Contents: Lab report guide Spring 2011

1) General overview and logistics

2) More specific info about titles and calculations
3) Making plots
4) Circuit diagrams
5) Other schematics
6) Uncertainties
7) A sample lab report subsection
- Complete lab each week and record data in your notebook
- Writeupto hand in:
- Preferably write up your lab in your notebook, but we will also allow writing on
separate lined sheets of paper
- Generally handwritten except pasted/taped plots
- Or a typed document is allowed, as long as
1) Diagrams are drawn from scratch completely by you.
2) The overall layout is relatively compact.
3) All equations are well formatted - subscripts, superscripts, special
characters, understandable layout.
4) Nothing is "snipped" out of the lab manual or websites.
- Hand in to your instructors box 5 pm the evening before your next lab, if you write your
report in your lab notebook, photocopy your lab report so that you have your notebook
available for the next lab
- Contents:
- Title for each section and subsection
- Diagrams, Schematics
- Relevant theory and formulas
- Calculations
- Data in plot format
- Discussion
- Conclusion for lab as a whole
Lab reports: Logistics
Titles:
Not just A or 1 corresponding to lab manual section
make up appropriate descriptive heading
Calculations
Lab reports: Details of content
No need to show us your work when
doing algebraic calculations, but symbolic
formulas and your numeric input are required
Axis labels with units
Scale
Data shown with points
Theory shown with lines
Appropriate
range
Error bars when
necessary
Plots:
OptionsMathematica, Origin, Igor, Mathcad, Matlab, Excel (not recommended)
Mathematica = free access, Plot template on website, on laptops in G230
Imagine (or even make) the plot as you are taking data
Yes detailed schematic diagram
(simplify as become familiar with op amp)
No my wires diagram
(unless some there is some specific point)
Circuit diagrams in the report
But there is a place for.
Schematics showing important wiring
or connections between instruments
or anything you think is important
Uncertainties
Generally an account of the important random and systematic uncertainties
will be necessary.
As in the sample report below, you will often want to quote uncertainties
on measured and calculated values.
But always strive to make simple estimates of uncertainties, to avoid wasting time
estimating uncertainties that will not contribute to the final result. Avoid
elaborate propagation-of-uncertainty calculations unless they are really necessary.
Remember also that the uncertainty of a reported number can also be implied
by the number of significant digits you report. Dont state a measured value of voltage
is 4.567 V if you are not measuring at the level of mV.