Genre Analysis

Genre Analysis

Lab Report

Description

Scientific research is a group activity. Individual scientists perform experiments to test hypotheses about biological phenomena. After experiments are completed and duplicated, researchers attempt to persuade others to accept or reject their hypotheses by presenting the data and their interpretations.

Audience

The audiences of the lab reports are other scientists for review. If the results stand up to criticism, they become part of the accepted body of scientific knowledge unless later disproved. In some cases, a report may not be persuasive in nature but instead is an archival record for future generations (http://www.writing.eng.vt.edu).

Purpose

A scientific research report is a primary means of communication among scientists and researchers. It allows an individual researcher or team or researchers with similar interests to share their findings and ideas with their peers in an organized and official manner (http://www.writing.eng.vt.edu).

Persona

The formal lab reports you will write as an undergraduate student are modeled on the reports written and submitted by scientists, professors and other researchers to professional and scientific journals. These reports are peer reviewed and, if accepted for publication, are published in journals available globally. Scientists and researchers read these journal articles, and use the information to further their own research or to collaborate with others. This is how the body of knowledge in a certain discipline grows.

Context

Laboratory reports are written for several reasons. One reason is to communicate the laboratory work to management. In such situations, management often bases company decisions on the results of the report. Another reason to write laboratory reports is to archive the work so that the work will not have to be done in the future (http://www.writing.eng.vt.edu).

Experimental Report

Description

Even though experimental reports offer many advantages, they do have limitations. For instance, experimentation cannot be performed when variables such as gender, personality traits, or ethnicity are under study ...