Laboratory REPORT SPECIFICATIONS
For Course ME5591. General Information
The purpose of this document is to clarify what I expect from you in your laboratory reports. The principal purpose of the laboratory report is to communicate to me and anyone "skilled in the art" what, why, and how you did what you did. In addition the laboratory report should contain enough detailed information to allow a skilled reader to replicate your experiment and duplicate your conclusions.
The report should clearly state the purpose of the experiment, discuss relevant background material and describe both the apparatus used and its setup. If a hypothesis is to be proven (or disproven) that hypothesis should be clearly stated along with any pertinent assumptions.
The test protocol used should be defined and the results of the experimental measurements described in some detail. The significance of these results is then discussed and conclusions drawn. Any indications for future investigations which are germane to the results should be stated.
Graphics should be liberally used in the form of sketches of the equipment setup, plots of raw data and of analyses thereof. Statistical techniques should be applied as appropriate and their results presented in tabular or graphical form.
From an educational standpoint, these reports must satisfy an additional agenda. That is, the report also serves as the means by which the instructor can judge the level of understanding (and thus learning) that has been achieved by the student. To this end, the student should endeavor to provide sufficient discussion of the topics involved in the particular experiment to demonstrate his depth of understanding of the subject in general. Relate the topic at hand to other aspects of the general subject matter. Discuss the experiment’s results with respect to, and in relation to, the discussions of the topic provided in the textbook, the reserve references and in class discussions and lectures.
The report should be neatly and professionally done and be of a quality that would be acceptable in any professional engineering operation in academia, government or industry. To this end, a set of specific guidelines for the assembly of the report are provided.
2. Order of Contents in the Report
The contents should be as follows, in the order listed.
A. Title Page: There must be a title page, as the first page, containing the title of project and its sequence number in the course, your name, and date submitted. The title block information may not exceed 4" wide by 2" high centered in the upper third of the title page. The rest of that page must be blank for purpose of comments and grade.
B. Abstract: (See below for description)
C. Table of Contents: An example follows with page #'s to indicate approximate suggested lengths (note these can vary greatly from report to report).
1. Introduction 1
2. Purpose 2
3. Equipment and Test Protocol 2
4. Experimental Results 3
5. Discussion 6
6. Conclusions 10
7. Recommendations 12
8. Bibliography 12
9. Appendices
(each of these will now be discussed in turn)
D. Introduction: This serves to define the context in which the study is being done and discusses relevant background information from readings or lectures. In effect this defines the background of the problem and sets the scene for what follows.
E. Purpose: This section is a short and concise statement of the goal and may include a statement of any working hypotheses.
F. Equipment and Test Protocol: The equipment used in the experiment is completely defined (including manufacturer and model number where appropriate) and the experimental setup and procedure (the test protocol) is described in sufficient detail to allow one to duplicate it.
G. Experimental Results: The actual results are described both verbally and graphically as appropriate.
H. Discussion: This will be an extensive section of the report which describes your results and their meaning.and demonstrates what you have learned about the problem or topic. Note that all figures, sketches and tables included in the report must be labelled with a "Figure #" or "Table #", and must be described, discussed and explained in the text. Illustrations and computer printouts are not to be used as filler or window dressing! They are only to be included if they convey information and are discussed in the text. Unreferenced illustrations will be ignored!
I. Conclusions: This section concisely summarizes what was learned from the exercise and draws relevant conclusions from the data.
J. Recommendations: This section suggests areas of further study that are germane to the topic.
K. Bibliography: Documents all relevant references listed by author, title and publisher.
L. Appendices: An appendix means an "add-on". This is the repository for all data or information which are useful but would otherwise interrupt the flow of the report if included in its body. Examples of items belonging in the appendix are: computer output, or extensive plots, catalog information, mathematical proofs or derivations, extensive test data, etc. Do not put individual illustrations which are critical to the Results, Discussion or Conclusions in the appendix! They should be in the body of the report and be discussed there. Reference must also be made in the report to all material which is in the appendices. If it is not referenced or discussed, it should not be there! It is then just filler.
M. Abstract: Though this appears first in the report, it must actually be written last, because an abstract is intended to summarize the results of the exercise. It must clearly and concisely (half to one page maximum) describe what you set out to do and what you did. It is not just a restatement of the problem. It is a summary of your results and accomplishments. Thus it cannot be written until the report is finished.
The following are physical specifications for the report's materials and assembly.
3. Report Cover
The report cover must be of an approved type with mechanical fasteners, not a 3-ring or pinch binder. It must have a label with name, title, date, and course number. Any color is acceptable
4. Paper
Paper used in the report must meet the following specifications:
A. All written discussion, written formulae, mathematical derivations, etc. must be on white paper 8-1/2" x 11" (white bond paper, or computer "thesis" paper as used in Aptlab printers is acceptable).
B. All diagrams, plots, sketches must be on heavyweight quadrille pad lined paper or on "green" graph paper 8-1/2" x 11" (available at WPI Bookstore).
C. All mechanical drawings must be on white paper or plotter paper of either 8-1/2" x 11" or 11" x 17" size Z-folded to 8-1/2" x 11" (see Z-folding). (available at WPI bookstore).
D. All computer printouts may be on standard line printer paper or on "thesis" computer paper and must be separated and be squarely cut to 8-1/2" x 11" (see Z-folding).
5. Arranging of Sheets in Report
A. All pages must be inserted so as to be read from either the bottom of the report or the right side! Illustrations reading from the left side will be ignored.
B. All sheets must be provided with a blank left margin of sufficient width so as to prevent any written information from being captured (hidden) in the binding.
C. No sheet may protrude beyond the report cover, and all sheets must be trimmed or Z-folded to 8-1/2" x 11" and be uniformly bound.
D. "Z-folding": All sheets larger than 8-1/2 x 11" must be Z-folded to allow easy unfolding. See a sample report for an example of a proper Z-fold. A proper Z-fold will expose the right 11" edge of the paper to allow its legend or title block to be seen. Thus the identification of that sheet must be in the lower right quarter of the sheet.
E. Computer printouts must be cut or separated into individual sheets and arranged in proper sequence to be read as pages in a book. If the printer paper is wider than 8-1/2" then each page must be individually and separately Z-folded.
6. Typed? Pen? Pencil? Word Processor?
A "word processed" report is much easier to read and presents a far superior and more impressive appearance. Typing of the body of the report is required and a word processor should be used. Word processing is strongly encouraged! It's far superior to typing or writing. Moreover, these word processors have spell-checkers built-in! There is no longer any excuse for misspellings in a professional report. I expect you to use the spell checker.
The Aptlab computers have PC-Write and the ADP Lab in Fuller (FL16) has Word Perfect which has a good spell-checker. The Fuller ADP lab’s computers can now be accessed from the Aptlab as well. Letter quality printouts are not required but are encouraged. Dot matrix printer output is acceptable (if done with a good, dark ribbon).
You may hand-letter and legibly draw sketches in pencil or in black or blue ink (no red or green). Plots of data should be done in ink or as computer plots, and may be in any multi-colors if needed for clarity. Mathematical derivations may be in dark pencil or in black or blue ink.
7. General Comments
A properly executed engineering report should be neat, orderly, logically arranged, and aesthetic. It should be a professional document which you would be proud to show anyone - recruiter, boss, pawn-shop broker, or even some professor! It takes effort and time to put the report together properly, so do not leave that task until it is too late. The write-up and assembly of this type of report can easily take several hours of work beyond the gathering, collation, plotting and analysis of the data. Reports that do not meet the above specifications will be downgraded. Regardless of content, the grade will be reduced if the report form violates these requirements.