Formal Laboratory Report Format - Electronics | ECE 3455, Lab Reports of Basic Electronics

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UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

Formal Laboratory Report Format

Revised, July 15, 2008, dps September 23, 2008, lpt

1 The Formal Report: An Overview

1.1 What is the Formal Report?

Several laboratory courses in the UH undergraduate Electrical and Computer Engineering curriculum require the writing of a formal report. The formal report is a written presentation of an experiment or project performed by the student. The format for the formal report follows guidelines typically used for the reporting of research in professional journals and engineering analyses by engineering firms; it is described in detail in the remainder of this document. Effective and accurate communication of technical information is an important part of the professional engineer's job. Whether such information has been obtained in the course of engineering research or as part of a routine analysis of an engineering project, good communications skills avoid confusion and costly errors. Therefore the formal report is graded for technical accuracy, spelling, grammar, and proper format including the use of neat, informative figures and graphs. These characteristics affect the clarity of the report, and clarity is the most important issue in technical writing. The formal report consists of the following sections, each of which is discussed in this document. The breakdown of the materials into sections makes the job of the reader easier.

- Title Page with Abstract - Introduction - Theoretical Considerations or Design Approach - Experimental Procedure - Results - Discussion - Summary and Conclusions - References - Acknowledgment - Appendices ( optional ) With the exception of the Appendices, which are optional, all of the sections listed here must be present in the report or it will be rejected without being graded.

1.2 What Should I Assume About My Reader?

Write your report so that a knowledgeable reader could easily reproduce your experiment or project. Assume that your reader is an engineering student at your level who knows how to use standard bench equipment. You may need to briefly remind your reader of certain topics, but do not attempt to teach these topics as would be done in a textbook. Instead, use brief summaries and give at least one good reference where further information may be found.

1.3 Tone, Tense, Person, and Voice

Keep in mind the proper tone for your paper. The formal report is just that: a report of something you did. It is neither a textbook nor an article in a popular magazine. In

The Abstract begins on a separate page. The heading, Abstract , should appear directly above the abstract and separated by two blank lines. The abstract is single-spaced, and occupies only one paragraph. The word "abstract" in the present context means to remove or separate. It is a brief, concise summary of the major objectives and conclusions of the report, which have been "separated" from the report. It should take no more than one third of a page using single spaced typing. The abstract should stand on its own in telling the reader what is contained in the report. Most importantly, it should be very specific about conveying the results of the experiment or project. Remember that your abstract is not an introduction to the rest of your report. Many people who read your abstract will never read the rest of your report. Similarly, the reader should be able to read your report and never read the abstract. The abstract is essentially a short version of your entire report. There should be no equations or other special symbols in your abstract. However, it is appropriate in almost all technical writing to have quantitative information in the abstract. Technical writing is usually concerned with numbers. If the numbers are important, they should be in the abstract. It is good practice to restrict the entire abstract to plain text, or ASCII text. This allows the abstract to be read by a variety of text programs, email utilities, or web browsers. Similarly, since it may be removed from the rest of the text, it should not reference sources that are described in the text. If a reference to a source is absolutely needed, it should be included in its entirety; due to the space limitations, sources are generally not included in abstracts. An introductory section, in which the objectives of the laboratory exercise are explained, starts on the second page of the report. This and the remainder of the body of the report must be double-spaced. The Introduction should accomplish precisely what its name implies; the reader is here introduced to the project and informed of its objectives. The Introduction should provide the motivation for doing the project and should give the reader a sense of how the results fit into the "big picture" without going into detail. In addition, an overview of the approach used to meet the objectives should be given. To this end, it may be useful to briefly summarize the results of the project in the Introduction. In many laboratory exercises there are certain theoretical considerations that can be made; in others a certain design approach is used. Your project or experiment will involve one of these. Thus your report should include a discussion of the theoretical basis for the measurements you are performing or a description of your design approach, whichever is appropriate. For example, it is possible to predict the response of a simple circuit to a square wave input using basic circuit analysis techniques. Thus in a report describing an experiment on this topic, your Theoretical Considerations should include a description of the theoretical circuit response. If as part of a project you designed a circuit to perform a particular function, you would include a Design Approach section explaining your design. Thus, you may have a Theoretical Considerations section, or a Design Approach section. One of the two must be present. You should not have both.

You will probably need to refer to outside references to obtain the background to write about your theoretical considerations or your design approach. In doing so, be resourceful and feel free to use the library. However, do not write this section as a textbook is written. That is, do not give complete, step-by-step derivations necessary to teach the reader a concept from scratch. Instead, summarize the important points and refer the reader to an appropriate text or other source of information. The goals here are to provide the information necessary to understand and appreciate the results of the project or experiment, and to allow the reader to reproduce any calculations or theoretical results you may present.

present reasonable hypotheses to explain them.

In the Results section you will also present "reduced" data. Reduced data have been derived by computation from the "raw", that is, directly measured, results. For example, a listing of the measured resistance of ten 2.2k resistors represents raw data, while the average of these ten values and their standard deviation represent reduced data. Although at the professional level it is common practice to present only the reduced data, since these are educational exercises you should include both raw and reduced data for the purpose of these reports. If it is possible to theoretically predict the results that should be obtained, such predicted results should be included in this section. For example, the theoretical response of an RC circuit to a square wave input could be interpreted as a result and plotted along with measured data obtained from an oscilloscope. In the case of a design project, the final design is the result of the project and should be presented in this section. In addition, the final circuit schematic and the measurements that were made to verify its performance are also results of a design project. If you are describing the results of several small experiments in one report, it may be difficult for the reader to discern which results go with which experiment. In such cases you may choose to combine the Results section with your Experimental Procedure section. For example, you can present the results of individual experiments immediately after you describe the experimental procedure. However, it must be made clear to the reader which parts are procedures and which parts are results, invariably by using sub-headings. This section is the proper place to explain why you think the results came out as they did. Describe and discuss any discrepancies between what you found and what you expected. You may wish to comment on the accuracy of the equipment or on whether the experimental method you used was appropriate. Suggestions as to how the procedure should be modified to improve the accuracy or efficiency could be included here. If you plan to compare your results with what other researchers have obtained, the Discussion section is a good place to do it. Finally, if discussion questions were asked as part of the laboratory exercise, incorporate your answers to these questions as a part of this section. This may appear to be contrived, but it is required. Pretend that these questions just occurred to you, and answer them. In this section, you should concisely summarize the objectives and results of the experiment or project. The relationship between the objectives of the laboratory exercise and the actual experience you have documented in the previous sections can be included here. This section should parallel the introduction in its topics. Never include any new material in this section. You should be summarizing things that have already been presented to the reader. Texts, technical papers, laboratory exercise documents, project handouts, and other sources used in writing the report must be included here. Reference all sources whether copyrighted or not. The intent of this section is to allow the interested reader to follow up on your sources for further information or to check on how accurately you presented the information you obtained.

giving names, if this will identify you. A generic acknowledgement to a lab partner or spouse is sufficient. Remember that the grader is trying to keep your name hidden during the grading process. This section is important: its proper use can make the difference between triggering the enforcement procedures of the Academic Honesty Policy (see below) or not.. In many technical reports, details that would interfere with the essence of the paper are often placed in the Appendix. For example, detailed computations performed to reduce data or to make theoretical predictions should be placed in an appendix. Generally speaking, the rule is that an appendix is the place to put material that will be read by some readers, but not by all readers. The Appendix must not be just a collection of data or equations; it must be written with explanations of what is contained within it. The appendix must follow all the rules for the rest of the report, including margins and page numbers. You may have more than one appendix, in which case they should be enumerated with the letters of the alphabet (e.g., Appendix A. Computation of Theoretical Standing Wave Pattern , and Appendix B. Calculations of Standing Wave Ratios ). Note that it is not necessary to have an appendix in your report. Include one only to contain material that is lengthy or awkward to present and which would otherwise interrupt the smooth flow of the report. If you have no such material, do not include an appendix. Do not include results in the Appendix , except perhaps in the case that you have a very long list of raw data to present and you do not wish to interrupt the results section with it.

3 Guidelines for Preparing Your Report

3.1 Figures, Tables, and Equations

3.1.1 Figures

Figures serve a great many purposes. They may be used to illustrate an experimental set- up or to clarify a written passage that may be otherwise difficult to understand. Good use of figures can make the difference between a good report and a mediocre one. Figures must be numbered consecutively beginning with number 1. If you wish, you may re-start the numbering at 1 in each section, but in that case use a notation to distinguish among sections; for example, Figure 1.1 may be the first figure of the Introduction while Figure 2. is the first figure of the Experimental Procedure section. Present your figures as soon as possible after they are referenced in the text. Do not make your reader look for Figure 3, for example, by putting it four pages after it is introduced in the text. Some word processors allow mixing of text with figures created in other software applications on the same page. This is a nice touch but is not necessary. Make sure that all figures are referenced somewhere in the text. That is, tell the reader when it is appropriate to view the figure, by writing something like, “See Figure 4.” The term that is used here is often confused with references that tell the reader that material is taken from another source. If your figure is taken from another source, you need to tell the reader of this, by including a reference in the figure caption. However, you also need to provide a reference in the text that tells the reader when to look at the figure, and this will be true of all figures, whatever the source.

Figures are always accompanied by captions, which appear at the bottom of the figure after the figure number. The intention is to identify the figure, give a concise description of what is contained in the figure, and to explain what the reader should notice in the figure. A short phrase to serve as a title is required, punctuated as a title. In addition, you are encouraged to include one or more sentences that will act as a title for the figure. A figure caption with number, title, and description might read Figure 3. Current-Voltage Characteristics for the Diode. This plot of current vs. voltage for the device used in this experiment shows its nonlinear character. Note that a threshold appears to occur near 0.7V.

3.1.2 Tables

Tables must be numbered consecutively beginning with number 1. As with figures, you may begin numbering from 1 in each section provided the numbering scheme makes a distinction among sections, e.g. Table 1.1 and Table 2.1 for the Introduction and Experimental Procedure. Tables, like figures, must appear as soon as possible after they are referenced in the text. Tables are always accompanied by a table caption, which appears at the top of the table (unlike a figure caption that appears at the bottom of the figure). The table caption includes the table number followed by a short phrase for the title. It can also include a brief sentence or two describing what is contained in the table.

3.1.3 Equations

Equations appear on separate lines and are incorporated into the text so that the resulting sentences are grammatically correct. All equations must have an equation number, which is right justified (i.e. placed against the right-hand margin). Punctuate the equations as needed to make the sentence they are in grammatically correct. Do not use computer symbols in equations. The symbol "*" is not an acceptable symbol for multiplication, for example, since it is also used for convolution and complex conjugation. Similarly, the use of "E" to denote a power of ten is not acceptable. In the following example, the equation is centered with double spaces above and below, has an equation number which is right justified, and is part of a complete sentence. Note in particular the comma at the end of the equation. Most electrical engineers regard Ohm's law as one of the theoretical cornerstones of the trade. Ohm's law applied to a resistance R is written v = iR, (1) where v is the applied voltage, i is the current, and R is the value of the

3.2 Specific Points Regarding Report Format

References sections, and figure and table captions, which should be single-spaced. The grader will be instructed to reject any paper that is difficult to read. Paragraphs should be indented by a half-inch, and an extra line skipped between them. Page numbers should be present on all pages except the first page. Leave a margin of at least 1 inch on all sides of every page, including the appendix.

2. Spell correctly. It is assumed that you will use a spelling checker. If misspelled words are found in your report that would be detected by a spelling checker, your grade may be reduced. The report may even be rejected.
3. Your paper must be written using complete sentences and in paragraph form. The only times that incomplete sentences are appropriate are when they are used as titles.
4. Double spaces must be used after periods and single spaces after commas. Hyphenate words only between syllables. Use a dictionary if necessary to determine where syllable breaks occur. When in doubt, do not hyphenate.
5. When figures, tables, or equations are referred to in the text, they should be capitalized, just as any other title is capitalized. For example, "Equation (3)", and "Figure 2" refer to a specific equation and figure and are capitalized.
6. Avoid using mathematical symbols that could be spelled out. For example, do not write "the two dipoles were || to each other." Write "the two dipoles were parallel to each other." On the other hand, you may use symbols that represent variables. For example, you can write that "The function (x) is related to  0 by Equation (5)". considered to be in poor form. " v is the voltage across the resistor." Instead, revise the sentence. "The voltage across the resistor is v ." choose to refer to the Electrical Engineering Formal Laboratory Report Format as EEFLRF. The first time in the text that you use the phrase you should write it out, with the abbreviation in parentheses following it.

3.3 Academic Honesty Policy

We operate under the University of Houston Academic Honesty Policy. A copy of this policy should have been made available to you when you enrolled at the University of Houston. If you did not receive a copy, or have lost your copy, you may obtain one from the Dean's Office, in Room E42l-D3. We aggressively pursue violations of this policy in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. In this section we discuss the implications of the Academic Honesty Policy for formal report writing. concerned is plagiarism. According to the UH Academic Honesty Policy, plagiarism is defined as "representing as one's own the work of another without acknowledging the source." Accordingly, any indication that the work or words in the report have been copied from any source without acknowledging that source will be treated as a violation.

But I have the same data as my lab partner!

Lab partners may have identical raw data in a given experiment or project, but report writing and data reduction are to be done individually. The preparation of figures, tables, plots, graphs, and other parts of your report are part of the writing of these reports. Therefore, you and your lab partner may not have the same figures, tables, plots, and graphs. If you and your lab partner have identical figures, tables, plots, or graphs, it will be considered as a possible violation of the academic honesty policy. This does not mean that you cannot discuss your work with your lab partner or with others. However, such discussions are limited to helping each other understand the experiment or project. The instructor of your course should provide for you a document, which contains a statement for you to sign. This signed document must be attached to the front of your report. It will be removed and kept by the grader. In signing it you acknowledge that you have received this document and that you understand its contents. If you do not understand this document, see your instructor to have it explained to your satisfaction. Until you sign and submit this form, your paper will not be graded.

When Must I Reference a Source?

There are two general cases in which you must reference a source: any time you have taken words in part or in whole from another person's writing, and any time you give an idea or specific factual information which you did not discover, derive, or otherwise arrive at yourself. Stated another way, if you consulted a text or other source during the actual writing of your report, you should reference that source. When you use words taken from another person's writing, you must enclose those words in quotes and give a reference. For example, the following paragraph is taken from the lab exercise on Thevenin Equivalents. This laboratory exercise, while specifically about Thevenin and Norton Equivalents, is in general a study of equivalent circuits. Equivalent circuits are common throughout circuits and electronics, and are always used in the same way. An equivalent circuit is used to replace another circuit, and is in some way simpler or easier to analyze. The behavior outside the equivalent circuit is the same as the behavior would be when the circuit it replaces is in the same position. It is equivalent in no other sense, and the behavior within the equivalent circuit may be unrelated to the circuit it replaces. If you wanted to include these words in your report, you might do something like the following. The terminal properties of the equivalent circuit are identical to those of the circuit it replaces. The circuits are "equivalent in no other sense, and the behavior within the equivalent circuit may be unrelated" to the original circuit. [5, p. 1] part of the writer. It would be better to rewrite the paragraph, for example as follows. In this laboratory exercise, Thevenin and Norton equivalent circuits are tested in order to reinforce the concepts of equivalent circuits. The terminal properties of the equivalent circuit are identical to those of the circuit it replaces. The circuits are equivalent for all external considerations, although they may well differ