Learning how to effectively report experimental results is extremely important in all of the sciences. Although the customary format may vary between discipline, a scientific report should be clear, concise,  and well organized and should make effective use of tables and graphs.

Formatting

• Reports should be word-processed and double-spaced.
• Do not ignore the need for subscripts and superscripts in chemical formulas. These are easily available in all modern word processors.
• Use a minimum font size of 11 and left and right page margins of 1.0".
  

Conciseness

• Strive to make your report as concise as possible. A page limit of 12 pages (not counting attachments) applies to all lab reports. (Please number the pages!)
• In achieving conciseness, one can use standard abbreviations and/or chemical formulas (when unambiguous) in place of full chemical names. For example write "MeOH" instead of "methanol" and CDCl₃ instead of chloroform-d. (However, for molecular formulas where many isomers are possible it is not appropriate to use the molecular formula as an abbreviation for the name.)
  
• All measurement units have standard abbreviations and these should always be used in conjunction with the numerical value for the measurement, e.g. always write "15 cm" not "15 centimeters" or "fifteen centimeters".
• Use standard symbols and Greek letters as appropriate for greater conciseness. For example never write out "degrees Celsius" which should always be written as °C.
  
• Here is a spreadsheet with commonly needed standard abbreviations. Remember to use these freely (especially in your results tables) and to not waste space defining them.
  
• Also consider creating your own abbreviations to replace long compound names. Define these simply by placing parentheses immediately after the first instance of the full compound name in the report. Current style in most organic chemistry journals uses bolded numbers for compound abbreviations.

Graphics/Plagiarism - In addition to the usual expectations of academic honest please note the following:

• Every part of the report should be your team's own work. These include the graphics, which should not be copied and pasted from the internet or other sources. There are several molecule drawing apps available online (see the Links page) and there is also the option of using a structure drawing tool from someplace like PubChem and do a screen shot of the drawing you create.
• The use of an AI "chatbot" to generate text will be considered a violation of academic integrity and will be penalized accordingly.
  

Data Interpretation

• Students are encouraged to bring rough drafts and questions about data interpretation to the instructor prior to submitting their final report.
  

Title Page

• Give the number and title of the experiment, your name, course number and section, and the date submitted.

Results Tables (The results tables can either be grouped all together in their own separate section or they can be interspersed where appropriate throughout the Results and Discussion.)

• Present all of the results of the experiment in table form.
  • Try to make your results tables as concise and well organized as possible. If at all possible each table should be confined to a single page. Tables may be single-spaced if necessary to accomplish this.
    
  • Number and title your tables. The title should give complete information about the data contained in the table.
  • Include the structures of the compounds listed in the tables between the title and the main body of the table.
  • See any current issue of the Journal of Organic Chemistry or this screenshot from a recent paper for an example of how to format your tables.
    
• Include the yield (mass), theoretical yield, and percent yield (rounded to the nearest whole number) of any product obtained. (Show the calculation of theoretical and percent yield on an attachment.)
• A melting point range should be reported for every crystalline solid product.
• Include literature values for any physical constants measured (mp, bp, refractive index). 
• Indicate units where required. (A well-organized table gives the units in the column headings rather than repeatedly throughout the table.)
• Make sure to observe the significant figures convention! Significant Figures Tutorial
• Use footnotes as necessary to fill in missing details or to give definitions of any non-standard abbreviations used in the table.
• Spectroscopic Results
• Include tables that summarize the spectra obtained (NMR, IR, MS). These tables should list all peaks observed and their key characteristics.
  
• IR. Round peak frequencies to the nearest 1 cm^-1. Describe each peak as vs (very strong), s (strong), m (medium), w (weak)
  
• MS. Round peak m/z values to the nearest whole number. List the approximate percent abundance of each peak (as compared to the base peak).
  
• C-13 NMR. Round peak shifts to the nearest 0.1 ppm except when greater precision is needed to distinguish closely spaced peaks.
  
• H-1 NMR. Round off peak shifts to the nearest 0.01 ppm. Make sure to also state the multiplicity and integration value of each peak.
  
• Always include a column for "peak assignment".
  • For NMR the assignment should be a letter that refers to a labeled chemical structure included with the table.
  • For IR the assignment should refer to the specific type of bond vibration and the functional group family, e.g., C=O (ketone), C=O (anhydride), O-H (alcohol).
  • For MS, the assignment can take form of describing the neutral fragment lost, e.g. M - CH₃, M - Br, or preferably show the structure of the cation detected
• Do not include solvent peaks (e.g., H₂O, CDCl₃) in NMR tables.
• Do include literature values of chemical shifts, wavenumbers, and m/z when available. Use a superscript number to cite the reference. (See the part on references below)

Figures

• In this section include images of the obtained products as well as any other photos you took throughout the lab period that can be used to illustrate your results.
• Also include graphs where appropriate.
• Do not include images of your spectra as these are to be provided in the Supporting Information.
  

Results and Discussion (R&D)

• This section is referred to as "Results and Discussion" because the proper way to go about it is to state some results and then go on to discuss them.
  
• Make sure to actually state the results to be discussed rather than just refer to a table. For example, even though your Table 1 might show the observed and literature mps for your product, your R&D part should start out as, "The mp of the product was found to be XX in comparison to the literature value of XX. (Table 1)"
  
• After stating the results, go on to explain your interpretation as to how they align with the theory behind the experiment.
  
• Make liberal use of structural diagrams, equations, curved arrows, images of molecular models, etc., to illustrate points being made as appropriate.
• For puzzling results that do not seem to fit the theoretical expectations, are there valid explanations for them?
  
• This section should include answers to the assigned questions. Make sure to explain all answers completely even if the question does not ask for an explanation. 
• Above all, make sure your answers and interpretations make sense! Do not just take a stab at interpreting the results! If uncertain, do some Internet and/or library research or ask the instructor if you are on the right track.
• For synthesis experiments always discuss:
  • Yield - Actual yield of product versus the theoretical yield (percent yields) and possible reasons for loss of yield. Please see this page for more info: Yield Reporting and Discussion
  • Spectra Interpretation - Evidence for the structure of the product from NMR, IR and/or chemical tests.
  • Purity - Purity of the product as indicated by mp, bp, NMR,  etc. Identify impurities that are present if possible, explaining thoroughly the reasoning behind your conclusions.

References

• Give sources for all literature values as well as for any other background information included.
• List the references in the order they are cited in the report.
  
• Give each reference its own number (in parentheses). Use these numbers in superscript form to cite the appropriate reference throughout the report. (For example, in the results table the references for the literature values should be given.)
  
• Use ACS style for your references list. See https://libguides.williams.edu/citing/acs

Supporting Information

• Calculations - An example of each non-trivial calculation, including % and theoretical yield calculations, should be shown. Do not include trivial calculations such as subtraction of tare weights.

• Spectra - Attach printouts of all spectra obtained. Make sure the spectra are completely labeled (name, date section number, expt number and title). Label all peaks on the NMR spectra. By labeling all solvent peaks and other expected extraneous peaks (e.g., TMS, water) you make clear what they are without unnecessarily devoting lab report discussion to them. For IR and Mass spectra it is not necessary to label small unidentifiable peaks especially those in the fingerprint region of the IR.

Team Contribution Surveys (TCSs)

• These are made available on D2L the same day the lab report is due for each experiment. They are due within one week of the lab report submission.