Report Writing

Spellcheck & Proof Read

1. Run a spellchecker on your report!
2. Put your report in Grammarly.

Logbook

• A logbook is required to pass the assessment
• Include all contributions from each of your group members on each day you worked on the assessment

References

• A list of references is required to pass the assessment
• You may reference the notes made by your teacher
• Without a list of references you could have made up or copied your report. This is cheating.
• Copying whole paragraphs from the internet to use in your report is plagarism (cheating), and will result in a NA and further consequences.
• References should be APA formatted. You can do this by using https://www.citethisforme.com.

For example your report might look like this:

…

In our experiment we used a shotput ball as an analogue for an iron meteorite, because they are similar in composition and density. Other meteorite types are stony and stony-iron.[1] Iron meteorites are typically 90-95% iron and come from the asteroid belt where some asteroids are thought to have had molten cores in the early days of the solar system. The iron would have formed here.[2]

…

References

[1]: NASA. (2020, May 11). In depth. NASA. Retrieved February 9, 2023, from https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/meteors-and-meteorites/in-depth/

[2]: Iron meteorites. Geology. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2023, from https://geology.com/meteorites/iron-meteorites.shtml

The Aim

What is the objective of your experiment?

An aim describes what you will be investigating (the purpose of the experiment). Keep it simple, one sentence long.

e.g. The aim of this experiment is to investigate the relationship between [your independent variable here] and [your dependent variable here].

The Hypothesis

A prediction for the outcome of the experiment.

• A hypothesis should make a specific and testable prediction about the outcome of your experiment. It must make a prediction about the effect of your independent variable on your dependent variable.
• Remember, you can only have one independent variable, but you can measure more than one variable.

e.g. I think that [your dependent variable here] will [increase/decrease] when the [your independent variable here] is [increased/descreased].

Independent Variable

The variable that you will change throughout the experiment.

• Be specific about what exactly you are changing. For example, you may be investigating how the impact velocity changes a crater by changing the drop height to alter the velocity.
• You should include units of measurement for the independent variable, as well as the 3-5 different increments that you want to use.
• Remember, if you are changing the height you drop your impactor from, you independent variable is actually the velocity.

e.g. We will change the mass of the projectile (measured in kgs). We will use 0.25kg, 0.5kg, 0.75kg, 1kg and 2kg masses.

Dependent Variable

The variable(s) being measured.

You can measure multiple variables, but your report will be easier to write if you only measure one.

Be specific about what you will measure and the units of measurement of the dependent variable.

e.g. We will measure the time taken to produce \(10ml\) of carbon dioxide gas.

Control Variables

Things that you are keeping constant in between trials.

Control variables are extremely important because they are what keep a trial fair and let you draw a causal relationship between your independent and dependent variable. Without control variables you cannot say for sure what the influence of your independent variable was.

Include at least four control variables in your report and explain how you will control them. Examples.

The same impact surface will be used throughout the experiment. We will control it by smoothing out the surface after each impact. It is important to control this because an uneven surface will lead to inconsistent and hard to measure craters. This will affect the reliability of our results.

Method

A method should be a sequential set of steps that any person could follow to perform the exact same experiment.

• Give a list of necessary equipment (be specific)
• Use numbered, short, steps
• Give the actions / directions in the past tense or passive voice
  • “The shotput was dropped from a height of 1m onto the tray of sand.”
• Some steps may be repeated while the independent variable is changed.
  • “Repeat steps 3-7 for each height (0.5m, 1m, 1.5m, 2m, 5m)”
• Indicate when something is to be recorded and how to calculate the relevant average.
• Indicate how an experiment should be reset between trials and when to apply control variables.

Data + Results

• Design a table to record your results before you start the experiment/whakamātau.
• Think about how many trials you will do + an average.
• Also make a note of anything unusual that occurred during your experiment, or if anything went wrong etc.

Calculations

• When calculating an average, you should give an example of how you did it so that another Scientist can see the process.
• If you are calculating impact velocity (due to changing height), for example, you should give an example of how you did that calculation. We did this derivation in class!

Calculating an Average: Add up all your trials and divide by the number of trials.

Conclusion

• Link your aim and hypothesis to the data you gathered.
• Summarise your data by stating the trend.
• Give an example comparison of two data points.
• Explain whether this supported your hypothesis or not and whether you achieved your aim.

e.g. In our whakamātau we investigated [your aim here] and we found that when [your data summary here]. This is reflected in our data, for example [your example data here]. This [supports/does not support] our hypothesis that [your hypothesis here].

Discussion/Evaluation

• Discuss any mistakes that were made (past tense)
• Discuss improvements/changes to your method that were made (past tense)
• Discuss future improvements that could be made to your method
• Discuss the reliability of your data
• Discuss the validity of your method
• Discuss what your findings suggest about what you are modelling - this is where you bring in some Science and research!.

Reliability

• What does it tell you?
  • The extent to which the results can be reproduced when the research is repeated under the same conditions.
• How is it assessed?
  • By checking the consistency of results between each trial of the increments of the independent variable.
• How does it relate to validity?
  • A reliable measurement is not always valid: the results might be reproducible, but they’re not necessarily correct.

e.g. Looking at our results we can see that each trial of the different increments of our independent variable are similar to each other. This means that our dependent variable is well controlled. These results should therefore be reproducible by other scientists. However, this does not indicate that these results are correct or valid.

For the above table:

• The 0.25kg trials look quite reliable because they are all similar
• The 0.5kg trials do not look very reliable because there is a wide variety in the diameters

If you are getting a wide variety in results, you may need to re-work your method by adding further control variables or clearer instructions so the results are closer together.

Validity

• What does it tell you?
  • The extent to which the results really measure what they are supposed to measure (model vs real world).
• How is it assessed?
  • By checking how well the results correspond to established theories and other measures of the same concept. Do your results match previous research?
• How does it relate to reliability?
  • A valid measurement is generally reliable: if a test produces accurate results, they should be reproducible.

e.g. Research shows that past experiments and theories indicate that an increase in impact velocity will result in a large diameter impact crater. Our data shows the same trend. This indicates that our experiment is sufficiently controlled and that we are actually measuring the influence of [your independent variable] on [your depenedent variable].