Lab Report Format: Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, Ph.D., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years experience of working in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

In psychology, a lab report outlines a study’s objectives, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions, ensuring clarity and adherence to APA (or relevant) formatting guidelines.

A typical lab report would include the following sections: title, abstract, introduction, method, results, and discussion.

The title page, abstract, references, and appendices are started on separate pages (subsections from the main body of the report are not). Use double-line spacing of text, font size 12, and include page numbers.

The report should have a thread of arguments linking the prediction in the introduction to the content of the discussion.

This must indicate what the study is about. It must include the variables under investigation. It should not be written as a question.

Title pages should be formatted in APA style .

The abstract provides a concise and comprehensive summary of a research report. Your style should be brief but not use note form. Look at examples in journal articles . It should aim to explain very briefly (about 150 words) the following:

  • Start with a one/two sentence summary, providing the aim and rationale for the study.
  • Describe participants and setting: who, when, where, how many, and what groups?
  • Describe the method: what design, what experimental treatment, what questionnaires, surveys, or tests were used.
  • Describe the major findings, including a mention of the statistics used and the significance levels, or simply one sentence summing up the outcome.
  • The final sentence(s) outline the study’s “contribution to knowledge” within the literature. What does it all mean? Mention the implications of your findings if appropriate.

The abstract comes at the beginning of your report but is written at the end (as it summarises information from all the other sections of the report).

Introduction

The purpose of the introduction is to explain where your hypothesis comes from (i.e., it should provide a rationale for your research study).

Ideally, the introduction should have a funnel structure: Start broad and then become more specific. The aims should not appear out of thin air; the preceding review of psychological literature should lead logically into the aims and hypotheses.

The funnel structure of the introducion to a lab report

  • Start with general theory, briefly introducing the topic. Define the important key terms.
  • Explain the theoretical framework.
  • Summarise and synthesize previous studies – What was the purpose? Who were the participants? What did they do? What did they find? What do these results mean? How do the results relate to the theoretical framework?
  • Rationale: How does the current study address a gap in the literature? Perhaps it overcomes a limitation of previous research.
  • Aims and hypothesis. Write a paragraph explaining what you plan to investigate and make a clear and concise prediction regarding the results you expect to find.

There should be a logical progression of ideas that aids the flow of the report. This means the studies outlined should lead logically to your aims and hypotheses.

Do be concise and selective, and avoid the temptation to include anything in case it is relevant (i.e., don’t write a shopping list of studies).

USE THE FOLLOWING SUBHEADINGS:

Participants

  • How many participants were recruited?
  • Say how you obtained your sample (e.g., opportunity sample).
  • Give relevant demographic details (e.g., gender, ethnicity, age range, mean age, and standard deviation).
  • State the experimental design .
  • What were the independent and dependent variables ? Make sure the independent variable is labeled and name the different conditions/levels.
  • For example, if gender is the independent variable label, then male and female are the levels/conditions/groups.
  • How were the IV and DV operationalized?
  • Identify any controls used, e.g., counterbalancing and control of extraneous variables.
  • List all the materials and measures (e.g., what was the title of the questionnaire? Was it adapted from a study?).
  • You do not need to include wholesale replication of materials – instead, include a ‘sensible’ (illustrate) level of detail. For example, give examples of questionnaire items.
  • Include the reliability (e.g., alpha values) for the measure(s).
  • Describe the precise procedure you followed when conducting your research, i.e., exactly what you did.
  • Describe in sufficient detail to allow for replication of findings.
  • Be concise in your description and omit extraneous/trivial details, e.g., you don’t need to include details regarding instructions, debrief, record sheets, etc.
  • Assume the reader has no knowledge of what you did and ensure that he/she can replicate (i.e., copy) your study exactly by what you write in this section.
  • Write in the past tense.
  • Don’t justify or explain in the Method (e.g., why you chose a particular sampling method); just report what you did.
  • Only give enough detail for someone to replicate the experiment – be concise in your writing.
  • The results section of a paper usually presents descriptive statistics followed by inferential statistics.
  • Report the means, standard deviations, and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each IV level. If you have four to 20 numbers to present, a well-presented table is best, APA style.
  • Name the statistical test being used.
  • Report appropriate statistics (e.g., t-scores, p values ).
  • Report the magnitude (e.g., are the results significant or not?) as well as the direction of the results (e.g., which group performed better?).
  • It is optional to report the effect size (this does not appear on the SPSS output).
  • Avoid interpreting the results (save this for the discussion).
  • Make sure the results are presented clearly and concisely. A table can be used to display descriptive statistics if this makes the data easier to understand.
  • DO NOT include any raw data.
  • Follow APA style.

Use APA Style

  • Numbers reported to 2 d.p. (incl. 0 before the decimal if 1.00, e.g., “0.51”). The exceptions to this rule: Numbers which can never exceed 1.0 (e.g., p -values, r-values): report to 3 d.p. and do not include 0 before the decimal place, e.g., “.001”.
  • Percentages and degrees of freedom: report as whole numbers.
  • Statistical symbols that are not Greek letters should be italicized (e.g., M , SD , t , X 2 , F , p , d ).
  • Include spaces on either side of the equals sign.
  • When reporting 95%, CIs (confidence intervals), upper and lower limits are given inside square brackets, e.g., “95% CI [73.37, 102.23]”
  • Outline your findings in plain English (avoid statistical jargon) and relate your results to your hypothesis, e.g., is it supported or rejected?
  • Compare your results to background materials from the introduction section. Are your results similar or different? Discuss why/why not.
  • How confident can we be in the results? Acknowledge limitations, but only if they can explain the result obtained. If the study has found a reliable effect, be very careful suggesting limitations as you are doubting your results. Unless you can think of any c onfounding variable that can explain the results instead of the IV, it would be advisable to leave the section out.
  • Suggest constructive ways to improve your study if appropriate.
  • What are the implications of your findings? Say what your findings mean for how people behave in the real world.
  • Suggest an idea for further research triggered by your study, something in the same area but not simply an improved version of yours. Perhaps you could base this on a limitation of your study.
  • Concluding paragraph – Finish with a statement of your findings and the key points of the discussion (e.g., interpretation and implications) in no more than 3 or 4 sentences.

Reference Page

The reference section lists all the sources cited in the essay (alphabetically). It is not a bibliography (a list of the books you used).

In simple terms, every time you refer to a psychologist’s name (and date), you need to reference the original source of information.

If you have been using textbooks this is easy as the references are usually at the back of the book and you can just copy them down. If you have been using websites then you may have a problem as they might not provide a reference section for you to copy.

References need to be set out APA style :

Author, A. A. (year). Title of work . Location: Publisher.

Journal Articles

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Article title. Journal Title, volume number (issue number), page numbers

A simple way to write your reference section is to use Google scholar . Just type the name and date of the psychologist in the search box and click on the “cite” link.

google scholar search results

Next, copy and paste the APA reference into the reference section of your essay.

apa reference

Once again, remember that references need to be in alphabetical order according to surname.

Psychology Lab Report Example

Quantitative paper template.

Quantitative professional paper template: Adapted from “Fake News, Fast and Slow: Deliberation Reduces Belief in False (but Not True) News Headlines,” by B. Bago, D. G. Rand, and G. Pennycook, 2020,  Journal of Experimental Psychology: General ,  149 (8), pp. 1608–1613 ( https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000729 ). Copyright 2020 by the American Psychological Association.

Qualitative paper template

Qualitative professional paper template: Adapted from “‘My Smartphone Is an Extension of Myself’: A Holistic Qualitative Exploration of the Impact of Using a Smartphone,” by L. J. Harkin and D. Kuss, 2020,  Psychology of Popular Media ,  10 (1), pp. 28–38 ( https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000278 ). Copyright 2020 by the American Psychological Association.

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  • How to Write Discussions and Conclusions

How to Write Discussions and Conclusions

The discussion section contains the results and outcomes of a study. An effective discussion informs readers what can be learned from your experiment and provides context for the results.

What makes an effective discussion?

When you’re ready to write your discussion, you’ve already introduced the purpose of your study and provided an in-depth description of the methodology. The discussion informs readers about the larger implications of your study based on the results. Highlighting these implications while not overstating the findings can be challenging, especially when you’re submitting to a journal that selects articles based on novelty or potential impact. Regardless of what journal you are submitting to, the discussion section always serves the same purpose: concluding what your study results actually mean.

A successful discussion section puts your findings in context. It should include:

  • the results of your research,
  • a discussion of related research, and
  • a comparison between your results and initial hypothesis.

Tip: Not all journals share the same naming conventions.

You can apply the advice in this article to the conclusion, results or discussion sections of your manuscript.

Our Early Career Researcher community tells us that the conclusion is often considered the most difficult aspect of a manuscript to write. To help, this guide provides questions to ask yourself, a basic structure to model your discussion off of and examples from published manuscripts. 

how to write a good discussion for a psychology lab report

Questions to ask yourself:

  • Was my hypothesis correct?
  • If my hypothesis is partially correct or entirely different, what can be learned from the results? 
  • How do the conclusions reshape or add onto the existing knowledge in the field? What does previous research say about the topic? 
  • Why are the results important or relevant to your audience? Do they add further evidence to a scientific consensus or disprove prior studies? 
  • How can future research build on these observations? What are the key experiments that must be done? 
  • What is the “take-home” message you want your reader to leave with?

How to structure a discussion

Trying to fit a complete discussion into a single paragraph can add unnecessary stress to the writing process. If possible, you’ll want to give yourself two or three paragraphs to give the reader a comprehensive understanding of your study as a whole. Here’s one way to structure an effective discussion:

how to write a good discussion for a psychology lab report

Writing Tips

While the above sections can help you brainstorm and structure your discussion, there are many common mistakes that writers revert to when having difficulties with their paper. Writing a discussion can be a delicate balance between summarizing your results, providing proper context for your research and avoiding introducing new information. Remember that your paper should be both confident and honest about the results! 

What to do

  • Read the journal’s guidelines on the discussion and conclusion sections. If possible, learn about the guidelines before writing the discussion to ensure you’re writing to meet their expectations. 
  • Begin with a clear statement of the principal findings. This will reinforce the main take-away for the reader and set up the rest of the discussion. 
  • Explain why the outcomes of your study are important to the reader. Discuss the implications of your findings realistically based on previous literature, highlighting both the strengths and limitations of the research. 
  • State whether the results prove or disprove your hypothesis. If your hypothesis was disproved, what might be the reasons? 
  • Introduce new or expanded ways to think about the research question. Indicate what next steps can be taken to further pursue any unresolved questions. 
  • If dealing with a contemporary or ongoing problem, such as climate change, discuss possible consequences if the problem is avoided. 
  • Be concise. Adding unnecessary detail can distract from the main findings. 

What not to do

Don’t

  • Rewrite your abstract. Statements with “we investigated” or “we studied” generally do not belong in the discussion. 
  • Include new arguments or evidence not previously discussed. Necessary information and evidence should be introduced in the main body of the paper. 
  • Apologize. Even if your research contains significant limitations, don’t undermine your authority by including statements that doubt your methodology or execution. 
  • Shy away from speaking on limitations or negative results. Including limitations and negative results will give readers a complete understanding of the presented research. Potential limitations include sources of potential bias, threats to internal or external validity, barriers to implementing an intervention and other issues inherent to the study design. 
  • Overstate the importance of your findings. Making grand statements about how a study will fully resolve large questions can lead readers to doubt the success of the research. 

Snippets of Effective Discussions:

Consumer-based actions to reduce plastic pollution in rivers: A multi-criteria decision analysis approach

Identifying reliable indicators of fitness in polar bears

  • How to Write a Great Title
  • How to Write an Abstract
  • How to Write Your Methods
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How to Write a Psychology Lab Report

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

how to write a good discussion for a psychology lab report

 James Lacy, MLS, is a fact-checker and researcher.

how to write a good discussion for a psychology lab report

Introduction

Appendices and supplemental materials.

A psychology lab report is a paper that describes an experiment. A lab report is organized and written according to the format used in professional journal articles.

In your lab report, you will provide an overview of your findings, a background of the topic, your methods, and results. You'll also discuss your findings and your interpretations of the results.

At a Glance

A psychology lab report is structured in the same format as a professional journal article. It should include a:

  • Method section
  • Results section
  • Discussion section
  • Reference section
  • Appendix and supplementary materials (if needed)

Title Page of a Psychology Lab Report

This will be the first page of your lab report. It should include important information such as the name of your paper, your name, and your academic affiliation.

Your title should be relatively brief and provide a good idea about what your paper is about. Avoid titles that are too general and don't provide a clear description of what your lab report contains.

For example, instead of something general like "An experiment on memory," your title should be more clear and focused, such as, "The effects of sleep deprivation on short-term memory in college students."

Page two of your lab report will be an  abstract . The abstract is a brief description of what you set out to find in your research, how you went about it, and a general statement describing your findings.

Think of the abstract of your psychology lab report as a succinct summary of your experiment. It should explain your study's objectives, how you conducted the experiments, and what you discovered.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA) style guide, for most lab reports, the abstract should be kept to 250 words. However, the specific word count and format of abstract could vary depending on your instructor or the academic journal in which you plan to publish.

Your paper should begin with an introduction that describes previous findings regarding your topic of interest, explains the goals of your current research, and describes your hypothesis —what you expect to discover as a result of your research.

In this section, you essentially explain to your reader why you chose to do your experiment. If should give a good background on the topic, so that readers can get an idea about why your study will help fill a gap in our current understanding.

Your introduction will likely be several pages long to provide a thorough and sufficient overview of past research. You don't need to cover all of the research on the topic, but you should give readers a good overview of past research and findings.

The introduction of your psychology lab report should summarize the research and help readers understand why you are choosing to address new questions in your research. Be sure to cite all sources using proper APA format.

The next section of your lab report will be the method section . In this portion of your report, you will describe the procedures you used in your research. You'll include specific information such as the number of participants in your study, the background of each individual, your independent and dependent variables , and the type of experimental design you used.

The method section of a psychology lab report should be broken down into several different sub-sections:

  • Design : Describe the type of experimental design that you used
  • Participants : Describe the participants in your study, including their age, sex, and other characteristics
  • Apparatus : Describe any tools or resources that you used while conducting your experiment, such as equipment or questionnaires
  • Procedure : Provide the exact procedures that you used while carrying out your experiment

In the  results section  of your lab report, you'll describe the statistical data you gathered from your research. This section will likely be quite short; you don't need to include any interpretation of your results.

The goal of this part of your psychology lab report is to provide your results without trying to interpret what they might mean.

You should also include tables and figures to display statistical data and results. Be sure to only include tables and figures that you will talk about in the text.

The results section will likely be one of the shortest sections of your lab report. However, this might vary depending on how complex your experiment was and the type of statistical analyses you used.

Next, your lab report should include a discussion section. Here you'll interpret the results of your experiment and state whether your findings support your hypothesis.

You should start this section by once again stating your main results and whether or not they support the hypothesis you stated in your introduction.

You can also discuss how the results of your experiment relate to previous findings. You also should offer possible explanations for your findings and what they might mean in terms of future research on the topic.

Conclude this section of your psychology lab report by summarizing the main conclusions that you have drawn from your study.

After your discussion section, your lab report should include a list of the references you used in your experiment and lab report. Some key points to remember include:

  • All references cited in the text must be listed in the references section and vice versa
  • All references should be in APA format
  • Use a hanging indentation by indenting all lines of a reference after the first line by one-half inch
  • Provide author names by last names first, followed by their initials
  • Italicize journal and book titles
  • Alphabetize your reference section by author's last name

Example of Basic APA Format

Author, F. I. (Year). Title of the journal article. Title of the Journal in Italics, with the volume number (and issue number) , page numbers. https://doi.org/doinumber

Any tables or figures used to display your results should be included in the appendix of your lab report. For more detailed descriptions and examples of tables and figures, consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

What This Means For You

If you are a psychology student, you may need to write a psychology lab report at some point in your academic career. It can be a great way to get a better idea of how a professional journal article would be structured if you were to submit your work for publication. Knowing how to format a lab report can also help provide you with a better understanding of how psychology research is conducted and what these findings mean.

American Psychological Association. Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). 2020. doi:10.1037/0000165-000

Bavdekar SB, Chandak S.  Results: Unraveling the findings .  J Assoc Physicians India . 2015 Sep;63(9):44-6. PMID:27608866.

American Psychological Association.  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association  (7th ed.). The American Psychological Association, 2019.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Writing Studio

Writing a lab report: introduction and discussion section guide.

In an effort to make our handouts more accessible, we have begun converting our PDF handouts to web pages. Download this page as a PDF:   Writing a Lab Report Return to Writing Studio Handouts

Part 1 (of 2): Introducing a Lab Report

The introduction of a lab report states the objective of the experiment and provides the reader with background information. State the topic of your report clearly and concisely (in one or two sentences). Provide background theory, previous research, or formulas the reader should know. Usually, an instructor does not want you to repeat whatever the lab manual says, but to show your understanding of the problem.

Questions an Effective Lab Report Introduction Should Answer

What is the problem.

Describe the problem investigated. Summarize relevant research to provide context, key terms, and concepts so that your reader can understand the experiment.

Why is it important?

Review relevant research to provide a rationale for the investigation. What conflict, unanswered question, untested population, or untried method in existing research does your experiment address? How will you challenge or extend the findings of other researchers?

What solution (or step toward a solution) do you propose?

Briefly describe your experiment : hypothesis , research question , general experimental design or method , and a justification of your method (if alternatives exist).

Tips on Composing Your Lab Report’s Introduction

  • Move from the general to the specific – from a problem in research literature to the specifics of your experiment.
  • Engage your reader – answer the questions: “What did I do?” “Why should my reader care?”
  • Clarify the links between problem and solution, between question asked and research design, and between prior research and the specifics of your experiment.
  • Be selective, not exhaustive, in choosing studies to cite and the amount of detail to include. In general, the more relevant an article is to your study, the more space it deserves and the later in the introduction it appears.
  • Ask your instructor whether or not you should summarize results and/or conclusions in the Introduction.
  • “The objective of the experiment was …”
  • “The purpose of this report is …”
  • “Bragg’s Law for diffraction is …”
  • “The scanning electron microscope produces micrographs …”

Part 2 (of 2): Writing the “Discussion” Section of a Lab Report

The discussion is the most important part of your lab report, because here you show that you have not merely completed the experiment, but that you also understand its wider implications. The discussion section is reserved for putting experimental results in the context of the larger theory. Ask yourself: “What is the significance or meaning of the results?”

Elements of an Effective Discussion Section

What do the results indicate clearly? Based on your results, explain what you know with certainty and draw conclusions.

Interpretation

What is the significance of your results? What ambiguities exist? What are logical explanations for problems in the data? What questions might you raise about the methods used or the validity of the experiment? What can be logically deduced from your analysis?

Tips on the Discussion Section

1. explain your results in terms of theoretical issues..

How well has the theory been illustrated? What are the theoretical implications and practical applications of your results?

For each major result:

  • Describe the patterns, principles, and relationships that your results show.
  • Explain how your results relate to expectations and to literature cited in your Introduction. Explain any agreements, contradictions, or exceptions.
  • Describe what additional research might resolve contradictions or explain exceptions.

2. Relate results to your experimental objective(s).

If you set out to identify an unknown metal by finding its lattice parameter and its atomic structure, be sure that you have identified the metal and its attributes.

3. Compare expected results with those obtained.

If there were differences, how can you account for them? Were the instruments able to measure precisely? Was the sample contaminated? Did calculated values take account of friction?

4. Analyze experimental error along with the strengths and limitations of the experiment’s design.

Were any errors avoidable? Were they the result of equipment?  If the flaws resulted from the experiment design, explain how the design might be improved. Consider, as well, the precision of the instruments that were used.

5. Compare your results to similar investigations.

In some cases, it is legitimate to compare outcomes with classmates, not in order to change your answer, but in order to look for and to account for or analyze any anomalies between the groups. Also, consider comparing your results to published scientific literature on the topic.

The “Introducing a Lab Report” guide was adapted from the University of Toronto Engineering Communications Centre and University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center.

The “Writing the Discussion Section of a Lab Report” resource was adapted from the University of Toronto Engineering Communications Centre and University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center.

Last revised: 07/2008 | Adapted for web delivery: 02/2021

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Writing the Experimental Report: Overview, Introductions, and Literature Reviews

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Written for undergraduate students and new graduate students in psychology (experimental), this handout provides information on writing in psychology and on experimental report and experimental article writing.

Experimental reports (also known as "lab reports") are reports of empirical research conducted by their authors. You should think of an experimental report as a "story" of your research in which you lead your readers through your experiment. As you are telling this story, you are crafting an argument about both the validity and reliability of your research, what your results mean, and how they fit into other previous work.

These next two sections provide an overview of the experimental report in APA format. Always check with your instructor, advisor, or journal editor for specific formatting guidelines.

General-specific-general format

Experimental reports follow a general to specific to general pattern. Your report will start off broadly in your introduction and discussion of the literature; the report narrows as it leads up to your specific hypotheses, methods, and results. Your discussion transitions from talking about your specific results to more general ramifications, future work, and trends relating to your research.

Experimental reports in APA format have a title page. Title page formatting is as follows:

  • A running head and page number in the upper right corner (right aligned)
  • A definition of running head in IN ALL CAPS below the running head (left aligned)
  • Vertically and horizontally centered paper title, followed by author and affiliation

Please see our sample APA title page .

Crafting your story

Before you begin to write, carefully consider your purpose in writing: what is it that you discovered, would like to share, or would like to argue? You can see report writing as crafting a story about your research and your findings. Consider the following.

  • What is the story you would like to tell?
  • What literature best speaks to that story?
  • How do your results tell the story?
  • How can you discuss the story in broad terms?

During each section of your paper, you should be focusing on your story. Consider how each sentence, each paragraph, and each section contributes to your overall purpose in writing. Here is a description of one student's process.

Briel is writing an experimental report on her results from her experimental psychology lab class. She was interested in looking at the role gender plays in persuading individuals to take financial risks. After her data analysis, she finds that men are more easily persuaded by women to take financial risks and that men are generally willing to take more financial risks.

When Briel begins to write, she focuses her introduction on financial risk taking and gender, focusing on male behaviors. She then presents relevant literature on financial risk taking and gender that help illuminate her own study, but also help demonstrate the need for her own work. Her introduction ends with a study overview that directly leads from the literature review. Because she has already broadly introduced her study through her introduction and literature review, her readers can anticipate where she is going when she gets to her study overview. Her methods and results continue that story. Finally, her discussion concludes that story, discussing her findings, implications of her work, and the need for more research in the area of gender and financial risk taking.

The abstract gives a concise summary of the contents of the report.

  • Abstracts should be brief (about 100 words)
  • Abstracts should be self-contained and provide a complete picture of what the study is about
  • Abstracts should be organized just like your experimental report—introduction, literature review, methods, results and discussion
  • Abstracts should be written last during your drafting stage

Introduction

The introduction in an experimental article should follow a general to specific pattern, where you first introduce the problem generally and then provide a short overview of your own study. The introduction includes three parts: opening statements, literature review, and study overview.

Opening statements: Define the problem broadly in plain English and then lead into the literature review (this is the "general" part of the introduction). Your opening statements should already be setting the stage for the story you are going to tell.

Literature review: Discusses literature (previous studies) relevant to your current study in a concise manner. Keep your story in mind as you organize your lit review and as you choose what literature to include. The following are tips when writing your literature review.

  • You should discuss studies that are directly related to your problem at hand and that logically lead to your own hypotheses.
  • You do not need to provide a complete historical overview nor provide literature that is peripheral to your own study.
  • Studies should be presented based on themes or concepts relevant to your research, not in a chronological format.
  • You should also consider what gap in the literature your own research fills. What hasn't been examined? What does your work do that others have not?

Study overview: The literature review should lead directly into the last section of the introduction—your study overview. Your short overview should provide your hypotheses and briefly describe your method. The study overview functions as a transition to your methods section.

You should always give good, descriptive names to your hypotheses that you use consistently throughout your study. When you number hypotheses, readers must go back to your introduction to find them, which makes your piece more difficult to read. Using descriptive names reminds readers what your hypotheses were and allows for better overall flow.

In our example above, Briel had three different hypotheses based on previous literature. Her first hypothesis, the "masculine risk-taking hypothesis" was that men would be more willing to take financial risks overall. She clearly named her hypothesis in the study overview, and then referred back to it in her results and discussion sections.

Thais and Sanford (2000) recommend the following organization for introductions.

  • Provide an introduction to your topic
  • Provide a very concise overview of the literature
  • State your hypotheses and how they connect to the literature
  • Provide an overview of the methods for investigation used in your research

Bem (2006) provides the following rules of thumb for writing introductions.

  • Write in plain English
  • Take the time and space to introduce readers to your problem step-by-step; do not plunge them into the middle of the problem without an introduction
  • Use examples to illustrate difficult or unfamiliar theories or concepts. The more complicated the concept or theory, the more important it is to have clear examples
  • Open with a discussion about people and their behavior, not about psychologists and their research

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Discussion or Conclusion

Test yourself (discussion).

Once you've discussed the most important findings of your study in the Results section, you will use the Discussion section to interpret those findings and talk about why they are important (some instructors call this the Conclusion section). You might want to talk about how your results agree, or disagree, with the results from similar studies. Here you can also mention areas ways you could have improved your study or further research to be done on the topic. Do not just restate your results - talk about why they are significant and important. Here's a paragraph taken from the Discussion from the bone fracture paper. Notice how the authors relate their results to what is already known about the topic. The numbers in brackets refer to references listed at the end of their paper (not shown here).

The data indicate that avoiding a low level of physical activity substantially reduces the risk of all fractures, particularly hip fractures—the most devastating of osteoporotic fractures—in men. Even changes in physical activity during the follow-up affected hip fracture risk. As expected, those who maintained a high physical activity level had the lowest risk of hip fracture, but there was also a tendency towards a lower risk of fracture for those who increased their level of activity compared with those who reduced their level of activity, or compared with those who reported constant low activity. This observation has previously been made in women [8,16]. There are several possible mechanisms, related to muscle performance and balance as well as to bone architecture and strength, whereby physical activity can reduce the risk of fractures [28,29].

Which of the following is a good example of a sentence you would find in the Discussion section of a lab report?

a. Ten dogs with no previous training were selected for the study. b. Unlike in previous studies on dog training, most of the dogs in this study retained the ability to perform tricks for up to six weeks after the initial training sessions. c. Seven of the ten dogs learned how to "sit" after three training sessions. d. It was hypothesized that the dogs would be able to retain all of the training commands for six weeks after the initial training sessions.

B The Discussion should interpret the findings from the study and relate them to other similar studies. It is not the place to talk about the results, the methods use, or the original hypothesis.

Click on the question, to see the answer.

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  • How to Write a Discussion Section | Tips & Examples

How to Write a Discussion Section | Tips & Examples

Published on August 21, 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 18, 2023.

Discussion section flow chart

The discussion section is where you delve into the meaning, importance, and relevance of your results .

It should focus on explaining and evaluating what you found, showing how it relates to your literature review and paper or dissertation topic , and making an argument in support of your overall conclusion. It should not be a second results section.

There are different ways to write this section, but you can focus your writing around these key elements:

  • Summary : A brief recap of your key results
  • Interpretations: What do your results mean?
  • Implications: Why do your results matter?
  • Limitations: What can’t your results tell us?
  • Recommendations: Avenues for further studies or analyses

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Table of contents

What not to include in your discussion section, step 1: summarize your key findings, step 2: give your interpretations, step 3: discuss the implications, step 4: acknowledge the limitations, step 5: share your recommendations, discussion section example, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about discussion sections.

There are a few common mistakes to avoid when writing the discussion section of your paper.

  • Don’t introduce new results: You should only discuss the data that you have already reported in your results section .
  • Don’t make inflated claims: Avoid overinterpretation and speculation that isn’t directly supported by your data.
  • Don’t undermine your research: The discussion of limitations should aim to strengthen your credibility, not emphasize weaknesses or failures.

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how to write a good discussion for a psychology lab report

Start this section by reiterating your research problem and concisely summarizing your major findings. To speed up the process you can use a summarizer to quickly get an overview of all important findings. Don’t just repeat all the data you have already reported—aim for a clear statement of the overall result that directly answers your main research question . This should be no more than one paragraph.

Many students struggle with the differences between a discussion section and a results section . The crux of the matter is that your results sections should present your results, and your discussion section should subjectively evaluate them. Try not to blend elements of these two sections, in order to keep your paper sharp.

  • The results indicate that…
  • The study demonstrates a correlation between…
  • This analysis supports the theory that…
  • The data suggest that…

The meaning of your results may seem obvious to you, but it’s important to spell out their significance for your reader, showing exactly how they answer your research question.

The form of your interpretations will depend on the type of research, but some typical approaches to interpreting the data include:

  • Identifying correlations , patterns, and relationships among the data
  • Discussing whether the results met your expectations or supported your hypotheses
  • Contextualizing your findings within previous research and theory
  • Explaining unexpected results and evaluating their significance
  • Considering possible alternative explanations and making an argument for your position

You can organize your discussion around key themes, hypotheses, or research questions, following the same structure as your results section. Alternatively, you can also begin by highlighting the most significant or unexpected results.

  • In line with the hypothesis…
  • Contrary to the hypothesized association…
  • The results contradict the claims of Smith (2022) that…
  • The results might suggest that x . However, based on the findings of similar studies, a more plausible explanation is y .

As well as giving your own interpretations, make sure to relate your results back to the scholarly work that you surveyed in the literature review . The discussion should show how your findings fit with existing knowledge, what new insights they contribute, and what consequences they have for theory or practice.

Ask yourself these questions:

  • Do your results support or challenge existing theories? If they support existing theories, what new information do they contribute? If they challenge existing theories, why do you think that is?
  • Are there any practical implications?

Your overall aim is to show the reader exactly what your research has contributed, and why they should care.

  • These results build on existing evidence of…
  • The results do not fit with the theory that…
  • The experiment provides a new insight into the relationship between…
  • These results should be taken into account when considering how to…
  • The data contribute a clearer understanding of…
  • While previous research has focused on  x , these results demonstrate that y .

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Even the best research has its limitations. Acknowledging these is important to demonstrate your credibility. Limitations aren’t about listing your errors, but about providing an accurate picture of what can and cannot be concluded from your study.

Limitations might be due to your overall research design, specific methodological choices , or unanticipated obstacles that emerged during your research process.

Here are a few common possibilities:

  • If your sample size was small or limited to a specific group of people, explain how generalizability is limited.
  • If you encountered problems when gathering or analyzing data, explain how these influenced the results.
  • If there are potential confounding variables that you were unable to control, acknowledge the effect these may have had.

After noting the limitations, you can reiterate why the results are nonetheless valid for the purpose of answering your research question.

  • The generalizability of the results is limited by…
  • The reliability of these data is impacted by…
  • Due to the lack of data on x , the results cannot confirm…
  • The methodological choices were constrained by…
  • It is beyond the scope of this study to…

Based on the discussion of your results, you can make recommendations for practical implementation or further research. Sometimes, the recommendations are saved for the conclusion .

Suggestions for further research can lead directly from the limitations. Don’t just state that more studies should be done—give concrete ideas for how future work can build on areas that your own research was unable to address.

  • Further research is needed to establish…
  • Future studies should take into account…
  • Avenues for future research include…

Discussion section example

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In the discussion , you explore the meaning and relevance of your research results , explaining how they fit with existing research and theory. Discuss:

  • Your  interpretations : what do the results tell us?
  • The  implications : why do the results matter?
  • The  limitation s : what can’t the results tell us?

The results chapter or section simply and objectively reports what you found, without speculating on why you found these results. The discussion interprets the meaning of the results, puts them in context, and explains why they matter.

In qualitative research , results and discussion are sometimes combined. But in quantitative research , it’s considered important to separate the objective results from your interpretation of them.

In a thesis or dissertation, the discussion is an in-depth exploration of the results, going into detail about the meaning of your findings and citing relevant sources to put them in context.

The conclusion is more shorter and more general: it concisely answers your main research question and makes recommendations based on your overall findings.

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Writing Lab Reports: Discussion

Keys to the discussion .

Purpose : Why do we care? Relative size : 40-45% of total Scope : Narrow to broad: the bottom of the hourglass Verb Tense : Use the past tense to refer to results from your experiment or from other studies (e.g., the results supported my hypothesis that). Use the present to suggest implication of your study (e.g., these results suggest that...). Use the future or conditional to suggest what you will study in the future (e.g., future studies should investigate...)

The discussion offers an analysis of the experiment.

The purpose of the discussion section is to provide a brief summary of your results, relate them to your hypotheses, and put them into context within the field of research. This is the most substantial section of your report, and where you will include your unique interpretations and ideas. The discussion must therefore address the following essential questions: 

  • Did find what you expected to?
  • How do your findings compare to those of previous studies?
  • What are the implications of your findings?
  • What should be studied next?

Remember that this section forms the bottom of the hourglass – it should mirror the introduction by first focusing on your hypotheses and interpretation of results, and then gradually expanding to make comparisons with previous research, to provide implications of your study and to pose questions for future work – and completes the cycle of the scientific method.

Discussion Section Details

Support or reject hypotheses : Begin by stating whether your results supported your hypotheses or not; remember not to say that you proved anything – you can only support or reject hypotheses. You may also briefly summarize your results.

Interpret and compare results : Do your results make sense? Why do you think you found what you did? Compare your results to those of other studies. Do they differ? If so, how and why? Use literature to support your arguments, statements, and generalizations.

Discuss factors influencing results : Were there any anomalies in your data? Discuss any errors, inconsistencies, assumptions, or other factors that may have influenced the outcome of your study. If you were to repeat your study, would you do anything differently?

Discuss implications : How do your results contribute to existing research? Why was your study important?

Propose ideas for future research : Did your research generate questions for future research? What are the next steps in this field of study?

A good discussion section should…

  • Mirror the introduction in structure and scope
  • Support or reject your hypotheses
  • Explain how your results compare with existing research
  • Discuss any issues with your study
  • Propose questions for future research

A good discussion section should NOT…

  • Repeat detailed results
  • Refer to tables, figures, or appendices
  • State that anything was “proven”
  • Extrapolate beyond the scope of the paper

Back to Writing Lab Reports

< Abstract | Method >

3: introduction.

The Introduction begins on page 3 of the report. By convention, the Introduction does not have a heading. The purpose of the Introduction is to outline the problem to which the research was addressed and the theoretical perspective and approach taken.

The Introduction provides the reader with a review of the relevant literature. The literature review is, however, not simply a summary of all that you have read. Rather, it is carefully constructed. It sometimes helps to think of the structure of the Introduction rather like a funnel. It starts broadly, beginning with the broad context of the problem, and becomes more focused on the specific issue or issues within the relevant literature. Furthermore, and most importantly, it should lead naturally to the statement of the research aims and hypotheses that end the Introduction. It is not simply a summary of all that you have read because, having read a well-written Introduction, the reader should be able to answer the following questions:

  • Before the research was undertaken (that is to be outlined in the report), What exactly was known already concerning the problem ?
  • On the basis of what evidence ?
  • What was not known about the problem ?
  • Why is that ? It might be, for example, that there was something rather puzzling in the existing literature, perhaps because of an inconsistency in findings, or perhaps researchers had omitted or neglected an important issue.
  • What exactly needed to be done in order to seek to shed further light on the problem ? Also, how did it need to be done ?

To the extent that the Introduction clearly addresses these questions, it provides the rationale for the research, for its theoretical framework, and for the approach taken. Having read an Introduction that has been carefully written with these goals in mind, the reader should be persuaded that the research was needed and that the way it was undertaken was the appropriate one.

So, the following points are intended as a useful guide for writing a psychology laboratory report Introduction:

  • Start by outlining the general topic , broadly identifying the context in which the research problem is best understood;
  • Critically review the existing literature relevant to the research problem, being sure to provide sufficient detail about past research, and especially the methodology used, where relevant. That is, be sure to tell the reader what was known already and the evidence on which that knowledge existed, what was not known (prior to your research), why the knowledge was not available, and what exactly was needed to provide that understanding;
  • Consider carefully whether the most logical organization of the summary of previous research (for example, sometimes the relevant research is best covered chronologically, as when the goal is to highlight the developments in the field, and other times it is better to organize the research in terms of approach, as in the case where it is important to alert the reader to the differences in methodology, their strengths and weaknesses, and the conclusions that they yield);
  • Outline the aims of the research . Be sure that the Introduction reviews the literature relevant to each of the research aims, making it clear to the reader how the aims of the research came from the critical review of existing work in the field, and where the aims were derived from;
  • Outline the predictions (what you expected to find, or expected in the results of the research, simply stating where differences or associations were predicted) or hypotheses (which identify not only expectations concerning differences or associations, but also, and importantly, the direction(s) of those differences or associations) that were tested. Be sure that they derive clearly and explicitly from the critical review of the literature.
  • Where there are multiple hypotheses it is often a useful strategy to introduce the rationale and theoretical background for each, one at a time. The end of the Introduction then reiterates all hypotheses that were tested.

Note: You will notice that different journals in psychology have different preferences concerning this end section of the Introduction. Many journals expect hypotheses (that is, the specific tests and the direction of expected effects). Some, however, accept (and perhaps even prefer) predictions. In both cases, it is important to recognize that the hypotheses (or predictions) that are stated at the end of the Introduction become rather like anchor points for the rest of the scientific communication or laboratory report. They recur in the Method, and specifically, when outlining the Design and analyses. They are also revisited in the Results section, and often provide the structure around which the results are presented. The confirmation or rejection of the research hypotheses is also mentioned in the Discussion (although it is important to avoid sounding simply like a repetition of the Results).

  • Example of an introduction (1st year student)

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Knowing How to Write a Psychology Lab Report Is an Important Skill – Here’s How You Can Develop It

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When studying towards an undergraduate psychology degree, one of the important skills that students will learn is how to write a lab report .

A psychology lab report is a piece of structured writing, sometimes known as a ‘paper’, and this piece of writing provides details about how an experiment is carried out. One of the reasons why psychology students are asked to write lab reports as part of first and second year assessments is that this can prepare students for writing up their final year dissertations as dissertations. Dissertations can often be viewed as special types of lab reports as they are formal pieces of academic writing. Unlike other assessments, dissertations are more independent and do require students to develop and write-up their own investigations.

Lab reports are academic pieces of work and the audience or reason for writing the report will indicate the format that is presented. In psychology, American Psychological Association format is typically required (also known as APA 7 ) – which requires writers to use different sections to explain an experiment. For example, students could be asked to write an Introduction to provide details of a theoretical and literature background; a method section to give an overview of the sample and any tasks completed by participants, a results section which gives details of what was found and finally, a discussion section which provides a discussion of the results and directions for future work. Alongside these sections, an overall summary is added and this summary is called an abstract.

One of the questions that can be asked is whether developing lab report writing skills is really important? The simple answer is yes. When students first write lab reports, say within their first or second year of studying, they may be given lots of guidance on what to write and how to phrase different sections. When a student then progresses to writing up their own dissertation project, the support from supervisors in terms of the write-up can be limited as it is often assumed that the writing skills have been developed throughout the degree. If a student does not learn these key writing skills in the first or second year of their degree then they don’t have time to practise their writing skills and will have limited feedback from lecturers and tutors in preparation for that final dissertation report. 

When I was completing my own psychology degree, it was not expected that we successfully wrote up a full lab report in the first year of studying. As students, we were given tasks of writing each section and getting feedback on each section first, before being asked to write a full lab report in the second year. I believe that this key thing helped me to develop my own writing skills and understand each section of the lab report in detail before moving onto the next. I was also given the opportunity to work as a group so we could collaborate on a written project….again collaboration is a key part of psychology research.

Developing the skills to write a lab report, either through the creation of an empirical investigation or by developing the writing and formatting skills, is very important if a psychology student has plans to stay within research. When researching, researchers will write specific lab reports to submit to journals and these (lab) reports are in specific formats in accordance with the journal guidelines.

From my experience, practice makes perfect (or close enough as there is always room for improvement). If I had not been given the opportunity to write lab reports as I progressed through my own university degree, I don’t think I would have the ability to teach my students how to do this now.

When teaching lab report writing, I will often provide students with examples of different journal articles, but I always make it clear that different journals can have  different formatting requirements  and that students should always follow the format of the task given. So, for example, if their lab report is for an assessment rather than a journal submission, ensure that the assessment requirements and learning outcomes have been met.

I also always advise my students to write the abstract section last. This is because you can’t write a summary of an investigation without knowing what you have written in the lab report itself. I believe that it’s the most difficult to write an abstract in comparison to the rest of the report as you need to have the ability to summarise a complex study in only 150 words.

Recently when developing content for a first year cognitive module I am teaching on, I have come across some excellent resources which can support students in their lab report development. Dr Paul Penn has created a series of YouTube tutorials which explain, in detail, how to structure each section of a lab report. Dr Penn also has a website with an example of an annotated lab report and again, this is something I will be directing my students to this year.

Developing the skills to write a lab report is very important! A lab report needs to be written in a clear and concise manner that would allow someone not necessarily in the field (you are writing about) to understand. I have looked at many lab reports in my teaching career and it’s possible to make the most complex of topics easier to understand with a report. 

Laura Jenkins, PhD is a teaching associate in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University. 

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Making Sense of Your Results: How to Craft a Strong Discussion Section in Your Lab Report

Stefani H.

Table of contents

Lab experiments are an integral part of any science course. If you’re a science student, you’ve probably been tasked with writing a lab report. And one essential part of writing any lab report is the discussion section.

Writing an effective discussion section can be challenging, considering its many components and the need to explain various concepts of your experiment. If not done correctly, the overall outcome may be confusing and not accurately convey your findings.

This blog post will provide an overview of how to write a discussion section in a lab report and the key components you must include for your report to be effective.

What should a lab report discussion include?

The main purpose of this section is to interpret the results and findings of your experiment and connect them to your hypothesis. It also connects theoretical concepts with the collected data and draws conclusions about the topic under study.

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Additionally, the discussion section evaluates the experimental design and explores any errors or inconsistencies that may have occurred during the experiment. Finally, it highlights any gaps that need to be investigated in future research.

Essential parts of the discussion section in a lab report

Learn about the crucial parts of a lab report's discussion section: result interpretation, hypothesis evaluation, limitations, errors, implications, and future research recommendations.

  • An interpretation of results in light of the hypothesis;
  • An explanation of why the hypothesis was or wasn’t supported by the data;
  • Limitations or assumptions of the study;
  • An explanation of any experimental errors or unexpected outcomes;
  • Implications of your research findings;
  • Recommendations for future research.

How long should a discussion be in a lab report?

A discussion section should be approximately 10% of the overall length of your lab report. That means if your lab report is 10 pages long, your discussion should be approximately one page—this is about 3-5 paragraphs long.

How many pages should a discussion section be?

A typical discussion section should be about one page long. However, this may vary depending on the depth of your research and the complexity of the topic.

How many words should a discussion be in a lab report?

A discussion section should be about 300-600 words long. Again, the length may vary with the complexity and depth of your research.

Important insights

1. The primary aim of the discussion section is to interpret your experiment's results and findings in relation to your hypothesis.

2. Approximately 10% of your lab report should be devoted to the discussion section.

3. Depending on the complexity of the topic, the discussion section should typically be one-page long and around 300-400 words.

Discussion section in a lab report: Master it in 11 simple steps

When writing your lab report, the discussion section is among the parts that require more time and effort. This is because it summarises the entire report and makes the reader understand your experiment even without going through the data.

Here are the steps to help you to write an effective discussion section for your lab report.

Step #1: State the purpose of the experiment

The first step in writing an effective discussion section for your lab report is to state the purpose of the experiment.

Use one or two sentences to let the reader know what you were trying to discover and why it was important. Stating the purpose helps orient readers and allows them to understand how relevant your results are in the associated industry or topic of study.

Step #2: Give a brief overview of the methodology

Next, provide a brief overview of the methodology used in the experiment. This allows readers to understand how you obtained the results in your lab report.

When reviewing the methodology, include details such as the materials and methods used, how data was collected or analyzed, and any assumptions made during the experiment. Also, identify any challenges encountered during the experiment and how you addressed them.

Step #3: Identify and analyze data/results

Once you've given an overview, it's time to identify and analyze your data or the results obtained from your experiment. When discussing your results, use descriptive language that accurately describes what you observed in every part of the experiment. You can also use graphs, charts, or tables where applicable for your readers to understand your findings easily.

Finally, summarize any trends or patterns emerging from your experiment and highlight any unexpected results.

Remember to remain objective in this section of your lab report and focus on just presenting the data without interpreting them.

Step #4: Form conclusions based on findings

Once you've analyzed all the relevant data points from your experiment, it's time to draw conclusions based on your findings. Summarize all your observations in one concise statement that accurately explains what happened during your experiments.

Be sure not to draw unfounded conclusions. You want your conclusions backed by evidence from your experiment and existing literature related to the subject matter. This will help maintain the credibility and validity of your lab report.

Step #5: Interpret and explain the results

Now comes one of the most challenging parts— interpreting and explaining your results in light of published literature.

This is also where you interpret the data in relation to the purpose of your experiment (what you were trying to find out). Did the results prove your hypothesis right or wrong? Did you achieve the main purpose of your experiment?

When interpreting your results, be sure not to make any unfounded claims. Every claim you make should be based on evidence from relevant sources like peer-reviewed journals or other scientific studies.

You'll need to research extensively and gain deep knowledge of your topic here. This will enable you to accurately explain why certain results occurred the way they did and their relevance to existing research.

Step #6: Present alternative explanations and interpretations

When interpreting your data, it’s important to provide alternative explanations and interpretations. Consider all possible angles of explanations for the results obtained during your experiment.

For instance:

  • Was there something that could have influenced the results?
  • Is there any other implied meaning of the results?
  • How does your data compare to what was expected?
  • Was the outcome what you predicted? If not, why do you think that is?

Presenting alternative explanations shows that you’ve thought critically about the results of your experiment and drawn meaningful conclusions from it.

Step #7: Discuss any unexpected or surprising outcomes

You may have encountered some unexpected or surprising outcomes during your experiment. These also form a significant part of your lab report and should never be left out.

Did anything strange happen during the experiment? Were there any unusual results? If so, what do you think was the cause?

It’s always important to explain all your results, even if they are not what you anticipated. They can often provide valuable insights into your report and inspire further research.

Again, remember to back up all your claims with existing evidence from your data or other relevant published articles.

Step #8: Summarize the significance of your findings

After presenting and discussing your findings, take a step back and summarize the significance of what you found.

What do your findings mean for the broader scientific community? Why are they important, or what value do they add to science?

Step #9: Describe the broader implications of your findings

Now that you’ve explained the significance of your research findings, you’ll also need to describe their broader implications.

How can your findings be used practically to make lives better? How will your findings impact future research in this area? How can it inspire learning in your field of study?

Step #10: Identify any inconsistencies or limitations in the experiment

The discussion section also presents an opportunity to highlight any inconsistencies or limitations of the experiment in the discussion section.

Were there any problems with the experimental design? Did anything go wrong during the experiment that could affect the outcome? Were there any biases that could impact the overall results?

Highlighting inconsistencies and limitations ensures that you provide a more accurate interpretation of your experimental data.

Step #11: Make recommendations for future experiments

Finally, it’s important to make recommendations for future research and experiments. Based on what you’ve learned from this experiment:

  • What needs to be done differently next time?
  • How can similar experiments be improved in the future?
  • What additional research needs to be done in this area?
  • What questions still need to be answered?

Your recommendations will show the value of your work and inspire other students who may want to carry out related experiments in the future.

Every science student should learn and master how to write a discussion section in a lab report. The discussion section is the basis for further analysis to ensure your experiment’s findings are valuable and accurate.

All you need to do is understand your research work and have your data properly organized. Once you know the structure and basic components of the discussion section, you’re good to go!

If you have trouble writing the discussion section or the entire lab report, reach out to Writers Per Hour and hire our academic writers .

We are a professional writing service with expert lab report writers on the team who can help you research, write, edit, and rewrite your lab report. We guarantee 100% original and custom-written lab reports with on-time delivery.

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IMAGES

  1. How To Write A Psychology Lab Report Results

    how to write a good discussion for a psychology lab report

  2. Psychology Lab Report Example Hypothesis

    how to write a good discussion for a psychology lab report

  3. Writing Your Psychology Research Report

    how to write a good discussion for a psychology lab report

  4. How to Write A Discussion For A Lab Report

    how to write a good discussion for a psychology lab report

  5. Guide to Writing a Lab Report

    how to write a good discussion for a psychology lab report

  6. Top Notch Lab Report Introduction Example Psychology How To Write A In Kcse

    how to write a good discussion for a psychology lab report

VIDEO

  1. How to write a BAD ANSWER in any exam ? #writingmania #ytshorts #exams#shorts

  2. How to Write a Discussion Section in a Research Paper (SECRET framework)

  3. How to write a discussion for a science prac report at school

  4. KTET OCTOBER 23/IMPORTANT EVS PREVIOUS QUESTIONS DISCUSSION/ NEW LEVEL QUESTION PATTERN

  5. How do you write a formal lab?

  6. Psychology lab report writing guide: the title page

COMMENTS

  1. How to Write a Lab Report: Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

    Introduction Method Results Discussion Reference Page Psychology Lab Report Example In psychology, a lab report outlines a study's objectives, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions, ensuring clarity and adherence to APA (or relevant) formatting guidelines.

  2. Laboratory Report Writing in Psychology

    8: Discussion The Discussion section of a Psychology laboratory report is where the results of the research are interpreted. It is generally a good idea to begin the Discussion with a succinct statement that specifies the purpose of the research that was undertaken. The Discussion section:

  3. How to Write Discussions and Conclusions

    the results of your research, a discussion of related research, and a comparison between your results and initial hypothesis. Tip: Not all journals share the same naming conventions. You can apply the advice in this article to the conclusion, results or discussion sections of your manuscript.

  4. How to Write a Psychology Lab Report

    It should include a: Title page Abstract Introduction Method section Results section Discussion section Reference section Appendix and supplementary materials (if needed) Title Page of a Psychology Lab Report This will be the first page of your lab report.

  5. How To Write A Lab Report

    Discussion: interprets and evaluates results and identifies limitations Conclusion: sums up the main findings of your experiment References: list of all sources cited using a specific style (e.g. APA) Appendices: contains lengthy materials, procedures, tables or figures

  6. Writing a Lab Report: Introduction and Discussion Section Guide

    The discussion is the most important part of your lab report, because here you show that you have not merely completed the experiment, but that you also understand its wider implications. The discussion section is reserved for putting experimental results in the context of the larger theory.

  7. Experimental Reports 1

    Writing in Psychology: Experimental Report Writing; ... Your report will start off broadly in your introduction and discussion of the literature; the report narrows as it leads up to your specific hypotheses, methods, and results. ... Briel is writing an experimental report on her results from her experimental psychology lab class. She was ...

  8. PDF GUIDE TO WRITING RESEARCH REPORTS

    1. Title The title should provide a single line description of the study. In many cases, the title will mention the independent and dependent variables. Thus, The effect of sleep loss on the exploratory behaviour of gerbils would be a suitable format for a title, as would Exploratory behaviour in sleep-deprived gerbils.

  9. PDF 1 A quick guide to writing a psychology lab-report

    1 1 A quick guide to writing a psychology lab-report 1.1. An overview of the various sections of a report Lab-reports are modelled on the scientific journal article. Like them, the report is divided into sections, each of which provides a specific type of information.

  10. Psychology lab report writing guide: the discussion section

    The example annotated quantitative psychology lab report that accompanies this video series can be found here: https://www.drpaulpenn.com/post/guide-to-quant...

  11. PDF Tips for Writing Psychology Lab Reports

    TIPS FOR WRITING PSYCHOLOGY LAB REPORTS Organization lab report is typically divided into different sections: Title Page, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References It can be useful to further divide the italicized sections using sub-headings. This will help you organize the information presented in each section

  12. Writing in the Disciplines: Psychology

    It's important for you to learn how to write a lab report early on in your psychology studies; psychology isn't just about studying the human mind and its functions, but also about communicating what you've studied.

  13. A Guide to Writing Student Psychology Lab Reports

    report, the total word count of the Title, Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion together should be between 1,350 and 1,650 words. When writing, remember to save space for a 150 ...

  14. PDF Experimental Psychology Practical Report

    In a psychology lab report, there is usually an abstract which functions to summarise the entire contents of the report. Sometimes your tutor will not expect you to write an abstract, as shown in this sample. Check this with your tutor. See Ch 2, Getting started on your lab report Sources cited to support the information. Introduction provides the

  15. LibGuides: Lab Report Writing: Discussion/Conclusion

    Which of the following is a good example of a sentence you would find in the Discussion section of a lab report? a. Ten dogs with no previous training were selected for the study. b. Unlike in previous studies on dog training, most of the dogs in this study retained the ability to perform tricks for up to six weeks after the initial training ...

  16. How to Write a Discussion Section

    How to Write a Discussion Section | Tips & Examples Published on August 21, 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 18, 2023. The discussion section is where you delve into the meaning, importance, and relevance of your results.

  17. PDF Writing an Empirical Paper in APA Style

    This handout provides general tips on how to write a psychology lab report. Course standards vary, so check with your instructor if you are not sure what is required. Using APA Style

  18. Discussing your findings

    Your discussion should begin with a cogent, one-paragraph summary of the study's key findings, but then go beyond that to put the findings into context, says Stephen Hinshaw, PhD, chair of the psychology department at the University of California, Berkeley.

  19. Writing Lab Reports: Discussion

    The discussion offers an analysis of the experiment. The purpose of the discussion section is to provide a brief summary of your results, relate them to your hypotheses, and put them into context within the field of research. This is the most substantial section of your report, and where you will include your unique interpretations and ideas.

  20. Laboratory Report Writing in Psychology

    3: Introduction. The Introduction begins on page 3 of the report. By convention, the Introduction does not have a heading. The purpose of the Introduction is to outline the problem to which the research was addressed and the theoretical perspective and approach taken. The Introduction provides the reader with a review of the relevant literature.

  21. Knowing How to Write a Psychology Lab Report Is an Important Skill

    For example, students could be asked to write an Introduction to provide details of a theoretical and literature background; a method section to give an overview of the sample and any tasks completed by participants, a results section which gives details of what was found and finally, a discussion section which provides a discussion of the resul...

  22. Guide to Writing a Lab Report

    guide to writing psychology lab report school of psychology, university of western australia clare mein, shannon rne, chiara horlin and romola bucks for the

  23. Lab Report Discussion Made Easy: Tips and Tricks

    Step #1: State the purpose of the experiment. The first step in writing an effective discussion section for your lab report is to state the purpose of the experiment. Use one or two sentences to let the reader know what you were trying to discover and why it was important. Stating the purpose helps orient readers and allows them to understand ...