Chase Stodden

Professor Arnold
UWRT 1101-073
10/14/2015
Found Genre: Formal Lab Reports
Formal lab reports are to be done when an experiment is performed
and the data gathered is needed to be presented and discussed in a formal
matter. The reports are extremely meticulous and are asked to be done in
different ways depending on who is asking for it. Main issues of a formal lab
report are that it must have correct formatting and must be written in a
certain way to enhance the quality of the paper. Formal lab reports test the
writers knowledge on the subject as well as the writers ability to follow
simple guidelines.
Formatting of the report is important because that is a quick and easy
way to determine if it was done correctly or not. Since a format is set in the
rubric for the report, the layout of everyones lab report should look almost
identical. The formatting of formal lab reports all depends what professor is
asking for it. Some professors will want 1 margins and another will want
1.25 margins, and it matters! Other formatting issues include the order of
the headings throughout the report and what the headings are. An example
of headings and the order they go in is: Introduction, Procedure, Results,
Data analysis, Calculations, and Conclusion. If the format is wrong,

substantial amounts of points are taken off due to not being able to follow
directions.
The way formal lab reports are written is difficult. The two major
concerns one must have while writing a formal lab report is that it has to be
written in passive voice and to audience that has no knowledge on the
subject being discussed. Writing for an audience that has no prior knowledge
is extremely hard. It truly tests the writer to see if they really know what they
are talking about and if they know the significance of what was preformed in
the experiment. Its easy to follow steps and instructions to do something,
but knowing what was done and why it was done in a certain way is much
more difficult to explain.
Writing in passive voice sets this the genre apart from all the other
genres. The idea sounds simple, but is difficult for many. When writing in
passive voice, no pronouns are allowed! If there was a number one rule for
lab reports, it would be no pronouns. An example of passive voice is The
solution was poured into a 100 mL beaker instead of saying I poured the
solution into a 100 mL beaker. The reason for writing in passive voice, I
believe, is that it almost purveys the idea that the experiment was perfectly
done with no human errors.