Docsity
Docsity

Prepare for your exams
Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity


Earn points to download
Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan


Guidelines and tips
Guidelines and tips

Lab Report Writing for Undergraduate Students, Summaries of Technical Writing

This document provides information on writing lab reports.

Typology: Summaries

2021/2022

Uploaded on 01/07/2025

baljinder-singh-9
baljinder-singh-9 🇺🇸

1 document

1 / 4

Toggle sidebar

This page cannot be seen from the preview

Don't miss anything!

bg1
SECTION 3: A GUIDE TO 2.672 LAB REPORT WRITING
ELEMENTS OF A LABORATORY REPORT
(in the desired order)
1. Title page
2. Abstract
3. Table of Contents*
4. List of Symbols*
5. Introduction
6. Apparatus and Procedure
7. Theoretical Analysis
8. Experimental Results
9. Discussion
10. Conclusions (and Recommendations)
11. Appendices*
12. References
*Optional
The order of the theory section and experiment section is not rigid. You can present either one of them
first. For short technical reports like the ones you will write for 2.672, it is optional to include a table of
contents and list of symbols.
Individual reporting
You can share ideas, data and results with your group members. You need, however, to write your own project
report.
Focus on your contribution
You should focus on your contributions to the understanding and solution of your project problem. You
developed a model to characterize the problem. It is a remarkable achievement. Although your model may not
be perfect, it is an important tool to understand the essential physical processes . Write your report to help
people understand and solve real-world engineering problems. Do not write the report focusing on how
inaccurate your model is.
Writing style
In general, do not use “I” , “we”, “he”, or “she” in technical writing. Here are some examples.
Example 1. “This work developed an engineering model to predict wafer temperature during hot-plate
photoresist processing.”
Example 2. “The experimental system consists of three major parts.”
Number of significant digits
If you report a temperature of 100.002 C, it suggests that the temperature error is less than 0.001 C. You should
present your results with the right number of significant digits to represent the accuracy of your experiments
and model simulations.
14
pf3
pf4

Partial preview of the text

Download Lab Report Writing for Undergraduate Students and more Summaries Technical Writing in PDF only on Docsity!

SECTION 3: A GUIDE TO 2.672 LAB REPORT WRITING

ELEMENTS OF A LABORATORY REPORT

(in the desired order)

  1. Title page
  2. Abstract
  3. Table of Contents*
  4. List of Symbols*
  5. Introduction
  6. Apparatus and Procedure
  7. Theoretical Analysis
  8. Experimental Results
  9. Discussion
  10. Conclusions (and Recommendations)
  11. Appendices*
  12. References

*Optional

The order of the theory section and experiment section is not rigid. You can present either one of them first. For short technical reports like the ones you will write for 2.672, it is optional to include a table of contents and list of symbols.

Individual reporting You can share ideas, data and results with your group members. You need, however, to write your own project report.

Focus on your contribution You should focus on your contributions to the understanding and solution of your project problem. You developed a model to characterize the problem. It is a remarkable achievement. Although your model may not be perfect, it is an important tool to understand the essential physical processes. Write your report to help people understand and solve real-world engineering problems. Do not write the report focusing on how inaccurate your model is.

Writing style In general, do not use “I” , “we”, “he”, or “she” in technical writing. Here are some examples. Example 1. “This work developed an engineering model to predict wafer temperature during hot-plate photoresist processing.” Example 2. “The experimental system consists of three major parts.”

Number of significant digits If you report a temperature of 100.002 C, it suggests that the temperature error is less than 0.001 C. You should present your results with the right number of significant digits to represent the accuracy of your experiments and model simulations.

TITLE PAGE

Title must include key words about the project and reveal the topic of the report. Title page should include:

  • Author's Name
  • Project Supervisor
  • Names of Group Members
  • Section Number
  • Date

ABSTRACT

The abstract is a brief (approx. 150 words) condensation of the report. Do not explain why the study is done in the abstract. That belongs to the introduction. Describe each of the following in one or two sentences.

  • What was done
  • How it was done
  • Significant results

INTRODUCTION

  • State context/background of study
  • Articulate the need for the study
  • Clearly define the problem (purpose of the investigation)
  • Outline overall approach

APPARATUS AND PROCEDURE

Overview of Operation

  • Refer to the schematic and explain the overall operation.
  • Give dimensions of the apparatus. Point out the relationship between the laboratory device and the actual device.
  • State what are being measured. Give detailed information of the transducers and measurement systems only if they are uncommon devices.
  • Give accuracy and frequency response of the transducers. (Also give sampling rate and total sampling duration if you use an A/D system.)
  • Discuss the calibration procedure; details should be in the appendix, not in the main text.

Conduct of the Experiment

  • Brief description of the experimental procedure.
  • List sets of experiments done.
  • Give range of parameters that you have varied.

THEORETICAL ANALYSIS

Develop governing equations

  • Assumptions: support the them quantitatively, e.g., assume laminar flow - give Reynolds number.
  • Describe the model development; give the major equations, but leave detailed algebra to the appendix. This part should be written as a mixture of equations and sentences and not just a list of equations.

Computer Simulation

  • Describe algorithm for getting your answers from your equations first and then the numerical scheme used
  • discuss numerical parameters (e.g., step size in integrating differential equations);
  • specify boundary conditions
  • leave program listing in an appendix
  • Results should be presented in graphical form whenever possible.
  • All figures and graphs should be referred to in text before their appearance. They should all be numbered.

Graphs

  1. Title should be short but informative. It should include what is being graphed and any additional information needed to interpret the graph.
  2. Axes should be labeled (for quantities with dimensions, units are required).
  3. Use symbols for data points and lines for theoretical predictions.
  4. Each curve should be marked clearly and distinctly.