Chemistry Lab Reports At University: To Write Or Not To Write

Abstract

The writing of lab reportsis part and parcel of Chemistry in higher institutions around the world, withalmost similar formats and procedures. This paper looks at the practice ofwriting lab reports in Chemistry for two cohorts of the pre-universityprogramme, as well as four cohorts of the first and second years of the Bachelorof Pharmacy programme. The study also compares lab reports written by studentsin the respective courses to investigate the skills and knowledge obtained bystudents, and the value of assessment marks given on students’ reports. Theeffectiveness of the lab report in contributing to their knowledge during thefinal exam is also explored. Initial findings showed that lab reports forundergraduate Pharmacy programme can become redundant with the existence of thelab manual, hence questioning the validity of the assessment marks. Allexperiments tested theories with generally known results which are explained intextbooks and/ or on the Internet, which disputes the need of a lab report.Additionally, students found questions reflecting higher levels of Bloom’staxonomy more difficult to handle, with an added challenge to complete the Discussionsection of the lab report, despite sufficient discussions and lectures. Thestudy ends with suggestions for alternative methods of writing lab reports – torestructure, revise and improve.