Introduction to Writing Lab Reports in Biology

Your first report

Communication of knowledge is foundational to the progression of scientific discovery; it allows us to build off of one another’s work. Therefore, one of our goals in the Biology Department at TWU is to help you become well-organized communicators of scientific information. You will notice that lab report composition differs from essay composition, and that flowery syntax is avoided, and precise succinct sentences are favoured.
This section is intended to introduce you to the components of a lab report and the purpose of these components. A formal lab report is comprised of the following: title, abstract, introduction, methods/procedure, results, discussion, acknowledgements and literature cited.. Throughout your courses at TWU you will be asked to submit lab reports that may include all of these components, or a selection of these components; be sure to reference your syllabi or speak to your instructor(s) if you have questions regarding what sections are required for a particular course/report.

*“Learning in science is often based on a struggle to reconcile ideas and observations and is not as simple as memorizing facts” (Allen and Tanner, 2007).