Formal Report Format

A.  Purpose:  (10 points possible)

You must include the following five paragraphs (minimum) and present them in this sequence:

Para 1 - What the experiment is about: the objective
Para 2 - Background information on the experiment from your textbook and two other sources.  You may need more than one paragraph here, which is okay. Please use author-date notation to indicate your sources.
Para 3 - What the experiment hopes to show
Para 4 - Why this topic is of interest to science

Para 5 – A hypothesis statement in the proper “If, then” format.

B.  Equipment:  (5 points possible)

You may copy/paste this from the online textbook, but you must make the following changes to the textbook list:

1.  Provide a complete list of equipment necessary to conduct the experiment.  If you substituted or changed anything, please list it here also.
2.  Equipment should be listed in a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc., fashion down the page; not in the A, B, C, D, etc., fashion used in your textbook.

C.  Procedure:  (5 points possible)

You may copy/paste this from the online textbook, but you must make the following changes to the textbook list:

1.  Provide a complete list of the procedure used.  If you change any, be sure to note it.
2.  Procedures should be written in a cookbook fashion
3.  Procedures must be numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc., down the page, use a, b, c, d, etc. for sub-items

D.  Observations:  (10 points possible)

Provide a detailed, objective report of observations -- what you saw, heard, felt, tasted, smelled, etc -- when the experiment was performed.  (Charts and graphs which provide detail are encouraged.  These MUST be e-mailed as an attachment to me as stated in your assignment guidelines.)  A numbered list of observations works well here: a well-detailed list may be as many as 10 observations or more long.  You can also provide me with a narrative of your observations in paragraph form if you desire.

E.  Conclusions:  (10 points possible)

You must include the following three paragraphs in the following sequence:

Para 1 - An analysis of the data
Para 2 - Ways to improve the experiment
Para 3 - Ideas the experiment generated for further research

F.  Bibliography:  (10 points possible)

You must include the following four citations in alphabetical order:

Cit 1 - A reference for me as a class lecture or interview note in proper format as given in examples
Cit 2 - A reference for your textbook in proper format as given in examples
Cit 3 - Reference for your first outside resource in the proper format

Cit 3 - Reference for your second outside resource in the proper format