Students in biology and other science classes will do many experiments and investigations over the course of the year.  Some of these experiments will have handouts for students to answer questions as they complete tasks.  

Other investigations may be more open-ended, where students must design an experiment, gather data, and create a document to report their results.  In other words, students will be required to write the “dreaded” lab report.

This template can help students organize a lab report for any experiment.  It includes the basic layout of a report:  title, introduction, hypothesis, materials and methods, data, and conclusions.

As students become more experienced with writing lab reports, they can make adjustments and combine sections.   I also have students read a scientific journal from PLOS biology  to show them an example of a peer reviewed scientific text and to introduce the idea of “abstracts.”