heat capacity and latent heat of fusion  Laboratory Reports €¢ It is a formal record of your practical work €¢ It should give an account of o findings o deductions and o conclusions Form of lab report €¢ A formal record, written in a formal style o The report should be written in the third person, NOT I or we. o €¢ Divided into sections o Title Page. o Abstract (may be on the front page) o Contents (should be on its own page) o Introduction. o Theory. o Method, including diagrams of equipment. (Make model and serial number of all equipment used) o Results/data. (Data should be tabulated and show the units involved) o Discussion and Analysis of results including graphs o Conclusion. (results should be placed in context) o References. o Appendices €¢ It’s a good idea to put your name on every page such that lost pages may be returned to the correct report. Title Page €¢ Write in plain style €“ avoid colour and fancy decoration €¢ Should contain the following information o Title of experiment o Your name and student number o Your course and the module o Date of performing experiment o Date of submitting report  Abstract €¢ A very short summary of the contents of the report. o In a similar way to the summary on the back of a paperback novel that enables you decide if the subject is to your liking, this abstract enables later researchers to decide quickly whether your report is of use to them or not o Keep it very short Introduction €¢ Gives a background to the experiment. €¢ Explains why do the experiment. €¢ Should end with a statement of the aim(s) of the experiment o Keep it short. Theory €¢ Explains scientific principles behind experiment €¢ Should include:- o Risk assessment. o Mathematical relationships. o Diagrams where appropriate. o Should be in your own words. Method (Sometimes called Materials & Methods) €¢ Describes what you actually did. €¢ Should be in past tense. €¢ Do not simply copy the lab instruction sheet. €¢ Use diagrams or pictures of the equipment. €¢ List make and model number of proprietary equipment. o Do not lift images from the internet. o Only use pictures of the actual equipment  €¢ Summarise your data. €¢ Describe your data. €¢ Use tables and graphs where appropriate. o If you have a table of data, create a graph to explain the relevant features. o If there are anomalies on the graph, annotate them and comment on them. €¢ Try to explain your results. €¢ Link to theory section €“ are results consistent with theory? Put your results in context with the expected result. Calculate the % error. €¢ Summarise all your data. €¢ If you are going to ignore a data point on a graph, say so and say why.  €¢ What has the experiment shown? €¢ Based on actual results not what you think we want to see! €¢ What are the sources of error? €¢ NEVER put the experiment worked €¢ Place your results in context again, compare them to the expected result and present the calculated percentage error.