notes on lab reports

8/8/2019 Notes on Lab Reports

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If a report fails to reach a minimum standard indicated by 40%, you will be asked to rewrite andresubmit all or part of it. In this case, you should discuss the nature of the shortcomings with the

laboratory class supervisor unless the written comments are sufficient for you to make the

necessary improvements.

Concurrent Laboratory Record (Log Book)

This is your personal record of the experiment, made at the time of the experiment, and isprimarily your concern. You should use a hard-backed workbook for the purpose. The approved

workbooks are A4 size, 5mm quadrille ruling and are available from the Student Union Shop.

The concurrent record must be a complete record of the experiment from which you will prepare

your report. You will need to include sketches of apparatus, circuit diagrams, notes on

experimental procedure, readings taken, principal calculations and derived results, graphs, andnotes relating to the discussion topics. Indeed, if the group works well, you will often be able to doall the necessary preparation for writing the report within the laboratory period.

Although the workbook is a personal record, you must try to make it as complete as possible andas neat and tidy as you can. Remember that you are practicing for a professional situation, in

which your record may be used by others.

Towards the end of the experiment, look at the points you will be asked to discuss in the report.

These points will be stated on the laboratory sheet under the heading DISCUSSION. Talk theseover with the other members of the group and attempt to formulate the arguments that you will be

putting forward. Make notes on these in your workbook. By doing this during the laboratory period,not only will the experiment still be fresh in your mind, but unresolved points can be discussed with

the Laboratory Demonstrators. If you adopt this approach you will find that the task of preparingthe report is greatly eased.

Although the records in your workbook are personal, you must make them as neat and tidy as youcan and as complete as possible. Do not rely on your memory, since there may be occasions when

you will not prepare the report for a few days. Recollections of details fade quickly, so make sure

you make a complete record at the time.

The Laboratory Report

The Study Skills booklet contains lots of good general advice about report writing. A reportcommunicates information from one person to another. A "good" report will present the

information in such a way that it can be assimilated without effort. This can only be achieved if you

have a clear idea of the needs of the reader. In industry for example, information in a report to animmediate superior (who has a detailed technical knowledge of the work) must be presented quitedifferently in a report to the technical director (who probably has not!)

The reader of your student reports is the academic staff supervisor or postgraduate LaboratoryDemonstrator. They will want to be able to check your calculations so that mistakes can be pointed

out. Include a sample set of calculations where necessary. The reader wants you to demonstrate

an understanding of your answers by intelligent discussion of the points specified on the instruction

sheet. Remember that the reader does in fact know what the answers should be and will be lookingfor you to convince him/her that you do too!

Present the information clearly, crisply and concisely. It is often helpful to write in short sentences.Long rambling discussions that skirt around the main issues generally serve only to draw attentionto the fact that the writer does not know the answer!

Students often try to read more into their results than is justified. You should try to develop acritical approach to the interpretation of results. In industry, you will find that your superior wil

spot any dubious conclusions (as, of course, will your academic reader!) and if you cannot justify


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them, your promotion prospects will not be enhanced! Never make a statement in a reportthat you are not prepared to defend.

It is vitally important to your career prospects that you develop a high standard of presentation inyour written reports. You are therefore strongly encouraged to produce reports using word-

processor and spreadsheet packages that are widely available on the university computer networks

Alternatively, reports may be hand-written on lined A4 paper (e.g. wide line Oxford refill BA4F) andgraphs may be drawn on centimetre and millimetre A4 graph paper. Diagrams of equipment maybe drawn on either graph paper or plain A4 paper.

If you are unclear about what is required in a particular laboratory report you should ask thelaboratory supervisor for clarification.

Report Formats

Professional report formats are dictated by the organisation concerned (the so-called house style).

For student reports in Years 1 and 2, three report formats are normally used.

a) Undergraduate ReportThis will comprise the following sections:i. Title page, laboratory instruction sheets, data sheets, etc.,ii. Summaryiii. Readings, calculations and resultsiv. Discussion

b) Quasi-professional ReportThis is an approximation to a real professional report, and will comprise the following sections:

i. Title pageii. Summaryiii. Objectivesiv. Theoryv. Equipmentvi. Procedurevii. Readings, calculations and resultsviii. Discussionix. Conclusions

C) Verbal Reports (For Year 2 students)

Report Sections

Title: The title page is provided with the instruction sheets for the experiment, and should be

used for all reports.

Summary: The summary must give the key points that derive from the experiment, normally on notmore than a single side of A4. The summary should give concise statements of theobjectives of the experiment and of the answers to the questions posed by the objectivesPut simply, the summary explains why you did the experiment and what the main findings

were. It should not contain a detailed description of equipment or procedure. Whereverpossible it should be quantitative.

The summary is a vital section and normally receives wide circulation within a company

whereas the complete report has a much more limited distribution. Because of this, it is


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particularly important that it must be understandable without reference to graphs or text inthe body of the report.

Objectives: The objectives should state clearly the purpose of the experiment, often in the form oquestions.

Theory: Give an outline of the theory relating to the experiment. Important points are thehypothesis to be tested, the assumptions made, any key intermediate expressions and thefinal results. It may be largely descriptive, with such things as detailed mathematica

derivations either omitted or placed in an appendix.

Equipment: A concise description of the equipment is required. It will invariably include a clear

annotated diagram supplemented, if necessary, by text to clarify features not otherwise

obvious. Give each diagram a printed title and reference number. Diagrams should beschematic to emphasise important features and omit unimportant detail. Do not attemptelaborate pictorial views or "artist's impressions". If possible, indicate a scale.

Procedure: For the procedure, give a clear logical outline of the steps in conducting the experimentYou may need to refer to the diagram in the equipment section, so consider this when

drawing and annotating. Any precautions taken to ensure reliable readings should be

described.

Results: Readings and results should normally be tabulated in your report. If repeated calculationsare involved, give one specimen set of numerical values only. Graphs are often needed.

Annotate and label the axes clearly (remember to include the units of the quantitiesplotted) and include a title and reference number. Plot data points with a cross, square, etc

(but not a dot) and, if several sets of data are to be plotted on the same graph, usedifferent point markers for each.

Discussion: The discussion is another important section. The topics to be discussed will normally bespecified on the instruction sheet. Within these topics, your discussion may include the

following points:

How closely has the stated objective been achieved?

What other related facts have been established?Have the equipment, instrumentation and procedure proved satisfactory for the

purpose of achieving the objective?If unsatisfactory, how might improvements be made?

Does the theory adequately account for the results obtained?

Be concise and do not labour the obvious. Make a list of the points to be made before youstart writing. A rambling, digressive discussion is wasteful of your time and that of the

reader. The discussion should not normally exceed two pages.

You will normally be expected to comment on the level of agreement between theory and

experiment. There will be limits to the range and quality of your results, so do not read

more into them than is warranted. Develop a critical approach and aim to give a coherent

argument. Remember that discrepancies may be due to untenable assumptions in thetheory or experimental error. A list of "possible" errors that "might" account for the

discrepancy is not particularly helpful unless you attempt to quantify sources of error andrank them in importance. Do not use phrases such as "reasonable agreement", "fairlyaccurate" or "quite good". These phrases are meaningless and simply highlight for thereader the fact that you have no idea of the errors involved! If you are in doubt about the

extent of the error treatment required for a particular experiment, ask in the classconcerned.

Conclusions: A short conclusions section (less than half a page) is often very useful to the reader. It

should summarise (in bullet points, if appropriate), the main conclusions regarding the


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discussion of the results.

Tables: Tables need to be planned so that intermediate calculations can be done and recorded

efficiently and so that they may be followed by the reader with ease. The number and widthof columns and the sequencing of the entered quantities need careful consideration

Column headings should be printed and must include the units of the quantity.

You may tabulate your data and do the required calculations using a spreadsheet programif you wish. The Professional Studiesmodule in Year 1 covers the use of Excel.

Graphs: It is not necessary or desirable to fill the page with the area of the graph. Never draw theaxes closer than 25 mm to the edges of the paper. Plan the location of axes and choose the

scales carefully. It is conventional to plot the independent variable along the horizontal, or

x-axis. It is often convenient to use several vertical or y-axes against a single x-axis so thatseveral dependent variables can be shown on the one graph. Take care to annotate andlabel the axes clearly (including the units of the quantities plotted) and include a title and

reference number.

Choose sensible and convenient scales. Do not use scales such as 30 mm per decimal step

in the value of a variable. The accuracy to which points can be plotted should normally be

consistent with the accuracy of the experimental readings. Clarity is important.

Curves which make up a family or which are meant to be compared should be plotted onthe same axes. Such curves should be distinguished from their fellows either by use ofdifferent line types (dashed, chain, etc.) or by use of different point markers (O, _, , etc.).

Use a key in this situation, most conveniently in the form of a small inset table on the

graph. On no account should it be necessary for the reader to refer to part of the text inorder to interpret the graph.

A curve derived from theory should be shown as a smooth line, with no obvious points.

References to published work

It is important that any references you give to published material are accurate and include all the

information required to enable someone else to find the publication you cite. Many societies andpublications have their own codes of practice, but the following forms should be used in the text of your

reports here...... a maximum value of : has been suggested [7] ....

or ..... Dale and Gladstone [7] suggested a maximum value....

or ..... it was suggested in reference 7 that a maximum value ....

References should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text. They should be listed as

follows in numerical order in an appendix titled References.

Paper or Report: [7] Dale, T. P. and Gladstone, I. H. "Researches on the refraction dispersion a

sensitiveness of liquids", Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., 1979, vol. 153, no. 3, pp. 317-332.

Book: [7] Dale T. P. and Gladstone, I. H. "Optical properties of liquids", 1979, pp. 221-23McGraw-Hill, New York.

Conferencepaper:

[7] Dale, T. P. and Gladstone, I. H. "Optical properties of liquids", Proceedings of thSymposium on Optics, Oxford, 1979, pp. 21-25.

An alternative, often easier, method of referring to other work is to state the year of publication, e.g. Daleand Gladstone [1979], and list the references by alphabetical order of the surname of the first author. Use

[1979a], [1979b], etc. if you refer to more than one publication by the same authors in the same year of

publication.


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Note: The World List of Scientific Periodicals (Science Library Catalogue Hall, M5) lists standard

abbreviations for periodical titles.

Verbal reports (Year 2)

In Year 2, laboratory sub-groups make be asked to give verbal reports jointly in a "round the table"session with the laboratory supervisor. You will be assessed partly on the correctness of the points you

make and partly on the way you put them across. One student will give a brief introduction to theexperiment, summarise the objectives and describe and comment on the key findings. The others wileach cover one of the discussion topics listed on the laboratory sheet. If these overlap with the

summariser's points, the latter should state the conclusion reached, while the student presenting the

discussion should give the justification. Each student will have up to 5 minutes to present his or hersection. You will find it helpful to make a list of the points you need to cover for use during the talk.However, avoid reading from a "script". Any necessary graphs, tables or diagrams should be prepared

beforehand and laid on the table when required.

Following the verbal report, the supervisor will comment on the points made. In particular he/she will

challenge any dubious statements, so be prepared to defend yourself. The assessment for the verbal

reports is based on your ability to convince the supervisor that you know the answers to the points underdiscussion.

Each sub-group should work as a team to process the results and to prepare material for the verbal

reports. Agree the section (i.e. discussion point or summary) that each member will present and discussthe key information to be covered. Knowing what the other members will be saying will help in the

preparation of your own section of the talk.

The laboratory supervisor will arrange dates and times for the verbal reports. A student not attending a

verbal report (without good cause) will have to submit a full undergraduate report in lieu.

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