Experiment report is a formal document often mandatory for students and researchers and it is highly recommended to follow a formal structure unless you are writing an essay or you have a different official structure. Most universities, research institutes, scientific laboratories, and publications share the same general structure.
Title
There are different format requirements with only one major rule to follow, be concise and informative. Where “Social responsibility and convergence” is a vague title, however; “Effective convergence methods for social responsibility” is a more apt title for any official report, experiment reports should adopt the latter approach.
Abstract
The abstract is a meticulous summary of the experiment and its results. It is to give a precise account of what the reader should expect in the report.
It should cover your hypothesis or the objective of your experiment. Your approach towards the problem and the results all in one paragraph ideally under 250 words.
Introduction
Introduction is where you create the background of your experiment and inform users of why your experiment is crucial for your area of study. Ideally, you should cover what is the scope of the study, what are the questions and ambiguities that lead to your experiment, and the importance of your research.
Being the first part of the report it should be written in a manner that would lead the user from the background history towards the problem at hand through the problems faced by previous researchers. It is also often advised to take up this section at the end of the experiment.
Method or Methodology
The method of your experiments should be put into words down to the last details and the rationale for choosing that specific method whether quantitative or qualitative. It should be concise and include the number of participants, method for recording responses, and other such details.
It should explain your sample how you selected your sample and in the case of a qualitative method the rationale of your selected sample.
Results
You present your results in data form with little to no explanation of your results. This is basically where you turn your experiment into a quantifiable statistical document. You present your precise results.
It is however pertinent to include data in readable form, your primary data would be presented first and lead into your secondary data. There is no hard and fast format unless specified by your supervisor or the publication.
Discussion
This is where you provide an insight and explanation of your results. You make sense of the statistical data you have collected through your experiment and explain the significance of your study.
You also discuss whether or not your hypothesis was proved and the differences revealed by the data.
Reference List
Also titled Bibliography and Works Cited your reference list contains all the documents and material you have consulted for your experiment. This includes books, journals, articles, documents from the Internet, interviews, and films. Personal correspondence through email is cited within the document.
Appendices
This section contains raw and big chunks of data with excerpts used within the document, especially in the discussion and results. Some of the elements that would go into the appendix include; figures, tables, etc.
Here is a preview of a Free Sample Experiment Report Template created using MS Word,
Here is the download link for this Experiment Report Template,