The Lab Materials page offers a description of lab report requirements, a copy of the rubric, and a link to TurnItIn.com.
Lab Report Requirements:
Title: The title should be less than ten words and should reflect the nature of the lab. Titles are not to be amusing, or catchy, but rather straightforward and informative.
Purpose: This should clearly state what you are trying to determine in the lab. Be sure to include the hypothesis being made.
Background: The background should provide a reader with any information necessary to understand the procedures of the lab as well as how the data allows the analysis and conclusions of the lab to be made.
Materials: This section should list the materials used.
Methods: The procedure description should be written in a paragraph form and should be detailed enough so that someone else could repeat the experiment and/or observations, but should not be a step-by-step procedure as one would find in a lab manual. You should assume that the reader is familiar with basic laboratory procedures, that is to say you should not describe how to focus a microscope, light a burner, or use a stop watch.
Data and Calculations: This section should include the original data, reported in an organized table or list, as opposed to a paragraph, and should include all units. This section should also include any manipulations of the data.
Data manipulations could include any or all of the following:
* calculations and computations * sketches
* charts * labeled diagrams
* graphs and graphical analysis.
Conclusion: The lab conclusion should directly answer the purpose of the lab and evaluate any hypothesis made, briefly stating the relationship between the conclusion drawn and the data taken in the lab. This section should also include a discussion of the sources of uncertainty in the lab and what effect it may have had on the conclusion drawn and should suggest, where appropriate, ways to avoid these sources of error in the future.
References: This should be a complete list of all references used in the writing of the lab report, including your textbook, other books, journals, magazines and on-line sources. This should be recorded in standard format.
Lab Report Grading Rubric:
| Points | Format | Purpose / Background | Method & Data | Analysis | Conclusion |
| 20 | Perfect grammar, clear organization. | Clearly defined purpose statement with a hypothesis and well stated background information. | Concise reporting of the experiment with a complete listing of data collected. | Clear and well labeled graphs, calculations, equations when appropriate with completed answers to analysis questions. | Clear interpretation of the analysis and application to other topics. |
| 15 | A few grammar mistakes, or missing a section. | Purpose statement is missing a hypothesis, or background information is mostly complete. | Brief reporting of the experiment or missing some data. | Sufficient graphs, calculations, equations when appropriate with sufficient answers to analysis questions. | Sufficient interpretation of the analysis and lab. |
| 10 | A few grammar mistakes and missing a section. | Purpose statement is unclear and missing a hypothesis and research is mostly complete. | Brief reporting of the experiment and missing some data. | Minimal reporting of graphs, calculations, equations and minimal answers to analysis questions. | Minimal or generic interpretation of the analysis and lab. |
| 5 | More than a few grammar mistakes, missing two sections. | Confused or inconsistent purpose and research is incomplete. | Confused or incomplete reporting of the data and missing some data. | Confused or incomplete reporting of graphs, calculations, equations and incomplete answers to analysis questions with no explanation. | Confused or invalid interpretation of the analysis and lab. |
| 0 | Many grammar mistakes, missing many sections. | Missing | Missing | Missing | Missing |
TurnItIn.com
TurnItIn.com, http://www.turnitin.com/static/index.html, is a plagiarism prevention, peer review, and grade reporting tool. It allows students to submit reports and then reviews the document for plagiarism. The site indicates the likelihood of plagiarism on a percentage basis. Once the students’ reports are submitted they’re available for the teacher to read, add comments electronically, and grade electronically. TurnItIn.com will also store the grades in a database. Students may view the teacher’s comments, view their grade, read each others report, add comments to each others reports and download each others reports. This site is also free of charge.