While many written assignments are simply intended as an opportunity for you to demonstrate to your teacher your grasp of a topic, a Formal Lab Report does more.  Certainly, you will need to use the report to show your teacher how well you understand the experiment; it is important not to forget that as you work to improve your Formal Lab Report writing techniques.  At the same time, though, you must also demonstrate to your teacher that you understand the stylistic standards that are applied to scientific and technical writing.

These standards range from simple rules related to formatting tables and labeling graphs, to issues as subtle as the difference between an opinion and an observation and how to recognize when the specific details of an experimental procedure are germane to the theory being tested.

As with any sort of writing, proficiency at scientific writing comes with thoughtful practice.  This web site will not tell you everything you need to know, but it will give you some important guidelines and help you to avoid some common pitfalls.
 
 

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