<p>does anyone have a sample of a science lab report? I have heard a lot of things about them, but have never personally seen a college level lab report...</p>
<p>google is a wonderful thing.</p>
<p>Being that it's much easier to find what you're looking for with google than it is to start this thread...hmm.</p>
<p>636</p>
<p>and i have not found anything that was successful by googling it.</p>
<p>Your professor will let you know how he wants them to be done. I had friends in a Principles of Chem class and their lab reports were like 3 pages of fill-in-the-blank stuff whereas in my Gen Chem class they were like 5 pages of stuff in paragraph form plus a ton of pages of tables and graphs. Then I had a friend in a mechanics class that had 20 page lab reports.</p>
<p>So yeah, it depends on the class</p>
<p>Yeah, each class is different. Some of my lab reports have been carbon copies from my lab notebook, and some of them have been journal-style papers.</p>
<p>Ask your professor or TAs what they expect.
In my honors general chem class, our independent project lab reports could exceed 20 pages. In my general bio course, lab reports rarely exceeded 7 or 8 pages.</p>
<p>I can tell you how my chemical engineering lab reports are like. This is in year one, term two.</p>
<p>We have several sections:
1) results & discussions
2) error analysis
3) conclusion
4) recommendations
5) references
6) appendices: raw data, sample calculations, safety data, and answers to questions in the lab manual.</p>
<p>Usually they are 15-20 pages.</p>
<p>And yes, EACH CLASS IS DIFFERENT! Of course, the lab reports that are fill-in-the-blank style aren't real lab reports. A real lab report will usually have the stuff like the content I told you.</p>
<p>In your lab manual that most schools make for their students a sample is usually included. Just look at that. Every professor is different so they don't mind if you have questions. I recommend getting your textbook/manual from the bookstore asap so you can get a good look at the format before class starts.</p>
<p>In my gen chem lab we used those carbon copy notebooks</p>
<p>There was a prelab (with questions) and then you had to make and fill in data</p>
<p>Our bio labs were much more brutal..they were more like full reports</p>
<p>I can tell you this.. watch out for your t.a. who grades your reports. Me and 3 of my classmates got our asses handed to us every report, meaning we failed or got a D/C on nearly every single report. The t.a. can be a huge factor in how hard your reports are graded - my friend had a different t.a., and he got nearly perfect scores on each report. And our group worked a lot harder than his, from what he told me. </p>
<p>For that reason itself, I got a <strong><em>ing C in general chem for the second semester, despite the fact that I had a 95%, 85%, 80%, 75% on my 4 tests. *</em></strong>ing *******. Lol :)</p>
<p>FYI - grading might be easier at a less populated school - I sort of understand how I could let this happen - Purdue is damn huge!</p>
<p>
[quote]
#10
Indian.
Junior Member</p>
<p>Join Date: Jan 2005
Threads: 83
Posts: 288</p>
<p>I can tell you this.. watch out for your t.a. who grades your reports. Me and 3 of my classmates got our asses handed to us every report, meaning we failed or got a D/C on nearly every single report. The t.a. can be a huge factor in how hard your reports are graded - my friend had a different t.a., and he got nearly perfect scores on each report. And our group worked a lot harder than his, from what he told me.</p>
<p>For that reason itself, I got a <strong><em>ing C in general chem for the second semester, despite the fact that I had a 95%, 85%, 80%, 75% on my 4 tests. *</em></strong>ing ****<strong><em>. Lol
[/quote]
Ah, that's a </em></strong>. I know what you mean. A TA can either be a blessing or a curse, depending on how they grade, heh.</p>
<p>oh great. i am in an honors gen chem and honors bio first semester with both labs on thursday. :-/ looks like i wont ever get sleep wednesday night.</p>
<p>^Hint: right after you get out of you lab go to the library, get a coffee/energy drink, and crank out your lab report that same day. The first couple of times you write one it may take a long time, but you will get used to them and will finish them in no time.</p>
<p>thats a good idea, actually .thanks corbis. my schedule rules (for my motivation level) most of the time...three classes in a row but none after 12 on MWF and bio with chem recitation on T but thursday is Bio, bio lab, break, chem lab. soooo yeah starbucks double shots will be my friends.</p>
<p>If your science lab classes are anything like mine where, then your freshman bio labs will suck and the lab reports will be difficult. My freshman bio labs had to be a certain length (like 7 pages or so)and the TA's were too critical while my 400 level microbiology labs had no length requirements(I actually wrote a 2 pager once and received all points) and our TA's were very lenient.</p>
<p>Lab reports vary A LOT...I had a chemistry class where we filled out a one page worksheet, and a class that for the lab report to have all the required sections and graphics, was about 75 pages. Any class you are in should give you what format should be used, or you can always ask.</p>