Laboratory Report Guidelines (if applicable to the lab)

Thefollowing contains information intended to assist you in writing a highquality laboratory report. Note the following general rules:

1) Use passive instead of active voice. Avoid the first person (I, we, us, our, etc.) as well as the second person “you”.

2)Avoid colloquialisms and use proper grammar and spelling in order toavoid having a reader judge the quality of the technical work by that ofthe written presentation.

3) Read the report several times forcontinuity and flow. If possible, have an “outsider” read the report tosee if it is clear and understandable.

Weekly Report Structure (if applicable)

Labreports should be roughly 5-6 pages (double-spaced with 12 point font),NOT including the Title Page, References, or Appendix.

• Title Page

• Introduction–objectives and a brief description of the experiment.

•Results–experimental data and results, organized neatly in tabularand/or graphical form. Primarily, this section will just include Tablesand Figures, but some text is required to briefly describe theTable/Figure.

• Discussion–comparison of experimental resultswith theoretical findings (or published data), error analysis, andconclusions. This will be the longest section, so that you can properlydescribe the experimental findings.

• Appendix–sample calculations (NOT Equations only!), if required

Final Report Structure

In general, the report should read like a (good) book. Start with basicconcepts and good organization. Then add more and more detail. Alldrawings, tables, and graphs must be created using appropriate softwaretools, and must be numbered and captioned.A typical lab report isstructured as follows:

• Title Page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Materials & Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• References
• Appendix

Abstract

Also sometimes called “Summary” or “Executive Summary,” the abstract isa brief (one to two paragraphs) summary of the objectives, workconducted during the experiment, and significant results or findings.The abstract allows the reader to determine the nature and scope of thereport without having to read from beginning to end. The optimal lengthis one paragraph, but it could be as short as two sentences. The lengthof the abstract depends on the subject matter and the length of thepaper. Between 80 and 200 words is usually adequate.

Introduction

The introduction is one of the most difficult parts of a document towrite. It's also one of the most important, because the introduction iswhere your reader's first impressions are formed.If the introduction isnot logical, then your reader will assume that the rest of the documentis garbage. A good introduction is a clear statement of the problem orproject and the reasons that you are studying it. This informationshould be contained in the first few sentences. Give a concise andappropriate discussion of the problem and the significance, scope, andlimits of your work. The Introduction can be structured something likethis:

• Context: Connect the lab you are doing to real world applications to show that you understand the problem and its relevance from an engineering perspective
• Problem Description: Give a brief description of what you were required to do in the lab – an overview, or scope, of the work.
• Goals: Discuss the objectives of the lab. What were you trying to accomplish and why?

Provide any information necessary for the reader to understand subsequent sections of the report.

Materials & Methods

Forexperimental work, give sufficient detail about your materials andmethods (both experimental procedures and methods of data analysis) so that other experienced workers can repeat your work and obtain comparable results.Identify the materials and equipment/apparatus used for the laboratorywork. Describe equipment/apparatus only if it is not standard or notcommercially available. Giving a company name and model number inparentheses is adequate to identify standard equipment. Describe theexperimental procedures used, unless they are established and standard.If the laboratory work will also involve calculations using theoreticalequations, these should be included here as well. The calculationssection should include sufficient mathematical detail to enable otherresearchers to reproduce derivations and verify numerical results.Include all background data, equations, and formulas necessary, butlengthy derivations are best presented in the Appendix.

Manystudents fail to recognize that the equations and statistical methodsapplied to obtain the results are as important as the raw data.Thereader expects to see these methods discussed in this section BEFORE theresults are presented, in order to understand how the objectives of thework were achieved.After reading these details in the Proceduressection, the reader will know what to look for and expect in the Resultsand Discussion section.Subheadings, such as “Experimental Procedures”and “Theoretical Calculations” or “Methods of Data Analysis”, can helpyou to write and organize this section.

Results

This iswhere you detail the results you obtained in the laboratory. Summarizethe data collected and their statistical treatment.Tables and graphsshould be used where necessary to present your data, calculations, andresults.Remember that all figures and charts must be accompanied bysupporting text. Note: this section should only include the facts of thestudy, not your interpretation, which belongs in the Discussionsection.

Discussion

Discussion must be provided todescribe and explain the data and significance of the information in thetables and graphs. The purpose of the discussion is to interpret andcompare the results. Be objective; point out the features andlimitations of the work. Relate your results to current knowledge in thefield and to your original purpose in undertaking the project.Comparison of results with theory or accepted formulas should bediscussed. Sources of error should be discussed with respect to yourfindings and the significance of these errors with respect to theobjectives of the lab.Include only relevant data, but give sufficientdetail to justify your conclusions. This is where you should documentthe "lessons learned" during the course of the laboratory exercise. Whatwere your expected results? Were those results achieved? If not, whynot? Have you resolved the problem? What exactly have you contributed?Briefly state the logical implications of your results. Suggest furtherstudy or applications if warranted. If you were allowed differentconstraints in the laboratory, how could you improve the experiment?Whattypes of follow-up studies could be performed?