Learn how to write a conclusion for your lab reports using this step-by-step guide with examples in chemistry and biochemistry!
Today we are tackling what can feel like the final, most dreaded hurdle of any science class,
writing the conclusion to your lab report.
But honestly, if you stick with me, you'll see it's actually your best chance to prove you know your stuff.
I mean, think about it for a second.
For so many of us, it's not running the experiment or even crunching the numbers.
It's staring at that blank page with the word conclusion at the top,
just wondering, what am I even supposed to say here without just repeating everything?
And that right there is the big idea we're diving into today.
A great conclusion is not a boring recap.
It's your closing argument.
It's where you prove you didn't just follow the instructions, you actually understood the science behind them.
So, here's our game plan.
We're going to start with the why, then I'll give you a super simple five-step blueprint.
We'll break down the most important parts, talk about the finishing touches,
and then we'll see how it all looks in a real world example.
Sound good? Let's jump in.
Okay, first things first.
Why should you even care about the conclusion?
Well, it's pretty simple.
If you don't really get why you're writing it, you're never going to write a good one.
So, at its core, a conclusion really has two main jobs.
First, to wrap up the main ideas, and second, to offer a final judgment on how the experiment went.
It's this mix of looking back at what you did and then making a clear final statement about what it all meant.
And that brings us to the single most important question your conclusion absolutely has to answer.
So what?
Your job is to pull everything together, the purpose, the data, the analysis,
to tell your reader exactly what was learned and crucially, why any of it matters.
Okay, so let's get to the solution.
Instead of dreading that blank page, you can use a simple, repeatable five-step blueprint that seriously works
for pretty much any lab report you'll ever have to write.
And here it is.
The whole process in one shot.
It just makes sense, right?
You start by reminding everyone of the goal.
Then you cover what you found and what you think it means.
You finish up by being a real scientist, thinking about the experiment's flaws and what could come next.
Let's break each of these down.
All right, let's zoom in on the first three steps.
These are the absolute heart of your conclusion.
If you can nail these, you are more than halfway there.
You always, always want to start
by gently reminding your reader what the point of the whole experiment was.
You can think of it like resetting the stage before you deliver your final lines.
Now, the golden rule here is to paraphrase.
Do not, under any circumstances, just copy and paste from your introduction.
This is about restating, not just repeating.
All you need is one or two clear sentences and then you're ready to move on.
Here's a perfect example of that.
See how direct it is?
It covers both the main goal and the hypothesis in just a couple of sentences.
It immediately gets the reader back on track and sets them up for your findings.
On to step two.
So, you've just reminded the reader of the goal.
The next logical question is, well, did you achieve it?
What were the most important things you found?
The key word here is synthesis.
This is not the place for a data dump.
You don't list out all your raw numbers again.
You pick out the single most important result, the headline, and state it clearly.
You're telling the story of your data, not just reading from a spreadsheet.
Now, this is a really strong example because it does two things perfectly.
First, it clearly states whether the hypothesis was supported.
And second, it highlights the most critical piece of data, that peak reaction rate at 40 degrees Celsius.
All right, let's get to step three.
And you'll want to lean in for this one because this is without a doubt the most important and usually the most heavily graded part of your conclusion.
This is where you really earn those top marks.
This quote just says it all.
The analysis isn't some afterthought you tack on at the end, it is the entire point.
This is your big chance to prove you're not just a data collector, you're a scientist who can think.
So your mission here is simple.
Connect the what you found in step two to the why.
So why did that reaction rate peak at 40 degrees?
This is where you bring in the scientific principles you've been studying to explain your specific results.
You're showing you can apply the theory to what happened in your beaker.
And here's that connection in action.
The writer links a specific result, the decreased activity at 60 degrees directly to a core scientific concept, denaturation.
That is beautiful analysis.
Okay, so once you've built that core argument, we move on to the final two steps.
And these are the ones that separate a perfectly good conclusion from a truly great one.
These last two steps are all about showing critical insight.
So step four is discussing errors.
Let's be real, no experiment is perfect.
Acknowledging its limitations, like potential measurement errors or maybe a small sample size, shows you've thought deeply about your work.
Then, step five is about looking to the future.
What's the next logical experiment? How could your findings be applied?
This shows you get that your little experiment is part of a much bigger scientific conversation.
All right, let's put this all together.
Theory is one thing, but seeing how this five-step blueprint works with actual complete examples is really the best way to make it all click. Look at this.
You can see our five-step framework applied to two completely different experiments, one in chemistry, one in biochemistry.
But they follow the exact same pattern.
You've got the purpose, a specific finding, an analysis of what it means, a mention of errors, and a look to the future.
It just goes to show you how universal and powerful this simple structure really is.
And to make this super easy to remember, here's a simple pneumonic for you.
P F A F, purpose, findings, analysis, errors, and future.
Seriously, just run through this checklist every single time you write a conclusion,
and I guarantee you will not miss a single important part.
So, let's end with a question for you.
The next time you sit down to write that conclusion, don't just ask yourself what did I do?
Ask yourself, what is my experiment's so what?
If you can answer that question, you'll have your argument, you'll have your analysis, and you'll have a conclusion that makes a real impact.
