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How to Document a Lab Experiment Step-by-Step
Lab reports are already far from a cakewalk to write. You have to describe all those previous studies in the introduction and jot down all the steps you’ve undertaken during the lab experiment. You then have to present and analyze the data you obtained meticulously. And then, there’s the matter of formatting.
Lab reports are papers meant to capture your experiment in great detail, from the equipment and methodology you used to the results and your interpretation. You can format your lab report using the MLA or APA lab write up format – these two styles are the most common. However, your instructor’s guidelines always trump the standard formatting rules.
How to Format Lab Report: Outlining Your Lab Report
Before we dive into the peculiarities of APA and MLA lab report formatting, let’s break down the essentials of the lab report structure:
- Title: Make it a concise, specific, and accurate description of the experiment conducted, its result, and/or its purpose (don’t phrase it as a question!)
- Abstract: Write a summary of the lab report that describes the experiment, from purpose and methodology to major findings and their meaning
- Introduction: Break down the theoretical framework and previous studies on the topic, describe the rationale for the experiment and its hypothesis
- Materials and methods: List participants, materials, and measures used; describe in detail the experimental design and provide a step-by-step breakdown of its procedure
- Results: Provide all the data, qualitative and/or quantitative, obtained as a result of the experiment, with the error margins and units of measurement (without interpretation)
- Discussion: Compare the data with your hypothesis and previous studies, evaluate its reliability and implications, and describe potential ways to improve the experiment if needed
- Conclusion: Sum up your findings and their significance in a short paragraph in an objective, concise way
- References: List all the sources you cited in the lab report
4 Best Practices of the Laboratory Report Format
Besides ensuring your outline includes all the components described above, make sure your lab report complies with these four best practices:
- Conciseness. Stick to the point in your lab report; avoid lengthy excerpts from other papers or long introductions. Use numbered or bullet-point lists. The results section presents the data in a table, graph, or chart.
- Proper data presentation. Include the margin of error and uncertainty estimates to demonstrate the reliability of your results. Don’t omit any statistical or systematic errors that may have occurred. Remember to specify the units of measurement, too!
- Data visualization. Present your results visually (e.g., a graph or a pie chart) whenever appropriate. If that’s not possible, present your data in a table. However, follow the laboratory report writing format specified by your instructor.
- Proper tense and voice use. When you describe the experiment’s procedure and results, use the past tense and passive voice (e.g., “10mL of acid was added to the tube.”). The present tense is reserved for describing the theoretical framework. The future tense is appropriate only for describing the experiments you plan to conduct.
Your MLA Format Lab Report Checklist
If your instructor specified you should apply the MLA format to your lab report, make sure to tick off all the boxes before submitting it:
- Select a legible, standard font (e.g., Times New Roman)
- Use double spacing and 12pt font size
- Set the margins to 1 in on all sides
- Press Tab to add a 0.5-inch indentation for the first line of each paragraph
- Add your last name followed by the page number in the upper-right corner on all pages (unless instructions specify otherwise)
- Specify your name, your instructor’s name, course number, and date in the upper-left corner on the first page (don’t add a title page!)
- Center your lab report’s title
- Add the list of cited sources on a separate page labeled Works Cited
- Sort the Works Cited list alphabetically
Note: These guidelines are in accordance with the latest MLA format edition (MLA 9th edition) as of this writing.
Applying MLA Lab Report Format to the First Page
Here’s how to write a lab report in MLA format, starting with the first page:
- On separate lines, write in the following order: your name, your instructor’s name, course number, and date without abbreviating the month (in the format Day Month Year, e.g., 24 September 2024).
- Add the page number in the header format: Your Last Name + Page Number. (Don’t add any commas or periods.) For example: Doe 1.
- Type in your lab report’s title and capitalize all words except for prepositions, articles, and conjunctions (unless it’s the first word). Don’t italicize, bold, or underline it. Center the title.
- Configure the font and paragraph settings: set the margins to 1 inch on all sides, the font to Times New Roman or equivalent, the font size to 12 pt, and spacing to double.
- Use Tab to create an indentation at the beginning of every paragraph.
Adding In-Text Citations Using the MLA Format for Lab Report
To write an in-text citation using the lab report MLA format, you must specify the author’s last name and page number in parentheses before the period. Here’s an example:
This decrease is proven to correlate with an increase in the rodent population (Doe 129).
The same goes for any direct quotations, as long as you place the parentheses after the closing quotation mark:
“Large language models require extreme energy resources for training” (Smith 14).
To add two citations to the same sentence, separate them with a semicolon like this: (Doe 125; Smith 14).
If you cite an online source with a known author, specify the author’s last name and the source’s title like this: (Smith, “Thematic Relevance of Ethics”).
Listing Sources in an MLA Format Science Lab Report
Put the list of your references on a separate page titled Works Cited. The title should be centered. Then, alphabetically add your sources to a numbered list based on the author’s last name.
The general format for an MLA source is:
Author’s Last Name, First Name Middle Name/Initial. Source title. Publisher, Publication Date.
Here’s how to cite the three most common types of sources using the MLA format:
- Books: Author. Title. Title of container (optional), Other Contributors, Version/Edition, Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages/URL). For example: Doe, Jane. Debunking the Hydration Myth. Myth Debunkers, 2nd ed., Pearson, 2022.
- Periodicals: Author. “Title.” Title of periodical, Day, Month, Year, page(s). For example: Doe, John Mayer. “Limitations of Machine Learning.” The New York Times, 23 Dec. 2023, p. 123.
- Online publications: Author (if applicable). "Title." Title of container, Publisher, Publication Date, Location (DOI/permalink). For example: University of Massachusetts. The Writing Lab, 2012, massachusetts.edu/writing-lab. Accessed 23 Nov. 2022.
8 Lab Report Format MLA Guidelines to Keep in Mind
Here are the eight common MLA formatting mistakes you should avoid:
- Don’t italicize the lab report title or Works Cited heading
- Add the page number to all pages, including the Works Cited page
- Don’t skip spaces between Works Cited list items
- Use “p.” if you’re citing information from a single page and “pp.” if you’re citing multiple pages
- Delete “http://” or “https://” from URLs when you cite online resources
- Don’t capitalize articles, prepositions, and conjunctions in titles
- Don’t add titles or degrees to authors’ names in the Works Cited
- Use left alignment for the text
How to Ace the APA Format Lab Report
Here’s your checklist for using the APA format for lab report:
- Add a title page with the lab report’s title, your name, university/college name, course number and name, instructor’s name, and due date
- Use double spacing
- Set the margins to 1 inch on all sides
- Add a page header with the page number on the right and a short version of the title (under 50 characters with spaces and punctuation) on the left
- List your sources on a separate page labeled References
- Ensure all listed references have corresponding citations in the text
- Add the lab report’s title on the first page after the title page, centered and bold
- Don’t add a heading before the introduction; just start the lab report
- Apply the left justification to the paragraph text
- Use the Oxford (serial) comma
- Define abbreviations when using them for the first time
- Sort the references alphabetically by the author’s last name
- Use sentence case for the source titles in the References list
- Add a 0.5-inch indentation to the first line of every paragraph (press Tab to do it)
- Use the title case for headings and apply the bold style to them
How to Add a Title Page for a Lab Report in APA Format
Here’s how to write a lab report in APA format, starting with the title page:
- Enter the following information, with each item on a new line:
- The lab report’s title
- Your full name (first name, middle initial(s), and last name)
- The name of the department and college/university
- Course number and name
- Instructor’s name
- Due date (e.g., May 16, 2023)
- Use the title case for the lab report’s title (capitalize all words except for articles, conjunctions, and prepositions under four letters)
- Apply bold styling to the lab report’s title
- Use center alignment for the whole title page
Citing Sources in an APA Lab Report
Next up in our guide on how to write a lab report APA format: adding in-text citations! Here’s how to cite sources in the lab report itself:
- Add the author’s last name and the source’s publication year in parentheses
- If the source has two authors, use both with an ampersand between them
- If the source has more than two authors, list the first author’s last name and add “et al.”
- Avoid direct quotations whenever possible; paraphrase instead
- Use quotation marks for direct quotes under 40 words and the block format for longer ones
- Add all sources to the References page
Using the APA Format for a Lab Report Reference List
Here’s how to list your cited sources in an APA lab report:
- Add a separate page after the Conclusion
- Type in the heading (“References”), center it and apply the bold style to it
- Use a 0.5-inch hanging indent for each list item
- Use the sentence case for referenced works’ titles
- Italicize the titles of standalone sources only
- Add a DOI or URL for all sources that have one, preserving the “http://” and “https://” at the beginning
- Don’t add a period after the URL or DOI
- Don’t add “Accessed from” or anything similar before the DOI or URL
How to Navigate the APA 7 Lab Report Format
The 7th APA edition is the latest one – so unless stated otherwise, you should rely on this edition when preparing your lab report. Here’s how to do a lab report in APA format (7th edition) based on the most significant changes brought on by the new edition:
- Select the right set of guidelines: the 7th edition has a different set of instructions for professional and student papers
- Choose the font and type size among the recommended options: the 7th edition allows you to choose from multiple fonts
- Preserve the “http://” or “https://” at the beginning of the DOI or URL (the 6th edition required removing those)
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In Conclusion
As much as we strived to give you a detailed checklist for formatting your lab report, breaking down all the peculiarities of listing sources or formatting in-text citations under the APA and MLA styles in one short blog post is impossible. So, whenever you’re in doubt, check with the style’s guidelines on the Purdue OWL or APA website.
You can also avoid most mistakes in the reference lists by using online citation generators. Plus, they’ll save you tons of time! Make sure that whatever tool you take advantage of returns correct citations with the proper capitalization and punctuation.
You should also check that the tool follows the latest guidelines. To reiterate, the most recent MLA edition is the 9th, while the latest APA edition is the 7th.
Beyond that, keep in mind that if any of our advice contradicts your instructor’s guidelines, you should follow what your manual says!
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Always follow the formatting style specified by your instructor in the lab manual or elsewhere. If you can’t find precise guidelines, your university or college probably has general guidelines for students writing lab reports somewhere on the website.
Check the citation style's rules if your instructor’s guidelines don’t specify whether you should add a title page. Under the MLA guidelines, the title page isn’t necessary. The APA style, on the contrary, requires a title page.
Whether you’re writing a lab report in APA format or MLA, neither style specifies the exact font you should use. However, it should be accessible and legible, so opt for the classics like Times New Roman or Calibri. MLA also specifies font size (12pt), while APA leaves it up to you.
A lab report typically consists of the following:
- Title (under 10 words)
- Abstract (a summary of the lab report)
- Introduction (theoretical framework, previous studies, the experiment’s purpose and hypothesis)
- Materials and methods (equipment and materials, participants, step-by-step procedure)
- Results (obtained data)
- Discussion (interpretation of the data)
- Conclusion (one-paragraph summary of the findings)
- References (sources cited)
