wri$ng lab reports
TRANSCRIPT
Wri$ngLabReports
RCELCommunica$onProgramGayleMoran,Ph.D.
JobDescrip$ons• Abilitytocommunicateeffec$vely,bothorallyandinwri$ng
• Excellentcommunica$onskills,bothwri(enandverbal
• Demonstratedgoodwri(enandoralcommunica$onskills
• Effec$veverbalandwri(enEnglishcommunica$onskills
• CorrectEnglishusageandgrammar• Engineeringreportwri$ngandpresenta$onskills
3
Os#natoRigore
(ConstantRigor)
LeonardodaVinci’sMoKo
Thisisyourbrainonwri$ng
Wri$ng–• Developscri$calthinkingskills
• Improveshowyoulearn
• Bringsyouclosertoasubject
4
Agenda
• Thinkbeforeyoucommunicate• Improveyourwri$ngwiththese$ps• Formataprofessionaldocument
5
Thinkbeforeyoucommunicate
• Knowyouraudience• Clarifyyourpurpose
6
Labreportassessmentrubric
7
Useac$vevoiceandpersonalpronouns
8
Thefunc$ongeneratorwasresettoa100Hzsinewaveandtheamplitudewasdecreased.
Weresetthefunc$ongeneratortoa100Hzsinewaveanddecreasedtheamplitude.
Usepasttenseforprocedures
9
Increasetheinputamplitudeun$lthereappearstobeoutputclipping.
Weincreasedtheinputamplitudeun$lwesawoutputclipping.
Usespecificwording
Themaximumdistancewecouldgetwasequaltotheen$relengthoftheBNCcord.
Wethenincreasedtheresistanceinintervalsun$litworked.
Thisisveryclosetothevaluesmeasuredin4.1.
HowlongwastheBNCcord?
Whatsizeintervals?Howmanyintervals?Whatdoes“worked”mean?
Howcloseis“veryclose”? 4.1?What’sthat?Whatwerethosevalues?
10
Ac$ve
Weak
Weperformedananalysisonthedata.
Weanalyzedthedata.
Useac$veverbs
Reducewordiness
12
AnotherveryimportantconsequenceofEinstein’stheoryofspecialrela$vitythatdoesnotfollowfromclassicalmechanicsisthepredic$onthatevenwhenabodyhavingmassisatrest,andhencehasnokine$cenergy,theres$llremainsafixedandconstantquan$tyofenergywithinthisbody.
Accordingtothetheoryofspecialrela$vity,evenabodyatrestcontainsenergy.
GaryBlakeandRobertW.Bly.TheElementsofTechnicalWri#ng.
Themicroscoperevealedagroupoforganismsthatwereroundinshapeandpeculiarinnature.
Themicroscoperevealedagroupofpeculiar,roundorganisms.
Usecorrectgrammarandspelling
13
Procedure
• Makeyourdescrip$onpersonal• Usepasttense• Makeitsoundlikeanarra$ve.Weavein– Expecta$ons– Observa$ons
• Includesome“why”and“how”informa$on• Explainandanalyzeyourcomments• Includeanytrouble-shoo$ngstepsyoutook
14
15
InExperiment4.1,wecompletedtwobasicsteps:Wepowereduptheop-ampandtestedtheopen-loopresponse.Weexpectedthatthecircuitwewiredwouldproduce…Theteambeganthefirststepbycolor-coordina$ngthewiresonthebreadboardaswewiredthebusstripstoprovideposi$vepower,nega$vepower,andgroundbuses.Thenwepluggedintheop-amp.Exactplacementwasimportant,andwemadesuretheop-ampstraddledthetopandboKomsocketstrip.
Bemindfulofwordchoice.Doesvoltageshrink?
Makingyournarra$veflowsmoothlycanbeachallengewhenyou’rewri$ngaboutaprocess.Thecon$nuoususeoftheword“then”becomesboring.Thinkofotherwordsandphrasesyoucanuse:First,second;next;amerweremovedtheresistor,we…;
16
Showyourinstructor,yourlabbies,and,inthefuture,yourmanager,thatyouarethinkingratherthanjustgoingthroughthemo$onsoftheexperiment.Whenyousayit“waslessdistortedthanitwasinLab2,explainwhyyouthinkthathappened.Wasitwhatyouexpectedtosee?
17
Makefigurecap$onsdescrip$veandspecific.Usingthephrase“theotherone”doesn’tprovidereaderswithenoughinforma$ontounderstandwhatyouaretalkingabout.
18
19
Formataprofessionaldocument
20
“Youcan’tbeagoodengineerifyoucan’tcommunicatewhatyoudidandwhatitmeans.Yourengineeringisonlyasgoodasyourcommunica$onofit.”
PortlandStateUniversity,CivilEngineeringWri$ngProject,2015.
UsingTablesandFiguresinWriKenDocuments
BeataKrupa,[email protected]
Selectedslidescourtesyof:BethO’SullivanandGayleMoran
BasicRules
• Usetablesandfigurespurposefully– Addinforma$on–mostofthe$me– Illustratesomething
• Useonlynecessarytablesandfigures
23
Tablesvs.Figures
• UseTablesto– Presentandcomparelargequan$$esofdataorinforma$on
– Sortdataorinforma$on–alpha,size,$meofoccurrence
– Comparedata
• UseFigures–charts,graphs,diagrams,drawings,screenshots,illustra$ons/imagestotalkabout– Trends– PaKerns– Rela$onships– Processes
Makeitsimple
25
YouMust!
• Reference(talkabout)yourtablesandfiguresinthetextbeforetheyappearonapage:
…Table1summarizesresults…
...Figure1illustrates...
• Inthetext,verballyexplainhowtointerpretyourtablesorfigures
Visualinforma$onneedscontext
Obviousbutimportant
• Alwaysnumberfiguresandtables• FiguresandtablesarenumberedINDEPENDENTLY,inorderinwhichyourefertotheminthetext.
– Figure1.…Figure2.…Figure3.
– Table1.…Table2.…Table3.
• Bold“Table1.”and“Figure1:”
Table$tlesandcap$onsarealwaysplacedABOVEatable
Useinforma$ve$tlesandcap$ons
Table2.
Table2.Comparisonofsolar-energystoragetechnologies
Thebest$tlesareconclusions
General:Table1.Three-yearprognosisamertreatmentSpecific:Table1.Survivalratedoubles3yearsamertreatment
Figure$tlesandcap$onsarealwaysplacedBELOWthefigure
Informa$vecap$ons
Variouslevelsofcap$oning
Cap$onscanrangefromasentencetoseveralparagraphs:
Figure2.Comparisonofthecostsofthethreemajortypesofcoalgasifica$onplants.
Figure2.Ahigh-sulfurcoalgasifica$onplantismoreexpensivethaneitheralow-sulfuroranthraciteplant,butmorethanhalfofitscostiscleanupequipment.Iftheseexpensescouldbeeliminated,high-sulfurbituminousplantwouldbetheleastexpensiveofthethreetypesofplants.
Veryimportant!
Makesurethat• Allinforma$onisaccurate
• Axesarelabeled• Unitsarecorrectandclearlydisplayed• Fontsizes,linethickness,spacingofelements,andpropor$onshelpreadability,clarity,andinterpreta$on
• Allfigureshaveconsistentlook
Figuresdesign
Figuresshouldbe(mostofthe$me)
• Centeredonthepage• Reasonablysized(nomorethan½page)
• Setapartfromthetextbyatleastoneblankline;textshouldnotflowaroundfigures
• Displayingwellincolororgrayscale.
Equa$ons
Centerequa$ons.Numberequa$onsonthefarrightofthepage.
Labelallelementsofillustra$onsanddrawings
Placelegendsasclosetoyourdataaspossible
0
10
20
30
40
50
0 5 10 15 20 25
Time (days)
Seed
lin
g h
eig
ht
(mm
)
Seedlings grew most rapidly at 30oC
20oC
30oC
25oC
From Cain Project
Figure1:Seedlingsgrewmostrapidlyat30oC
Citeallyoursources!
Evenifyourecreatedoradaptedafigureortablefromanotherauthor,includethewords“Adaptedfrom”or“Amer”followedbytheauthor’snameandacita$onattheendofthecap$on.
Principlesofgooddatavisualiza$on
• Designforyouraudience– Usethebesttypeofgraphicforyourmessage– Referencevisualsintext-verballyexplainkeypoints– Useinforma$ve$tles,cap$ons,anduselabels
• Follownumberingconven$ons
• Showdatawithoutdistor$on
Handout
45
AskingforHelpinaLab
Don’tjustsay“Itdoesnotwork!!!”
47
Preparingtoaskques$onsisanexerciseinanalyzing
problems.
48
WhenyouaskforLabbieshelp
• Providedetailsoftheproblem.Whatdosenotwork?Whatishappeningornothappening?
• Explainwhatyouhavedone,andwhydidyoudoit.Chronologicalexplana$onsworkwell.
• Comeupwithalistofpossibleexplana$onsofwhatyouthinkhappened.
Templateforaskingquesions
1. Whatishappeningornothappening-details2. Whathaveyoudoneandwhy3. Possibleanswers
Showyourthinking.Learnhowtoexplainyourthinkinginanorganizedway.
50
Nottoprovideanswerstooreadily
Giveaclueor
Helpstudentstocomeupwiththeirownanswer
WeaskedLabbies
Fromawebsitewherehackersanswerques$ons
We'vefoundbyexperiencethatpeoplewhoarecarelessandsloppyinhowtheyaskques$onsareusuallyalsocarelessandsloppyatthinkingandcoding.Answeringques$onsforcarelessandsloppythinkersisnotrewarding;we'dratherspendour$meelsewhere.
52