Format for Lab Reports

In this class, you will complete several lab projects and will be expected to turn in write-ups on each. Write-ups should be structured as semi-formal laboratory reports. In addition to considering the specific questions listed in the exercise, your report should be a detailed and comprehensive presentation of what you did, why you did it, and what your results mean.

Structure of Lab Report:

Your reports should generally follow this basic outline:

I. Goals: Briefly state the purpose(s) of the exercise. This should usually be no more than a paragraph.

II. Sample: Identify and discuss the sample you are using. This includes the types of materials, pertinent provenience information, number in the sample, and any other identifying information—e.g. which tray you used in lab. Be concise.

III. Method: Describe what you did and how you did it. This includes both laboratory procedures and analytical methods like formulas or calculations. This section should be detailed, but use common sense to keep it as short as possible (this is a bit tricky). For example, it is not necessary to describe standard procedures in detail, especially if you can cite a reference in which the procedure is outlined.

IV. Data: Present the results of the exercise. Graphs and tables are often the best way to present data; they must be accompanied by a text discussion.

V. Analysis: Discuss the data, especially relative to specific questions posed in the exercise. You should also include other discussion relevant to the goals of the exercise and the issues it raises regarding the general themes of the class. Graphs and tables may be useful for summarizing data or demonstrating patterns.

VI. Conclusions: Briefly summarize your results and their meaning relative to the purpose of the exercise and the broader themes of the course.

Be as clear and concise as possible, but make sure that you have discussed all of the important points relevant for each section. The Data, Analysis and Conclusions sections will usually constitute the bulk of your report.

You should provide references when appropriate—especially graduate students.

General Guidelines for Writing:

The ability to write well is very important in academic as well as business contexts in archaeology and other fields. Writing is a difficult skill to master. If you would like to go over any labs—before or after you turn them in—please come by the TA office hours or make an appointment to see me. These are some suggestions you might find useful:

Ø Be systematic. Think through the logic of the exercise and structure your discussion to hit each important point. Quick outlines can be very useful for structuring reports.

Ø Be concise. Be thorough, but try to keep tangents and extraneous verbiage to a minimum. State your point clearly, and support it with appropriate evidence or observations, then move on to your next point. Don’t feel like you have to pad the text if a section doesn’t seem long enough. This is not a contest for length or to see who can use the longest words. Many academic journals have limits on the maximum length of papers they will publish.

Ø Use tables and graphs whenever useful, even if they are not explicitly required. Tables and graphs are efficient ways to both summarize and show relationships in your data. Tables can list raw data, but they should also be designed to convey specific information about the data. Tables and graphs look professional and are relatively easy to construct in Word or Excel—I am a computer dummy and managed to figure it out. See me if you need any help creating figures. Some things to keep in mind:

Ø On tables, clearly label rows and/or columns. On graphs, label the axes.

Ø Always discuss the contents of your tables and graphs. Discuss why the data are significant, and point out any patterns that the figure shows.

Ø Give each table or graph a label. Tables are usually labeled as such (i.e. “Table 1, Table 2” etc.) while graphs and other items are usually labeled as figures (i.e. “Figure 1, Figure 2” etc.). Use the labels when referring to the graphs or tables in the text. For example, “The average weight of basalt cores is more than double the average weight of obsidian cores in the sample (Figure 3).”