19 Writing Lab Reports

Printed Page 515-516

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Research can take place in a lab or at a field site. Lab reports play an important role in the process of understanding a scientific problem and solving it in the real world.

Because communicating ideas in writing is central to the process of creating and publicizing knowledge, scientists and engineers spend a significant portion of their professional lives writing. Lab reports are one important way they communicate the results of their work. Adding new knowledge to a field is the collective effort of many people, each contributing information and ideas and building on the work of others. Although scientists and engineers might work alone or in small groups in a lab, if they want to contribute to their fields, they must convince readers that their findings are valid. For this reason, the ability to write clearly and persuasively is both necessary and valued in the sciences and engineering.