!!!how to do a perfect report for practical? (1 Viewer)

[tigerchenyanhu]

can anyone good at doing phyics practical tell us any tips or things have to be done etc...to make a good report? thank u for ur help! i am just so confused about how to write a correct conclusion.......

 

[Tommy_Lamp]

just make sure you follow the practical layout.
Hypothesis:
Equipment:
Method:
Calculations if necessary:
Results:
Discussion:
Conclusion:
Errors:

the conclusion is generally an answer to your hypothesis

 

[t-i-m-m-y]

my fool-proof method:

Aim- states aims of experiment, questions you want to answer
Hypothesis- states what you predict the answers to the aims are
Method- how you did it
Results- graphs, tables, figures
Discussion- error, dicsussion of results, safety, improvements etc.
Conclusion- was your hypothesis right? yes or no.

thats the format
style: formal, objective, past tense, third person

 

[chazza]

doesn't the Conclusion, just answer the aim???

 

[t-i-m-m-y]

yes it does, but you should point out whether or not the hypothesis was correct.

eg Conclusion: It was found out that xxx reacted with yyy in the presence of zzz. The hypothesis was correct

thats a simple example; but shows what i'm saying

 

[tigerchenyanhu]

how about ..

if the aim is teated the validity of something howcan i make a conclusion?

 

[Assasinator_2]

This is the layout i always followed. It's never failed me.

Firstly, ALWAYS WRITE IN THIRD PERSON, PAST TENSE. IE: "The test tube was then put in the beaker of boiling water, and heated to 80 degrees celcius."
NOT: "John put the test tube in the beaker of boiling water, and in the process, burnt his hand and killed 3 small house cats."

Aim - What you aim to get out of the experiment. IE: To find out the effects of putting 25000 volts through a science teacher', or 'To find the impact resistance of a footy jock's head to various hammers.'

Hypothesis: What you think the result will be: Ie: "Mr Teacher will not be able to handle 25000 volts, and this will be apparent when he is reduced to ash from the practical."

Materials: What the hell you use. Do in point form. ie: - Large fuckoff power supply.

Method: write in 3rd person, past tense. always. In complete sentences. ie: Firstly, the probes were hooked up to the teacher. Then, the power supply was turned on. All observations were recorded.

Results: List a table of results. Do not discuss them here, just list any results obtained.

Discussion: This is the marks winner. Make it the major written part of the report. Discuss why you got the results, and if any errors, why those errors could be. absolutely rape the ability to talk about inaccuracies in equipment to justify slightly wrong errors. IE: "Despite being unexpected, when 25000 volts were applied to the teacher, he managed to sing "God save the Queen" in latin. This can be put down to the fact that in a past life, he was once the Prince of Egypt"

Conclusion: Refer to your hyptohesis, stating whether it was proven or disproven. Also state whether the aim of the experiment was fulfilled or not. Should be no more than 3 or so lines.

I know it's a brief rundown, but this always won me my marks. If i can be bothered, i may or may not put up an example from one of my practicals that i did.

Good luck.

Edit: read T-I-M-M-Y's post. his method is pretty much the same as mine, and covers points i forgot.
Edit#2: rephrased aim to be statements, not questions, ala: helper's point

 

[PenelopeK]

assasinator: could u put up one of ur pracs please.. it would really help to see an example as i have never been good at writing up pracs

 

[helper]

Be careful of aims. They should not be questions, rather a statement of intention.

Eg for assasinators.
AIM: To investigate the effect of voltage on the ability of a science teacher to survive.

OR Generally

To investigate the effect of ______X____________ on _______Y_________.
Where X is your independent variable and Y is you dependent variable.

Don't use the terms: To observe, To see etc as these are referring to your observations not what you are trying to find out.

Method:
Be specific with what observations you want to make.
What the observations are to be made with
What analysis you want done with the results.
Remember repitition and a large sample size.
Remember to control everything except for your dependent and independent variables.

 

[Assasinator_2]

Good point by helper: do aim as a statement, not question.

1 tic, and i'll upload one of mine (note: i never got perfect marks, but i generally got like 4/5, 4.5/5, etc)

here it is: clicky excuse the fact that it's in .rtf. i dont have word installed on this computer at the moment.

first note: it wont' have an aim, as this particualr one we were told to follow osme guide that didn't have aim, but had introduction or some bullshit. if i find a better example, i'll also upload that.
Addition: hmm, it seems i dont have any from senior chem with the aim/hypothesis in. i had to follow a guide that didnb't have that, but it gives most of an idea of a prac report anyway. i guess you might just have to think for yourself instead

as i said, not a perfect one, but it gives a rough idea of how to do one. note on this one i broke the method into 3 parts, though normally you'd just do 1 part. also optional to put all results in their respective parts (ie: part 1 method, part 1 results, part 2 method, part 2 resutls, etc)

ps: ignroe hte title page, i tried to mark it off with a ------ line. my chem teacher was a champ with a sense of humour, hence the little quote.

IF anyone has any suggestions on improvements to it, feel free to add them so that people know what to fix up on mine to do better

 

[tigerchenyanhu]

Thanks Heaps!

Thank u very much for helping!
Thanks guys!

 

[freeak]

haha that was the most useful and entertaining post ever! although this was three years ago.. thanks so much, ill def be using it