I recommend that you use this rubric together with the How to write a lab report guide as a checklist before submission.
This rubric is also found as a rubric on Canvas.
ISAT 300 Lab Report Rubric
| Is there a separate Title Page? |
| Does the title page for the lab have an explanatory title (not “Lab x”) |
| Are all of the authors listed? |
| Is the date included? |
| Is the Honor Code Pledge included? |
| Is the abstract a single paragraph on its own page? |
| Is there a brief introductory statement? |
| Is the purpose of the lab expressed as it relates to all of the experiments? |
| Is the stated purpose of the lab correct and complete? |
| Are experimental approaches summarized? |
| Is the summary of approaches correct, complete, and readily understood? |
| Briefly state the results of each of the experiments (including numerical results where appropriate) |
| Is the summary of results correct, complete, and readily understood? |
| Briefly state the conclusion of the experiments and note important observations where appropriate |
| Is the conclusion sensible and useful in summarizing the value of the work? |
| State the purpose of the lab in a real-world context |
| Provide relevant background information from the lectures and literature to support the real-world context |
| Provide references for the relevant background information |
| Relate the lab experiment related to the relevant background information |
| Present a specific problem, hypothesis, or research question for the lab |
| Is there an introductory paragraph that reiterates the purpose of the investigation? |
| Are the methods organized and grouped together for each experiment? |
| For each experiment, is there a statement of the intended purpose or hypothesis being tested? |
| Is this section written in the 3rd person, past tense? |
| Are full sentences used to describe the methods? |
| Are the methods easy to understand? i.e. - could a non-science major repeat the experiment? |
| Are figures or pictures presented to illustrate more complex scenarios? |
| (if applicable) Do the figures (if applicable) include appropriate figure legends? |
| (if applicable) Are the figures discussed in the text? |
| Are references to the Lab Manual or other outside sources presented appropriately? |
| Is there an introductory statement that reiterates the purpose of the investigation? |
| Is the data organized and presented clearly? |
| Are tables and graphs used to present the data appropriately? |
| Are there descriptive figure legends for tables and graphs that tell the reader what they should observe? |
| Are tables, figures, and graphs described appropriately in the main body of the text? |
| Are the readers referred to look at the figures, graphs, and tables? |
| Is the uncertainty of the measurement presented (i.e. error bars, mean +/- standard deviation, etc.)? |
| Are the number of trials indicated? |
| Is there an introductory statement that reiterates the purpose of the investigation? |
| Is an analysis of the results presented for each experiment? |
| Were the results and analysis of each experiment kept in the same order for easy cross reference? |
Does your discussion address the guiding questions:
- What do the results indicate about the system we study?
- Discuss the uncertainty of the results (including statistical significance if applicable)
- What is the importance of the results? |
| Was the analysis appropriate - did we do the right analysis? |
| Is the discussion logical? Does the analysis make sense? |
| Did we discuss conclusions reached for each of the experiments? |
| Are these conclusions supported by the experimental results? |
| Did we respond to / assess our research question/ hypotheses in light of the results and analysis? |
| Did we put this lab and its results in the context of the bigger picture of measurement theory and suggest future experiments if appropriate? |
| Are references numbered sequentially throughout the entire text starting with 1,2,3, etc… |
| Are references formatted correctly? |
| is a “date accessed” provided for website references? |
| Does the report have a consistent and professional formatting with minimal errors |
| Was the text of this report written in a clear manner, readily understood? |
| Does it appear as a single coherent document (not three separate files cobbled together) |
| A paragraph on how you used the previous feedback is included |
| Previously commented on shortcomings are not repeated |