Explanations for Lab Write-ups

 

Writing is one of the most important tasks in most professions. Through writing and attendant presentation of data and interpretations, you transmit to the rest of the world what you have done, and leave a more or less permanent record of what you did and what you learned. Poor writing, poor data presentation, and sloppy reasoning may cause your hard work to be dismissed. Therefore, please write and proof read your reports carefully. The purpose of these lab writeups is to:

• Help you understand your data.
• Make you look carefully at your data and to think about it in terms of the geochemical problem at hand.
• Help you interpret your data in terms of geochemical processes.
• Have you write in such a way that fellow scientists can easily understand what you did and what you learned.

Text

As mentioned in the syllabus, reports should be written as though they were being submitted to a research journal. This means not writing things like: "In this lab I did..." or "I had a hard time with Excel equations...." Instead, the report should be a clear and concise narrative of what you did, how you did it, what the results are, and your interpretations as supported by your own evidence and that of others.

1. A brief discussion of the geochemical topic or problem being investigated in the lab exercise.
2. A brief description of the samples, collection procedures, and analytical procedures.
3. A brief description of the data, with tables and graphs as appropriate, statistical analysis where appropriate, and a brief description of the calculations done, computer models used, or special programs used.
4. A brief summary of what was learned in the lab exercise, and possibly how it compares to what was expected or what others have learned.
5. Give proper citations and complete references for material taken from the literature, which includes your textbook.

Figures

Figures should be professional-looking to the extent that Excel permits it.

1. Figures should be cited in the text and at the start of the caption as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.
2. All figures must have a caption.
3. All parts of the figure must be clear, containing all needed information but no extraneous junk.
4. Extraneous junk includes: redundant titles, unneeded decimal places, keys for graphs with only one thing plotted.

Tables

Tables should be professional-looking to the extent that Excel permits it better here than for graphs).

1. Tables should be cited in the test and at the start of the caption as Table 1, Table 2, etc.
2. All tables must have a 1-sentence caption.
3. All parts of the table must be clear, with row, column, and section headings organized to guide the eye and make it obvious what each part of the table is for.
4. Use lines to separate headings, major sections, and other places to additionally help guide the eye and make the table more obvious. Note that editors generally frown on just using the standard grid.
5. Avoid extraneous decimal places, cryptic labels, opaque abbreviations, etc., unless you have to. Explain these in footnotes at the bottom of the table.

Hint

Look at real scientific journal articles to see how writing, figures, tables, citations, and references are done. I know this is something you have done before, but actually pay attention this time.

Format guidelines

• Double space; type size 10-12 point.
• 1 inch margins all around.
• Tables must be labeled and must have descriptive captions. Tables include any organized array of numbers or text. Each table must be labeled consecutively as Table 1, Table 2, etc. Each table must have a descriptive 1-sentence caption, and must be cited consecutively in the text the same way.
• Figures must be labeled and must have descriptive captions. Figures include any line drawing, image, graph, schematic, or sketch. Each figure must be labeled consecutively as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. Each figure must be cited consecutively in the text the same way.
• Text, excluding references, tables, and figures, is limited to a maximum of 4 double spaced pages.
• Write reports as flowing narratives, like those destined for journal publication. Don't just answer the questions posed in the lab handouts.
• You are strongly encouraged to use information beyond that collected in lab. Be sure to give complete and appropriate citations and a complete reference.
• For formatting ease, tables and figures can be on separate pages at the end of the text.

Grading

The written reports will be graded on a 0 to 10 scale, and figures and tables graded on a 0 to 5 scale. The numerical scores don't correspond to letter grades, but rather will be figured into your total numerical score at the end of the term. However, a score of 5 or lower for the text and 3 for figures and tables indicates that immediate and substantial improvement is warranted.

WARNING! Although you will usually work in groups, all work handed in must be your own. This includes text, graphs, drawings, and data tables, including those printed by computer. Text, graphs, and tables that look identical probably are.

Here are my personal grading guidelines that I actually use to assign grades to reports, tables, and figures. Each subscore is summed for a final lab report score. A sliding scale of extra credit will be given for properly cited material presented in reports that comes from outside of the course materials and the text. This extra credit is not indicated in the guidelines below. For more writing tips go here, or see any professional scientific journal for examples.