SUMMET 2009 - Chemistry Lab Report

There is no page limit, however, I would NOT recommend exceeding 15 pages unless you are very
familiar with the concept. I will take off for random ranting or repetitive statements (try to not repeat
more than twice). If your report is less than 3 pages, something is probably wrong.

General Requirements:
Fonts: 10-12 pts. Times, Calibri, Arial, Verdana, Georgia, Courier – in other words, legible
Spacing: 1.5 – 2 spacing. This is 1.15, please make it bigger than this so I can mark up your labs 
Page number
Title page age is NOT numbered and abstract should go on that page. Should include: Lab title, date,
your name, your partner (if you have one), school/program, instructor.

Abstract: [10 pts]

It is a briefing of what your lab report will cover and a brief summary of results, and any significance
finding you discovered. (one paragraph, no more than ½ page. A rule of thumb, abstract is about 1/10 of
your total lab report length)

Introduction: [10 pts]

Give background of your topic, and a brief summary of the concepts behind the lab. (Depending on how
in-depth you go, ranged between ½ to 1 ½ pages)

Suggested concepts to be talked about:

- Concept of neutralization
- Concept of the pH indicator
- What is acid/base
- What is titration
- (*) What is weak acid?
- (*) Expected effect of weak acid and strong base titration.

Experimental: [10 pts]

It is like your procedure. I prefer if you guys wrote it in 3rd person and past tense. Paragraph form is
required. (I would imagine about ½ to 1 pages unless you deviated from procedure, which is fine if you
receive my approval prior).
 - Example: “Iron II Chloride was added to the 0.5 M KOH solution after 5 minutes…”
- You do not need to include drying and cleaning of your glass wear unless you
deviated from instruction
- Explicitly state carefully what you did differently than the procedure given to you

Data: [15 pts]

Put a SUMMARY of your data in a excel table and copy it into the report. ONLY include trials you plan on
talking about. Say you have a trial you completely messed up, well then, don’t include it. Include any
graphs, statistical analysis (average, standard deviation, etc), and tables that is needed to show your
results.

(suggested ½ page for data in numbers as a chart, and about ½ page on any written observations –
optional)

Discussion: [30 pts]

Discus what you’re results mean, aka= data analysis. Show any equations used in calculations.

Discus anything that may have been wrong in your lab, that could cause screwy results.

Some suggested ideas:

- (*) discus how errors in part I of lab when finding the concentration of NaOH could
cause errors in part II and why.
- Can the pH indicator itself mess up the numbers?
- Random error in reading? Systematic error in consistent errors?
- If you know how to do error propagation = 5 pts extra credit

Conclusion: [5 pts]

This part is a summary of your findings and any future recommendations (ie. use DI water instead of
tap)(one paragraph)

Attachments (optional)

- A page of work with sample numbers.

- Preferred to be typed

Each section is graded based off of:

  Content material
 Concise, coherent, and clarity
 Accuracy
 NOT MAKING UP DATA – If you get bad data, explain it.
 How in-depth the analysis it is (this part is mostly on discussion)

Remaining of 20 points is based off:

1. Neatness, organization, style [10 pts]

2. Labeling all your graphs and tables used (ie. Table 1, Figure 1) with captions and etc [5 pts]
3. Grammar, basic English. [5 pts]
- I know this isn’t an English class, but I need to be able to know what you are saying.
You’ll be marked down if I go “huh??? What are you talking about?”

(*) = only applicable if you were able to make it to part II of the lab. These are bonuses to add in your
report that if you do it correctly, it gives me a chance to grant extra credit.