An investigatory report will usually follow a scientific study or experiment. It is a write up that documents that steps that were followed during the experiment. It should include anything important such as exact measurements and detailed instructions of the procedure that you follow.
- Step one. Your investigatory report should begin with a hypothesis which is a kind of educated guess as to what the overall outcome of the experiment will be. Remember, this does not have to be true, so don't feel as though you need to adapt your report to fit your hypothesis. You should also write down the outcome that you expect.
- Step two. The next thing you should do is to list the equipment and materials that you will need to conduct this experiment. This section should be written in paragraph format, not a list. For example, Materials required: Safety goggles, scales, test tubes etc.
- Step three. The next step should be you explaining the steps involved in the experiment. All relevant details should be included, no matter how insignificant they may seem.
- Step four. The data that you have gathered from your experiment should be presented in the next step of your investigatory report. This section can also called the results section. In this part you may be a bit more flexible with your format as you can include graphs and charts as ways of explaining your results.
- Step five. The next paragraph should contain a comparison between the data that you gathered and the hypothesis that you made at the start. This paragraph should conclude your investigatory report by stating whether your initial hypothesis has been proved or disproved.
- Step six. This final step is optional. You may include, if you wish and if applicable, information about any control experiments that you conducted alongside the original. However, this may only apply to certain experiments so you may not be obliged to complete this step.