and should be organized in the form of
drawings, data tables, charts, or graphic organizers. All tables should be titled and clearly labeled.
Measureable data should include all units.
Observation data should utilize meaningful descriptions and scientific terminology, when possible.
See the handout Data Tables and Graphing for more specific details on creating data tables.
Some labs may require you to record drawings for your data. See the handout How to Set Up Lab Drawings
for specific details about lab drawing requirements.
This section will also include any required graphs. All graphs should be labeled and have a title. Not all labs will
have graphs. See the handout Data Tables and Graphing for specific details on creating graphs.
Finally, this section will include any and all required calculations. All calculations should be organized so that
they are easy to read and the “answer” is shown. You may or may not have calculations to complete for your
lab.
Analysis – This section will include a short summary of the information from your data table(s) / graphs,
and/or calculations, focusing on relationships, patterns, trends, changes, etc. Your teacher may provide you
with guiding points to discuss in a paragraph, or with guiding questions to answer individually. Regardless, all
responses should be written in complete sentences and should require you to refer to your Data / Results
section. Incorporate specific data points in your analysis when possible.
Conclusion – This section will include a summary of what you have learned in the lab, what happened, and
why. Your teacher may provide you with guiding points to discuss in your conclusion. If not, you should begin
your conclusion paragraph by restating your hypothesis, if you had one. Discuss whether or not the results of
the lab supported or rejected your hypothesis, and explain why. If the lab did not include a hypothesis, then a
restatement of the lab purpose along with a summary of how the lab modeled that purpose should be
included. You should also draw a conclusion of what happened and why. For labs that do not support a true
conclusion, then this section will include a paragraph summary of what you learned in the lab.
Note: The required parts of the short-form lab report will vary, depending on the requirements from your
teacher for each lab. However, all short-form reports will require student to answer pre-lab questions, and
complete the data, analysis, and conclusion sections. All portions are still to be written in complete
sentences.