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How to write a good biology lab report.


Mahuta ♥

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I would say very similar yes. Since the guide my teacher was referring to when he talked about is was for all experimental sciences. But I made this a 'biology one' mostly because that's where my interest is.

But it is safe for me to follow this word for word with my Chemistry coursework? :D

(This is great as well for my Extended Essay on Biology)

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Yes it is safe. :)

And yeah, my chem EE supervisor told me an EE in an experimental science is basically an extended lab report. :)

So basically for the EE you are going to have an 'Introduction' before the hypothesis which should be long. Then make everything a little more detailed..and dada! you have a biology EE.

P.S This is how my teacher told me..including the 'dada!' :P

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Guest Soiboist

I have a question concerning Evaluation. Wouldn't it be far more convenient to write the improvements directly after that you have presented a limitation, so that the examiner would more clearly be able to see why the improvement is relevant? Then you could split up the paragraphs after number of limitations/improvements rather than having one paragraph for all limitations and one for all improvements.

Additionally, we never included Apparatus, Variables or Method in regular lab reports (just for design labs), is that wrong? I'm not worried though, as they were just practise labs. :P

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For your first question, certainly. You can do it any way you want as long as it's coherent and easy to follow. :)

For your second one: Very wrong! Variables must be included, let alone the method! In fact, the variables and method both take one of the 3 aspects of the criteria. Also, we were told to always always include the list of apparatus and not miss a single thing we use.

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Guest Soiboist

Obviously we did include independent and dependent variables through the aim, and on second thought possibly the controlled variables as well. Though I am sure that we did not include neither apparatus nor method. It surprises me as my teacher usually is very solid, but we might have skipped those for practise purposes. We included them for writing design labs, so I would believe she knows about them.

Thanks for your help anyway, I'll ask my teacher about it if we're not supposed to do it for next lab either. :)

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@Hinuku if you didn't make any quantitative data collection then your pictures are the only thing that you can put in your data collection.

@Soiboist actually the IB examiner doesn't care about your presentation/format of the lab report. I've seen a lot of labs whose CE is put under only one Heading which is Conclusion&Evaluation and everything is put all over this section (so it's like what you want, the improvements can come after each limitation). I've also seen a lot whose CE is split into Conclusion, Limitations and Improvements (so 3 sections). both are acceptable and I myself would go with the first method (everything under the same heading).

EDIT: whoops! didn't see Mahuta's response on the next page.

and Soiboist are you even in IB yet? or are you in IB MYP? you need to list your variables and apparatus and write the method under separate headings so it's easier for the examiner to mark. the variables must be listed in design labs, but in DCP/CE you don't need them.

Edited by dessskris
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  • 3 months later...

I'm confused about how specific the variables/ hypothesis should be.

For example, which is better:

Independent: light intensity

Dependent: rate of photosynthesis

If the light intensity is increased, then the rate of photosynthesis will increase, because....

OR

Independent: wattage of light bulb, which changes light intensity

Dependent: Amount of effervescence produced, showing the rate of photosynthesis

If the light intensity is increased by increasing the wattage of the light bulb, then the rate of photosynthesis, shown by oxygen production, will also increase, because...

I was told to keep the hypothesis at one sentence and I don't know how to do that without creating long, run on sentences.

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the first one.

usually in my designs, I put a "Method" section before my "Procedures" where I explain "Method of data collection" and "Method of controlling the controlled variables".

in my "Method of data collection" I usually explain how to change the independent variable and how to record the dependent variable, so if you wrote:

Independent: light intensity

Dependent: rate of photosynthesis

in the "Variables" section, then in this Method of data collection you can explain how you change the light intensity (by changing the wattage of light bulb) and how you measure the rate of photosynthesis (from the Amount of effervescence produced).

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Thanks :) Another question. Do I need to show calculations for mean and standard deviation in my data processing, or can I just make a chart of the values, graph it, and indicate that the data was processed using Excel?

The formula for SD and mean are pretty obvious, and I don't have any uncertainties in this lab that would be relevant to the calculations.

Edited by SmilingAtLife:)
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  • 1 month later...
The uncertainty of each apparatus should be printed on it. If it's not, then the uncertainty is the half the smallest division. For example, a ruler that with 0.1cm division will have an error of +/- 0.05cm.

So if your timer is to 1 decimal point..say 0.1 seconds, then the uncertainty would be +/- 0.05 seconds. Similarly if it's 0.01 seconds then the uncertainty is 0.005 seconds That being said, almost every apparatus would have the error on it.

As to how it's written, just put it at the top of each column like shown in the example above.

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