Laboratory Report Guide

Scientific writing is an important element in your education as a scientist. Research papers are
the primary method for the distribution of scientific information. All of the research that is
published follows this same basic format, although there is variation in the format depending on
where the research is published. Here are some guidelines for the preparation of your laboratory
reports.

General Comments. A laboratory report ia an account of an experiment you performed in the

laboratory. Your report will not only provide information about the details of the experiment, but
will allow an avaluation of your performance in the laboratory, your knowledge of the topic, and
your ability to summarize what you have done and point out its significance.
All lab reports should have the following sections (in this order): Title, Abstract, Introduction,
Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Literature Cited (also called References). Your lab
report should be accurate scientifically, and written with proper grammar and spelling.
Computers are accessible on campus, so use one to prepare your lab report. Make sure that you
use standard margins, double space, 12 pt font, white paper and printed on one side of the
paper, and staple your report before coming to class. Another important point is that scientific
names (genus and species) should always be italicized or underlined (e.g., E. coli or Homo
sapiens).
Title page. On a single sheet of paper record the following:
the title of the experiment
your name and student ID number
the name(s) of your parthner(s), including surnames
the course number
the date the experiment was performed
Title. The title is a short but very specific description of what the laboratory was about. Titles
such as Biology Lab Report #1 or Restriction Analysis are much too vague and will reduce
overall score of the report.. The title should be placed on a title page, along with your name, the
date, and your lab section information. An example of an appropriate title (if we were writing
about the effect that nutrient allocation during seed production has on seedling growth) is:
Effects of seed position within an inflorescence on offspring height and biomass.

Abstract. The abstract summarizes four essential aspects of the report: the purpose of the
experiment (sometimes expressed as the purpose of the report), key findings, significance and
major conclusions. The abstract often also includes a brief reference to theory or
methodology. The information should clearly enable readers to decide whether they need to read
your whole report. The abstract should be one paragraph of 100-200 words (the sample below is
188 words).

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The complete characterization of a gene should include the determination of its chromosomal
position in the yeast genome. Such information could be useful for a number of reasons, such as
establishing the identity between independently derived mutations and cloned genes. For
example, the cyc9, tupl, umr7, and flkl mutations all were derived by selecting for different
phenotypes. These presumably diverse types of mutations were discovered to be alleles of the
same locus only after finding that they mapped to the same chromosomal position. Thus,
mapping of a new gene could reveal that it corresponds to a previously well-investigated gene.
Also, close linkage to other characterized genes allows for the convenient retrieval of the DNA
segment encompassing the gene in question. For example, because a CYC3 mutant was shown to
be approximately 2 centimorgans (cM) from PYKI, and because PYK1 and adjacent genomic
regions were available on plasmids, it was a simple matter to identify the DNA segment
corresponding to the CYC3 locus. 3 Mapping a gene is desirable, not only for preventing the
unnecessary duplication of effort, but also for contributing to background information useful for
future studies.
Introduction. The introduction should be as minimum 2 pages long. In this section, provide
background information on the subject. Do not just repeat what is written in the laboratory
manual. Briefly explain what has been done in the past, what you are going to explore, and why
you are going to explore it. More formally phrased, this section includes your objectives, and
any hypotheses of predicted results. Below is an example of an introduction.
Applications of  cloning frequently require the purification of small quantities of DNA from
large numbers of individual clones. We describe here a protocol for going from a phage plaque
to a DNA sample that is well suited to such applications. In our laboratory, we have used this
protocol to analyze restriction digests of over 5000  clones, which were processed in sets of 100
or more. The key step in the protocol is the purification of  virions from either plate stocks or
liquid lysates using small DEAE-cellulose columns. Careful attention is also given to the growth
of the phage, which is often the limiting step in preparing h DNA by this or other protocols.
Materials and Methods. Normally you would present a description of all of the materials and
methods used in the experiment. However, in our case, the lab handout or lab book has a detailed
explanation of the steps that you followed. Therefore, you should summarize the steps described
in the lab manual, and reference the laboratory manual (or handout). You need to describe your
procedure sufficiently for another person to be able to carry out exactly the same experiment. If
you do a series of experiments, describe each one of them clearly and concisely (in one to two
paragraphs each). Sometimes, experiments can be described easily with the aid of a figure.
Figures should not take the place of text, but serve as a supplement to the text. When you refer
to a figure, be sure to identify it by number.
If you did more than one experiment, make sure it is clear which experiment corresponds to
which hypothesis. Identify, in some manner, the control and the experimental treatments. Do not
present predictions or data in this section. In our continuing example, an appropriate materials
and methods section would be something like this...
1. To 20µl aqueous DNA sample in a plastic microcentrifuge tube add
2 µl 3 M sodium acetate, pH 5.5, and 40 µl ethanol.
2. Mix well by vortexing and immerse the tube into a -70C ° bath composed
of methanol plus dry ice for 15 min.

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3. Centrifuge the DNA precipitate in a bench-top microcentrifuge at maximum speed for 10 min
at 40C.
Notice that the descriptive form was used for both the materials and the methods. Do not present
the materials that you used as a list.

Results. In this section, you should describe your results with words. This is the heart of the
report, this section presents the information derived from your experiment in any of four forms:
tables, figures, diagram and illustration, discriptive text.Your major concern is to choise the
form(s) that provides the most clarity for the reader. Even if your results are exclusively
numerical, the result section must contain a small amount of text to lead the reader through your
findings. If you use a table or figure, please refer to it by number in your text, and briefly point
out the important points that should be noticed. Also, make sure that it is clear which results go
with which experiment. The results section should contain all of the information the experiment
provides. Finally, it is important for you to exclude what more properly belongs in the Materials
and Methods section or Discussion. All figures must have title and brief description what is
it. If you need help or suggestions with figures or tables, see your TA.
Here is an example of figure legend:
Figure 2. The results of the gel electrophoresis from Experiment 3. The two images are the same
gel exposed to UV light for different lengths of time in order to better visualize all bands. Lanes
1-4 and 6-8 each represent the DNA purified via the MiniPrep kit and digested with the EcoRI
restriction enzyme. Each lane was taken from a different cell colony grown from the cells cloned
using the pCR 2.1-TOPO vector. Lane 5 is the 1 Kb Plus DNA ladder.

TABLE 1. Molecular weights in kb of the bands present in each lane from Figure 2.

Lane 1 Lane 2 Lane 3 Lane 4 Lane 6 Lane 7 Lane 8 Lane 9 Lane 10

6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 2.9 4.5 4.5

4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 1.4

2.9 2.9 2.9 2.9

1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8

1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4

Discussion. The discussion section has several purposes.

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 To state the significance of the data.
 To critique the methods. Do you think your data are reliable? Are there inconsistencies in the
data?
 To clearly answer the objectives of the experiment as stated in the introduction.
 To compare your results to those already published.
 To summarize the data.
 To suggest future experiments.

You can do these in any order that you choose. However, logical connections need to be made
between the paragraphs. The discussion should be a cohesive entity and not a series of unrelated
conclusions. You should always state whether or not your results support your predictions (they
may not). You should state the reasoning behind the experiment(s) (i.e., Why did you do it?), and
summarize the significance of the research (i.e., What did you find?). At some point, include
information on any problems in the design of the experiment or any other potential sources of
error. Finally, suggest future experiments, perhaps taking into account the problems or errors that
you stated earlier.

Where warranted, the Discussion section should end with a clear, succint statement of your
conclusions, including the evidence upon which they are based.
Ribosomal DNA for pig, cow and chicken produced two bands of differing intensities for each
animal, indicating that the primers amplified two genes with different molecular weights. For all
three animals, the higher molecular weight ribosomal genes migrated approximately the same
distance down the gel, indicating that these genes were of the same molecular weight for each
animal. The same occurred for the smaller gene. Given these results, it can be assumed that the
ribosomal genetic code for all three animals is very similar, and thus has not changed much
despite obvious evolutionary differences.
Experiment 2 produced plates which contained mostly clear colonies interspersed with a few
blue ones. The lack of blue color indicated that the colonies were not expressing -galactosidase
possible due to disruption of its gene by ligated fragment.

Literature Cited. Any information that you took from another source needs to be referenced in
this section, otherwise this is plagiarism. DO NOT REFERENCE HANDOUTS. DO NOT
USE AN INTERNER LINKS AS REFERENCES. (It will cost you 5 points).
References to published work go in two places in your document. First, you need to include a
citation in the body of your report. The appropriate format for citing a journal article, book, or
chapter in the body of your report is shown at the end of the following example:
Previous studies of plant competition have shown that plant size and weight at the end of the first
full week of germination are important determinants of competitive ability (Silander, 1991).
If there are two authors: ...(Silander and Cardon, 1992).
If more than two authors, use: ...(Silander et al., 1993). Note: et al. is Latin for et alii,
meaning “and others”. Because it is Latin, you need to underline or italicize the words. Note

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 that et is not an abbreviation, whereas alii is abbreviated (hence the period).
The complete references should be placed in a section entitled “Literature Cited” or “Ref-
erences” at the end of your report.
The appropriate format for a book is:
Smith, J. 1994. A Biology Textbook. My Own Publishing Co., Storrs, Connecticut. (Note that
the title of the book can be italicized or underlined).
The appropriate format for a journal article is:
Smith, J. 1994. Something I saw in the field this summer. Journal of Really Neat Findings
35: 135-137. (Note that the title of the journal should be italicized or underlined, but the title
is neither underlined nor italicized).
The appropriate format for a chapter in a book is:
Smith, J. 1994. Something I saw in a bunch of fields. In: Yet Another Biology Book. Ed. G.
Schwartzentruber. Pp. 142-157. (Note that the title of the book is italicized or underlined, but
the title of the chapter is not. Also, there may not be an editor.)

Originality
Each laboratory report your submit is expected to be your own work; this means that the worlds
your use and the sequence in which your express your ideas come frome your alone. While it is
natural for you to discuss your results with your laboratory partner or others, your may not
expect to get full credit for a report which is a copy or paraphrase of the report of someone else.
If yor work with others, your are advised to take pains to devise your own progression of topics
in your report, and to write it in your own words.

Students expected to complete FIVE laboratory reports.

Laboratory report #1 covers preparation of competent cells.
Question that should be addressed (but not limited) are following:
- techniques for transformation of E.coli
- critical conditions for transformation
- storage of competent cells
- what is “transformation efficiency”

Laboratory report #2 covers restriction analysis.

Question that should be addressed (but not limited) are following:
- digestion of DNA with restriction enzymes
- different type of restriction endonuclases

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 - digestion DNA with multiple restriction enzymes

Laboratory report #3 covers basic molecular cloning techniques. This report based on results
obtained after complition of Smad3 cloning
Question that should be addressed (but not limited) are following:
- molecular cloning workflow
- PCR and its importance and critical parametrs
- Gateway technology by Invetrogen
- methods of PCR optimization
- different DNA polymerases
- miniperp plasmid DNA
- large scale plasmid preparation

Laboratory report #4 covers basic techiques in mamalian cell culture and based on results
obtained after completion of analysis apoptosis response in MCF7 cells.
Question that should be addressed (but not limited) are following:
- advantages and limitation of tissue culture
- aseptic techniques
- adherent and suspension cultures
- cryopreservation
- construction and analysis of growth curve
- transfection of eucaryotic cells

Laboratory report #5 covers analysis of proteins by wetern blotting. This report based on results
obtained after complition of transfection and purification of His tagged Smad3 protein.
Qestion that should be addressed (but not limited) are following:
- gel preparation (native and sds page)
- protein sample preparation
- gel staining
- purification of tagged proteins
- western blotting

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 - role primary and secondary antibodies

Checklist for Writing a Lab Report

1. Overall Presentation

Is there a cover page?

Is the title specific?
Is the report typed, double-spaced, one side only, with standard margins?
Is it on standard paper (8.5 x 11”, white, no ragged edges)?
Is it stapled?
Are the references in correct format?
Have you checked spelling and grammar?

2. Abstract
Does the abstract summarize whole report: objective, materials, procedure, major findings,
and conclusions?
Is the abstract clear, concise, and coherent?

3. Introduction
Does the introduction lead the reader into the subject?
Is there background material? Are the sources referenced?
Are objectives clearly stated?
Do they have a predicted result for a given set of conditions?
Is there a logical reason to expect the predicted results?

4. Materials and Methods

Is each experiment described clearly and concisely?
Is each experiment tied to a specific objective?

5. Results
Are the results described in the text?
Are the results also given in tables or figures as appropriate?
Is each table and figure cited at least once?
Is it clear which results belong to which experiment?

6. Discussion (for each experiment)

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 Are your results consistent with the predicted results?
If not, why not? If so, why?
What is the justification for this research (why did you do it)?
What is the significance of this research (what did you find)?
What were the problems with this experiment?
What were possible sources of error?
Can you suggest other experiments that might be done next?

7. Tables, Figures and Graphs

Are the tables neat and clearly arranged?
Are the graphs set up properly?
Are the tables and grafs has a legends?

8. References
Are the cited references in proper format?
Is each citation that is listed in the back used in the body of the paper?