Osmosis Lab Report

A Guide to Writing Lab Reports

Elizabeth Carroll, Dian He, Jaclyn Myers

Introduction to science writing

Science is an approach to understanding natural phenomena. It is a way of knowing

about the world through testing hypotheses. Since performing science requires a particular

approach, the scientific method, science writing requires a particular approach as well.

Knowing how to create clear, descriptive and direct scientific writing is important. The data

collected during the experiment and used to create figures is only half of the process. The next

part of the process is the actual writing. Scientific writing puts your data into a larger scientific

context, describes the results, and provides explanations of the significance. The results of the

study can have important implications for society, public health and the environment but you

have to be able to convey your message clearly, effectively, and accurately.

Science is a systematic way to study how things work. The scientific method begins with

an observation or a question followed by a hypothesis, experimentation, and conclusion. The

conclusion supports or does not support the original question. Either way, this leads to more

questions and observations. Followed by an additional hypothesis and more experiments.

Yes, it is a never ending loop, because in the scientific world, there are always

unanswered questions. If the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light (Whiting,

2004) or if the strings in string theory were blown to the size of a person, the size of a proton

would be the entire galaxy (Becker et al, 2007), you can imagine there is a lot of science in

between that needs to be filled, and biologist and biochemists are only working on a tiny fraction

of the entire scale.

Types of scientific writing,

Surprisingly, there are many forms of scientific writing. People even have careers as scientific

writers. Scientists write everything from peer-reviewed journal articles to grant proposals and

literature reviews. You may be asked to draw upon some of them as you are writing. Writing a

lab report for your courses is one of the simplest forms of scientific writing and is an important

part of learning how to communicate science. The main goal is to truthfully report what has been

performed in the laboratory and draw a conclusion based on your observations and findings.

The body of a lab report has six major sections which appear as follows: Abstract, Introduction,

Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion. In this chapter, we will guide you through the

step by step process of writing your lab report.

Writing a testable/falsifiable hypothesis

In your classroom laboratory, your instructor likely has given you a protocol describing

the procedure you will be using. In addition to the procedure, the lab protocol usually provides

background information on the scientific principle the lab is designed to demonstrate. A

laboratory report is based on research around a testable and falsifiable hypothesis. This

background information should be used to formulate a hypothesis before you begin your

experimentation. A hypothesis is a testable, and falsifiable statement that explains some

observed phenomenon in nature (Strode 2015). A testable hypothesis should be based on

some initial observations. For example, let us think out a simple experiment; when you threw an

apple, it fell down to the ground. You realized no matter where you threw the apple, it always fell

down. Then you started testing other objects around the house, pillows, socks, jackets, toys,

and invariably, everything fell down. At this moment, you observed a pattern, and you came up

with the hypothesis, household objects fell down. The initial observations for a lab report may be

based on background research that you have done, or background information that your

instructor provides to you.

What makes this hypothesis testable? Well for most of the household objects, you can

pick it up and drop it, and observe where it goes. That is your test. You may have a hunch that

the refrigerator or the washing machine will behave similarly, but without help with a strong

person or a forklift, it is nearly impossible to lift those appliances and do your experiment

(please do not do these experiments because those are expensive to replace). Therefore your

next hypothesis, which could include the heavier appliances in the household, that they will also

fall if dropped, becomes non-testable given the current experimental condition. Such constraints

exist widely, and range from why we cannot test viruses such as SARS-cov-2 on campus due to

the lack of Level-4 biosafety lab, to why the string theory remains just a theory (Foster, 2020).

To provide another example, let’s say you are examining how seagrass density affects

predation in clam populations. You could formulate the following testable hypothesis:

STEP 1. [In Lab] Review the background Information, identify the Research

Question and formulate a Hypothesis

I hypothesize that if denser habitat provides refuge for prey, predation on clams will be lower in

dense seagrass.

It can be helpful to phrase your hypothesis in a “If…then” manner. If a particular scientific

principle is happening, then the following prediction will occur.

You can test this hypothesis by manipulating the seagrass density and measuring predation.

A hypothesis that isn’t testable, may be vague or may not include any variables to manipulate.

example:

Clam predation could be lower.

There are two issues in this hypothesis. The word “could” makes it a vague non-definitive

statement. In addition the use of the word “lower” without another variable makes the hypothesis

not testable as written. What is meant by lower? Lower than what? Lower than last year? Lower

than mussels? There is no way to test this hypothesis as written.

As we noted, the second criteria for a good hypothesis is that it is falsifiable. A falsifiable

hypothesis is one that can be refuted. In other words, the data collected from your experiment

I hypothesize that if denser habitat provides refuge for prey,

predation on clams will be lower in dense seagrass.

prediction we can measure

scientific principle

may show your hypothesis to be false. Returning to our clam example, if we find predation on

clams to be higher in less dense seagrass that our hypothesis is false, and therefore the data

would refute the hypothesis. If there is nothing that could happen to refute your hypothesis, it is

not falsifiable and therefore does not meet the criteria of a good hypothesis.

Another common mistake that students sometimes make when writing hypotheses is to list

every possible outcome so that they are not wrong about the results of the experiment. So long

as a hypothesis is relevant, testable, and falsifiable it cannot be wrong in the traditional sense. If

your results refute your hypothesis that is totally OK! It is not wrong, it is just not supported by

your data. It will give you something to write about later in the conclusion. In our example, your

hypothesis would be supported if you find that predation is lower in less dense seagrass and

higher in more dense seagrass. Your hypothesis would be refuted if you find the opposite in

your experiment. It is worth noting that here we wrote our hypothesis in the first person and very

clearly communicated that this was our hypothesis by starting the sentence with the phrase “I

hypothesize…”. The hypothesis should not be a secret and it’s important for the reader to

identify the hypothesis easily so it’s best to be blunt here.

The purpose of a lab report is to communicate the findings of your research clearly so they can

be replicated by other scientists. Therefore, the methods section is one of the most important

sections in your report. A good writing tip for the methods section is to write it first even though it

does not appear first. It is also wise to write your methods as soon as you can after the

experiment has been performed so the experiment is fresh in your memory. The methods

section should be written with paragraph structure, using a narrative style. Avoid using bulleted

lists or number lists that you may find in the protocol from your class. You’ll want to transform

your protocol into a readable description of what you did, including the equipment used in your

experiment. Here again, do not use a number or bulleted list to communicate your equipment or

materials. Simply talk about the materials used as you describe how you performed the

experiment. For example,

STEP 2. Write the Methods section of your lab report.

[Ten clams were added to each plot. Clams were between 8 and 12 mm, the preferred

size for juvenile blue crabs (Arnold 1984), and marked with a small dab of white paint to

facilitate recapture. Control treatments were covered with plastic 0.65 cm mesh to

exclude predators.] (Rielly-Carroll and Freestone 2016)

In the experiment described above the materials (clams, paint, and plastic mesh) are described

as they are used in the experiment, not in a separate list.

The methods section provides the information needed so that someone could repeat your

experiment. If your methods are not clear or not accurate, it is very likely other researchers may

find your result irreproducible, and the cost may not just be your reputation, but also a great

waste to the society in general (Freedman 2015). Good methods writing should cover the details

of all reagents, including the origin of each reagent, the make and model of any instrument that

is used, the time length and temperature of each experiment, etc. There are never more details;

the more the merrier. If you performed any statistical analyses or calculations, you’ll also want to

include that information in the methods. Just as a reminder, make sure you stay away from

describing any results. In the methods you describe what you did, but not the data you

produced.

The results section of your laboratory report is the most objective section, and should be free of

any interpretation. For this reason, besides tables and figures that you may include, the results

section may be the shortest of your report. Simply state the results of your experiment as they

are, refrain from stating whether the results were interesting, surprising, support or refute your

hypothesis.

Independent vs Dependent variables

In an experiment there are usually two main variables being addressed. The independent

variable is the one that you are manipulating or changing. The dependent variable is the one

that you are measuring in response to the change in the independent variable.

STEP 3. Analyze your data and write your results section.

Using our clam-seagrass example, the independent variable is the seagrass density, this is the

one that is manipulated or changed. The dependent variable is predation on clams, this is the

one that we are measuring in response to the change in seagrass. As you are writing and

building your tables or graphs make sure that you know which variable is the dependent and

which is the independent.

Types of data visualizations

Long articles can be boring to read. When you start reading a magazine journal, what is the first

thing that catches your eye? Pictures. “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Same is true for

scientific writing. The pictures in your article are meant to support the scientific argument you

are making. Pictures in scientific writing can include data represented in a graph, images of

focal organisms, maps of sampling sites, or a schematic or diagram of a proposed model.

These images will help convey your overall message and help the reader understand the

purpose of your writing.

You will first determine the best type of graph to represent your data. The visual representation

of your data is important to make sure the results are clear to the reader. There are many types

of graphs and determining the best option will allow your data to be understood. If you are

tracking changes over time a good option would be the bar graph or line graph. A bar graph will

be helpful if your changes are large and smaller changes are better tracked on a line graph. A

stacked bar graph is more appropriate if you are comparing a part to the whole. It is important to

choose the correct type of graph so your data is represented correctly and clearly. Although the

three most commonly used graphs include the line graph, bar graph, and scatter plots there are

several options laid out in Table 1. It is important to choose the best graph to avoid the reader

misinterpreting your data.

Table 1. Commonly used graphs in scientific writing.

Hypothesis I hypothesize that if denser habitat provides refuge for prey, predation on

clams will be lower in dense seagrass.

Type of Graph Best Use

Line Graph To show small trends between variables.

To make predictions over time.

Comparing two or more variables.

Bar Graph To show large differences between groups.

One variable is a category.

X-Y Scatter Plot To determine if there is a relationship between two

variables.

Pie Graph

Stacked Bar Graph

Represent composition of something.

For ease we will discuss the steps to create a line graph or bar graph. These graphs can be

easily prepared using either Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Let’s first look at the steps to

create a line graph. A line graph is best used in situations that show a relationship between two

variables or need to monitor the trend against a variable, such as time or concentration. For

example, when measuring the concentration of a certain chromophoric compound (a compound

that either has color or interacts with ultraviolet light) in the chemistry lab we use a

spectrophotometer. Solutions of various concentrations are prepared and then the

corresponding absorbance is measured. To clearly show the data, we can come up with a

linear graph as the example below (conveniently referred to as a calibration curve). In figure 1,

the concentration of the chromophoric compound (phosphate) is plotted on the X-axis and the

Absorbance is plotted on the Y-axis. The graph shows a clear linear relationship between the

phosphate concentration and the absorbance. As the concentration increases so does the

absorbance.

In this graph, concentration is the independent variable, and absorbance is the observed term

against the variable or dependent variable. This graph clearly shows the trend that with

increasing concentration, the absorbance also increases.

A second type of graph is the bar

graph. A bar graph is in many

ways similar to the line graph, as

it allows you to compare two

variables. Bar graphs are better

when differences in your data are

larger (line graphs will help to

show smaller changes). Bar

graphs can also be useful when

one of your variables is a

category, rather than numeric.

For example, in Figure 2, we see

the average clam mortality in low

Figure 1. Standard curve for phosphate. Absorbance increases as phosphate concentration increases.

Figure 2. Clam mortality is higher in low density seagrass (n=10).

and high density seagrass. Seagrass density in this example is a categorical variable. Similarly

to the line graph, the independent variable (seagrass density) is plotted on the x-axis and the

dependent variable (clam mortality) is plotted on the y-axis.

Formatting Figures

In scientific writing both images and data visualizations of any type are considered “figures”

(tables are not included in this designation). Figures should be numbered sequentially (ie, 1, 2,

3…) in the order that they are discussed in your text. All figures included in your lab report

should be referenced in the text. If you don’t write about it in the lab report, it shouldn’t be in it.

There are two ways that you can reference a figure in your writing, as the subject of your

sentence or parenthetically. For example,

As the subject:

Figure 2 shows predation on clams is higher in less dense seagrass.

Parenthetically:

Predation on clams is higher in less dense seagrass (Fig. 2).

Labels and Captions

When you insert a figure it should be labeled with a figure number and caption directly below the

figure. An easy way to do this in Microsoft

Word is to first insert a “text box” and then

paste your figure inside the textbox and write

the caption below the figure. This will keep

your figure and caption together as you

format your document. In google docs, you

can insert a “drawing”. When you are in the

drawing space you can paste your figure and

write a caption. The two items are then

saved together. Formatting images, such as

Figure 3, follows the same guidelines as

graphs. If the image is not your own, provide

a source in the caption.

A. Tables

Figure 3. Adult hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) range in size from 3-5 inches (NOAA.gov).

Tables are also important for organizing data. In general, if the data set can be presented

against a single variable, a graph is much easier to read than the data table. This is not to say

that data tables are unimportant; on the contrary, data tables may contain important nuances

that are often overlooked in the graphs.

Table 2 shows the makeup of gases in the atmosphere. As a matter of fact, these greenhouse

gases (Doll 2011) are very important to climate change that affects our daily lives and must be

considered; another figure, such as a pie graph simply would not do the trick because it may not

adequately show very small numbers. Below is a example of a table that shows the composition

of a few more gases in the atmosphere (Haynes 2016):

Table 2. Components in the atmosphere.

Components in atmosphere Percentage (%)

nitrogen 78.084

oxygen 20.946

argon 0.934

carbon dioxide 0.041332

neon 0.001818

helium 0.000524

methane 0.000187

krypton 0.000114

Formatting Tables

In scientific writing, including lab reports, tables have a very specific format so that they are

readable and consistent. Like figures, tables should be numbered consecutively (ie, Table 1, 2,

3…) in the order that they are discussed in the text of your report. Only tables that are

discussed in the text of your report should be included. Again, like figures, tables should be

referenced in the text either as the subject of your sentence or parenthetically. Tables should

have a clear, informative title that follows the table number. Tables differ from figures in that this

information goes above the table. As you may have noticed in Table 1, the borders of a

scientific table have a specific format style. Tables should only utilize a few horizontal lines as

borders. There are no vertical lines in the tables at all. Typically a table will have a top and

bottom border, and a border underneath the variables, separating the variables from the data.

The introduction will guide the reader into the research topic and provides necessary

information to understand the current study. The introduction should communicate to the reader

where your study fits into the larger scientific community. What do we already know about the

topic at hand? What is the main scientific theory or principle being explored in the lab exercise?

Why is this new study important? A good introduction should include a short survey of the

current field. The reader should feel familiar with the topic and have all necessary information

required to understand your research question and hypothesis.

Before you begin the actual writing for the introduction, the first step is to collect background

information. It can be helpful to think about writing a lab report as if you are answering an

unknown question. As writers, we want to point out to the reader in a clear way why the

question is important to answer. To do so, we must use existing research to provide relevant

background information and significance. Science writing is known for being simple and

concise, and for a scientist, the most important things to include are verifiable facts. It is

important to make sure that the source of the information is credible. So how do we determine if

the source information is credible? We can use the three R’s to determine whether or not a

particular source is considered credible in the sciences: Recent, Reputable, Registered (Figure

4) (Research and Evidence... [date unknown]).

You’ll notice this list excludes some common sources such as news articles and websites

ending in .com or .org. This doesn’t mean you can’t use these sources to get started

understanding your topic, but when completing your writing you’ll want to rely on credible

sources.

STEP 4. Develop an Introduction.

Figure 4. The three R’s of credible sources.

Sometimes your professor may ask you to use peer-reviewed literature. Peer-review is an

important process in science. Sometimes it is also called a “refereed” publication. When a

scientist submits a paper to a refereed scientific journal, the article begins the peer-review

process. Usually the editor of the journal will send the submission to three other scientists who

are experts in the same field. Those scientists will read and comment on the submitted paper.

They will decide whether the paper is acceptable, needs revision, or should not be published.

The reviewers remain anonymous to the author of the paper, but the author must then

incorporate their feedback. Peer-review improves the quality of published science, ensures that

the methodology is scientifically sound, and that the results are properly interpreted before

publication. One way to easily identify peer-reviewed articles is to use your library’s journal

database (Holy Family Lib Guides... 2020). Usually in the search options you can filter for peer-

reviewed articles or journals. Figure 5 shows how to identify the right types of sources for your

study.

Figure 5. What resources are right for you? Sources vary in their purpose and perspective.

All statements of fact require support. Providing sources lends credibility to your writing. Use in-

text citations throughout your paper to note supporting sources. At the end of your paper, in the

references section, you should provide a complete list of all the sources you used in your paper.

There are many citation style guides and these guides can vary across disciplines. A

straightforward citation style to use in the sciences is the Council of Science Editors (CSE) Style

Guide (Scientific Style... 2014). In professional science, citation formats required by publishers

are often different and very specific to the journal. What’s important here is that you cite in-text

and provide a complete list of sources using a standard approach.

After you have collected reliable sources, the next step of the introduction is to provide the

background information and set the stage for your research question and hypothesis. We can

think of the lab report as a whole as having an hourglass shape (Figure 6). The top of the

hourglass is the introduction. The Results and Methods represent the narrowest, most specific

part of the hourglass, while the Discussion is the base. When constructing the introduction

section of your laboratory report it is good to begin with the broadest topic and work your way to

the most specific details related to your research/experiment. All information included in this

section will help your reader understand your study better.

Figure 6. Hourglass schematic showing the structure of a scientific lab report.

The first paragraph should describe the general topic that your lab experiment addressed. Each

subsequent paragraph should be more specific. For example, if we did an experiment to

determine how habitat type affects predation on clams, the first paragraph could be about

habitat types, the next on habitat type and predation, and the next on predation and clams, and

end with your specific research question about habitat type, predation, and clams. With each

paragraph we get more focused until we hone in on our research question. For a lab report, the

introduction is your opportunity to demonstrate to your instructor that you understand the

concepts from the laboratory. A common mistake that you’ll want to avoid in the introduction is

to discuss the methods you used or results you produced. The introduction should be free of

any description of your experiment or the results.

Another concept that sometimes trips students up is stating that they will “prove” or set out to

“prove” a particular phenomena. When we gather observations or perform experiments in

science we are not necessarily proving anything, and that is not the aim of science. We are

gathering evidence in order to support or refute the hypothesis we are testing. This may seem

like a subtle difference between the words “prove” and “support”, but it’s an important one that

incorporates the nature of the scientific method.

The research question and hypothesis that you have already written follows closely after

the introduction. If the introduction is done properly, at the end of the introduction, it becomes

almost natural to raise a question, what else needs to be answered? What are the possible

blank areas of the current field? What better techniques can be used to further the depth of the

field?

The discussion section is the base of the lab report “hourglass” (Figure 5). As you write this

section, you will move from specific to broad. You will start out interpreting your specific results

and build a conclusion that addresses how your results fit into or demonstrate the broader

scientific principles that the lab was designed to show (Turbek et al. 2016). Here you will

interpret your results and draw a conclusion about whether your experiments support your

hypothesis or refute it for the first time. In your class laboratories, the experiments are carefully

chosen so that you can observe a particular hypothesis. If your results support your hypothesis,

you’ll want to discuss how your results demonstrate the scientific principle or process that is the

STEP 5. Interpret your results and develop your discussion and conclusion.

focus of the lab. If your data does not support your hypothesis, you’ll want to discuss why your

hypothesis was incorrect and how the results refute your hypothesis. It is okay if your

hypothesis was not supported, as long as you demonstrate in the discussion and conclusion

that you understand why.

It’s worth noting here, if you are an independent researcher, your experiments may not always

agree with your hypothesis. When that happens, what do you do? This generally means that

your hypothesis needs to be “modified” and tested again. Take your observation of household

objects falling down as an example again, your hypothesis after the initial observation is every

household object falls down, and you were able to prove it using experimentation (grabbing it

and throwing it then observing where it goes). However, if you were to perform the same

experiment in the International Space Station (a very expensive experiment, by the way), you

will realize when you release an object, it does not fall any more. At that moment, you should

think about what can be improved from the original hypothesis. This is where future work comes

in. Should we carry out the same experiment on the moon? Mars? Or Proxima Centauri b? Be

aware of the experimentation limitation though, make sure your hypothesis is still testable!

If your instructor provided any discussion questions, you’ll want to make sure that you address

them in the discussion section in a narrative format (avoid using a question/answer format). As

you reach the end of your lab report it is important to state how your results fit into our current

scientific knowledge. How do your results compare to the results of other similar studies? Try to

zoom out and think of what your results mean in the big picture. What is the broad significance

of your work? For example,

Our results demonstrate the importance of habitat structure as a driver of predation intensity, a

key biotic interaction.

The intent of the discussion section in the lab report is to demonstrate an understanding of how

your experimental outcomes relate to the overarching theme of the lab. It is important to make a

direct connection between your data and the scientific concepts at work.

STEP 6. Write the abstract and title your report.

Now that your report is mostly complete, you can write a summary or “abstract”. Though the

abstract is written last, it appears first in the completed report. The abstract of a paper or

laboratory report is the first introduction the reader has to your work. Here you will entice the

read to want to know more. Therefore, the abstract should be informative and descriptive. The

abstract is usually a short paragraph, which should include a concise description of the

hypothesis, the experimental design and the major conclusions. There are no surprises in

scientific writing. The abstract will tell the brief description of the entire paper and give away the

ending. The reader will know exactly if they want to read more to determine the details of the

work. The abstract will introduce the reader to the topic, inform about the content and help

readers decide if they want to know more through a short clear summary of the experiment and

conclusions. You can see an example of an abstract that follows this format in Figure 7. An

abstract is usually less than 250 words, and though it appears first, as we have noted here, we

often write this last as it incorporates concepts from each of the lab report sections.

Figure 7. Sample annotated abstract (heavily adapted from Nature). Abstract from Rielly-Carroll

and Freestone 2017.

Title

Titles in scientific writing are usually short and concise. The title of your report should tell the

reader the hypothesis being tested at a minimum and sometimes even gives the results. For

example,

The effect of seagrass density on clam predation.

Or

Predation on clams is lower in dense seagrass.

Together, the research question, hypothesis, methods, and results represent the narrow part of

the hourglass structure of our lab report (Figure 5), meaning these sections are the most

specific and narrow in scope, and address specifically what you did in lab - not background

information or broad concepts. In your completed report the order is as follows: Title, Abstract,

Introduction, Research Question and Hypothesis, Methods, Results, Discussion and

Conclusion, References.

It is important to review and edit your lab report once you finish your first draft. You should take

the time to review your lab report at least twice. In the first edit you’ll want to read for grammar

and style. In the second edit, review formatting and citations.

Review 1 - Grammar and Writing Style

A. Writing Style and voice

The writing style for scientific writing is usually different from fictional writing. Fictional stories

are meant to drag you into an imaginary world, where you can free up your creativity and roam

freely. Scientific writings, on the other hand, are meant to communicate facts and conclusions

based on observations. The key point here is that everything should be factual. Be as concise

as possible. Short sentences are the easiest to read. Long sentences can be confusing. In

addition, you’ll also want to make sure that you’ve written in a consistent voice. Typically an

active voice is stronger and more clear than a passive voice (ESA). For example,

Active:

We used a mark and recapture predator exposure experiment.

STEP 7. Put your completed sections together.

STEP 8. Proofread and edit your report.

Passive:

A mark and recapture predator exposure experiment was used.

The sentence in the active voice is more clear and direct.

B. Jargon

Every discipline has their own jargon, some jargons are just more popular among the general

public. For example, practically everyone knows what GDP stands for: Gross Domestic Product.

However, not everyone knows the detailed definition of GDP, which is “the total monetary or

market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country's borders in a

specific time period.” (Chappelow 2020) In the world of science, there are many jargons that

are used commonly among biologists and biochemists, and it is assumed that the general public

are not familiar with them, except a select few, such as CRISPR (Barragou 2007), a very

powerful gene editing tool, although far from perfectly precise so we do not have to worry about

X-Men yet.

Every time a jargon is presented in the text, it should be clearly defined and explained to the

target audience. For example, for those of you not familiar with CRISPR (and you should ask

yourself why), CRISPR stands for clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.

The whole jargon is somewhat meaningless to most, but if you include the information about the

ability for CRISPR-Cas9 to cut based pairs in DNA, you will not need to go very far to get

people’s attention, because the whole world knows it is bad when a rogue Chinese scientist

produced two genetically modified babies using this exact technique (Normile 2019).

C. Quotes

Science writing differs from other disciples in the use of quotes. In other disciplines, sources are

often directly cited verbatim through the use of quotations. However, direct quotes are typically

not used in science writing. Avoid using direct quotes in science writing. Instead focus on

synthesizing and summarizing the information from your sources and then cite the source.

D. Identifying and avoiding plagiarism.

Any statement that includes numbers, times, frequencies, or percentages will require a citation

for the source of that number.

E. Scientific Nomenclature

You should refer to any organism with its scientific name at least once upon first introduction.

Scientific names should always be italicized. The first time you name your species you will write

the full scientific name. After that you may abbreviate the genus.

Ex. First time - Ornithorhynchus anatinus

Second time and forward – O. anatinus

F. Section autonomy

When you are reading through the report, check to make sure each sentence fits appropriately

into the section you have written it. Keep your introduction free from results and methods, your

methods free from results, and keep the results free from interpretation.

Review 2 - Formatting Checklist

❏ Graphs and Figures

❏ Captions and figure numbers below the figure

❏ Referenced in the text

❏ Numbered and arranged in the order they are discussed

❏ Both axes are labeled with an axis title and units

❏ No background lines or grids

❏ Legend provided if necessary

❏ Tables

❏ Appropriate borders (minimal, horizontal lines dividing titles from data)

❏ Title and number on top of the table

❏ Referenced in the text

❏ Numbered and arranged in the order they are discussed

❏ Citations

❏ All facts are followed with a citation

❏ All citations in the text appear in the references list

❏ All citations in the references list appear somewhere in the text

❏ CSE style is properly followed

❏ All references meet the criteria for a ‘credible’ resource

❏ Numbers

❏ All measurements have units

❏ Decimals are proceeded with a ‘0’, ie ‘0.5 m’

❏ Organism scientific names are given, and in italics

❏ Common abbreviations are named in full upon first appearance, and abbreviated

thereafter, i.e. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Writing Tips and Resources: http://blogs.nature.com/naturejobs/2016/10/28/scientific-writing-a-

very-short-cheat-sheet/

Communicating results with graphs and tables: http://www.clips.edu.au/displaying-data/

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