5.1 Lab Report and Lab Memo
Within a Lab Report, data presentation, analysis, and explanation should be thorough and should make no
assumptions about the reader’s knowledge of the laboratory background or experiment. A Lab Memo assumes
that the reader is familiar with the background and procedure of a specific lab, but includes what results were
obtained, answers discussion questions, and provides general conclusions and recommendations.
Different instructors or even employers may ask for different content based on the situation and their specific
needs or interests, but the organization and information outlined here will provide a solid foundation to build on
and adapt in the future.
As always, defer to the specific assignment requirements and documentation for your class and instructor.
Outlined in this chapter are the general guidelines, but there may be some variation in practice. For example, in
some cases an instructor might ask that each team member write a Conclusion or Summary, but at other times
a single Conclusion or Summary will be written by the group.
Lab Reports and Lab Memos should be written in paragraph form, using headings for main sections like
Introduction, Experimental Methodology, etc. There is no length stipulation; however, a lab memo will be
shorter than a lab report.
Lab Report
Wind Turbine Lab Report
Submitted to:
Inst. Name
GTA Name
Created by:
Team Letter
Team Member 1
Team Member 2
Team Member 3
Team Member 4
Engineering 1181
The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH
Date Month Year
Executive Summary
An executive summary is often provided at the beginning of a report to provide a summary to readers who may
or may not wish to read the full report. An executive summary might also be a standalone document, described
here. The executive summary should be one page in length with no subheadings. When included with a Lab
Report, the summary should not include or reference tables and figures within the report. It is acceptable to
repeat information from the rest of the lab report, however the summary should not include any new
information or conclusions that are not already stated elsewhere. For this reason, it is advisable to write the
executive summary last.
See Executive Summary for a complete content and writing guide.
Table of Contents
Formal documents often contain a Table of Contents to help users find specific information or sections. Each
major section should be listed in the ToC with the page number.
Introduction 1
Experimental Methodology 1
Results 2
Discussion 4
Conclusions & Recommendations 6
References 7
Appendix A 8
Appendix B 10
Appendix C 11