EML 3303C/EAS 3800C

Measurements I
REPORT WRITING GUIDELINES

The lab report requires significant effort and contribution from all members of a
lab group. Below are guidelines to help you write these reports. Also refer to your class
guidelines and textbook for additional information. The following outline should be
considered as the bare minimum required. The grading rubric is used to determine the
grade awarded for a report submission.

Note: This document provides general guidelines. In the event of disagreement

between these guidelines and the report grading rubric regarding report content and
format, the grading rubric takes precedence.

Report Formatting

The report should be justified with page numbers centered at the bottom of each
page except for the title page, which should not have numbering but counts as page 1.
The report should be written in Times New Roman, 12-point font, with the first line of
each paragraph indented by inch from the left margin, and 1-inch margins on all sides.
Points will be deducted if formatting is not correct. Lastly the report should be in single
column format even though the journal article posted on Webcourses is in two column
format.

Page Limit

See each lab report grading rubric for page limits. The lab report agreement and
peer evaluation pages (when requested) are not included in this limit.

Report Contents

In the lab reports you are expected (but not limited) to include the elements
below.

1.Title Page
This page should include the following:

Experiment number and title

Group members (List in alphabetical order by Last Name)
Due date

Course number such as EML 3303C or EAS 3800C

Lab Section, Day and Time
TA Name
Group Number (if known/applicable)
 You are encouraged to be creative with your title page by, for example, including
some graphics or watermark related to the experiment or to UCF. Keep the professional
look of page.
*It is absolutely essential that you list the group member names AS THEY APPEAR
ON WEBCOURSES, when available.

2.Abstract (or Summary). (Length: page maximum)

The first section of the report contains the abstract. This is perhaps the most
important section as it will often be the only part that your superiors or persons with only
a passing interest may read. In this section, you should summarize concisely what was
done, why you did it, the important results and any important conclusions from the
experiment. The main instrumentation used can be included if appropriate. For example,
you may not include less critical items such as stop watch, beaker, computer, etc. These
can be listed in the main body of the report. The abstract should be 1-2 paragraphs long.
Writing a good abstract or summary often requires practice and some people spend more
time on this section than any other section.

You can think of the abstract as if you are trying to summarize what you have
done over a week to your superior in two minutes. In that case, you would not include
many details; yet, the abstract should be conclusive, meaningful, and self-contained.

3.Relevance. (Length: page maximum)

The relevance section pertains to the practicality of the experiment in relation to

your current or future professional career. Thus, you must discuss what was learned and
link it to how it can be beneficial in the industry or in a research environment. It is
important that not only your acquired knowledge from the lab is mentioned, but also its
relation to how it could help you in the future. Ways of doing this would include:
describing how the instruments can be used in future experiments, how uncertainty
analysis can be used to calculate tolerance for various tools and equipment, how certain
procedures or methodologies learnt in the lab could be used to develop and/or conduct
projects.
Relevance Statement Example: In this experiment x measurements and y
calculations were performed. It was observed that z values varied depending on y. It was
shown that that z cannot be exactly determined but can still be estimated as a range and
can be calculated from x and y measurements. The knowledge practiced in this lab can
help in a future experiment where a factory making x need to determine the y values of
the product with a pre-specified level of confidence. This knowledge may also be used to
test the effect of z on x and w.

4.Introduction. (Length: 1/2 page approximately)

Although some people may confuse the introduction with the abstract, the intent
and length of these two sections are significantly different. In the introduction, there is
more room to expand on the reasons why the experiment was performed and its
objectives. Learning the use of equipment and calibrating devices are usually secondary
objectives necessary to achieve primary objectives of the experiment. Write the
objectives in your own words. Present the objectives assuming that this experiment
is an assignment you are performing in a company you are working for. Do not just
copy the list of objectives from the lab handout as no points may be given in that
case. Objective example: The objective of this experiment is to determine the
dimensions of a drive shaft of x engine at certain pre-determined level of confidence.
Another objective is to determine if the shafts manufactured in the morning shift have
significantly different diameters from those of the night shift. A secondary objective is to
test and calibrate the measurement system used.

In this section, you should also describe the theory behind the lab, the equations to
be used, and how the equations and theory apply to the experiment performed.
In addition, an important part of the introduction is an outline of the report
contents to brief the reader about that content. This is very different from summarizing
your conclusions in the abstract. Here, you simply outline (in sentence form and not in
bulleted format) the basic sections of the report in the order that they appear in the report.
This section of the report can be written in present tense. Outline example: The
experimental set up and procedures are described in section II while the results are
provided in section III. Conclusions are listed in section V, followed by references in
section VI. These outline sentences should appear at the end of the introduction.

5.Experiment

This section contains two primary parts: the apparatus and the procedure. In the
experimental apparatus section, you should describe the instrumentation used in the
experiment. You are required to have at least one schematic of the experimental setup
(Microsoft Word or PowerPoint drawings are acceptable. Photographs are not
acceptable) and label all the individual parts of the setup. Construct your own drawing, if
any schematic is found to be copied from the lab handout, no points will be given for the
schematic unless specifically allowed in the rubric. The figure should also be cited in the
text in order to get points for the experimental setup schematic. During the lab, you
should have listed all the equipment used in the experiment, including name,
manufacturer, serial number, etc. However, in the report it is sufficient to provide most of
this information in concise sentence form. For example, you can write A 500-MHz
digital oscilloscope (Tektronix, TDS 2250) with 12-bit resolution was used to examine
the transducer output. Alternately, you can have a dedicated equipment list, if requested
in your rubric. Example: 500-MHz digital oscilloscope with 12-bit resolution
(Tektronix, TDS 225). No need to list serial numbers in the report. The reader, possibly
your boss or someone from another organization, may not care about the serial number or
additional details. These details are for your reference and can be used in your lab for
future reproduction of the experiment or for tracing instrument errors.

The experimental procedure should summarize how you performed the

experiment, but you are not required to mention obvious details such as turning on the
power to an instrument, hooking up wires and leads, warm-up time, etc., unless they are
scientifically relevant to the objectives of the experiment. There is no set format for
providing the procedural information and this section may differ in structure from
experiment to experiment. Avoid copying just the procedure section from the lab
manual. Often times, there are extra details in the manual that are for the benefit of the
student and should not be repeated in the report. Instead, you are required to try to be
creative and summarize the procedure in your own words. Listing the procedure in the
form of numbered steps is often a good approach. To check appropriateness of this
section, read it and check if it provides sufficient information for someone else to repeat
the experiment without needing more information.
If there were problems with the equipment or special circumstances that required
changing the procedures from those listed in the lab handout, feel free to document them
in the Conclusions section (below) for the benefit of the reader (and your group). Only
include those details from which some scientific knowledge can be acquired and can be
helpful in the future. Give a proper title to this subsection such as Difficulties
encountered, Suggested procedure changes etc.

6.Results / Discussion

The key to writing the results section is to realize that in that section you are
telling the reader what your results were by referring to appropriate figures or tables. This
section will contain the findings of your experiment, the calculations, graphs and tables
required in the rubric. Empirical correlations of the data in equation-form can be
presented in this section. You will provide the plots and tables that help describe the
experimental results. When space allows, you may add figures and tables beyond those
specifically requested in the handout or rubric, which lists the minimum requirements.

All figures and tables must be cited in the report text. When citing each table
or chart and describing their content, you should point out the notable trends and details
as applicable, such as the amount of scatter, the goodness of fit, etc. For example you
may write The pressure distribution is shown in Fig 5, which indicates that the pressure
increases linearly with distance along the surface. In summary, the reader should be able
to grasp your results by reading your text and looking at the graphs or tables. Some more
details and requirements on figure formatting are provided in later sections.

When space allows, figures and tables should be placed in the main body of the
report and placed close to their citation. In the results section, you should also summarize
the results of your uncertainty analysis and show confidence intervals. The detailed
calculations of the uncertainty analysis must be included in the appendix. In other
words, the main body of the report is not the place for multiple Excel tables or Mathcad
calculation pages, no matter how descriptive you think they might be. Again, all figures
cited in the text must be included in the main body of the report. There should be no
figure or table without a number, title, and description in the text. All figures and tables
must be labeled properly, with the numbering starting with the first Figure/Table as
Figure/Table 1 and then the numbering carried throughout the entire report till the
end of the appendices. All axes in the plots and columns in tables must have proper
labels that state units, if any. Table captions are always above and Figure captions
(caption is another name for title) are always below. All Figures and Tables along with
their captions should be centered even though the example paper may have tables
not centered. Graphs/Plots should only be referred to as Figures. Any screenshots
should be labeled as a figure and must be cited in the text. Please refer to the journal
article posted on Webcourses as a sample of figure and table placement. SI units should
be consistently used throughout the report.

In this section, you should provide a discussion of your findings. For example, some of
your results may differ from theoretical expectations or published data. Explain possible
reasons for the difference. Comment on if the measured data and results fall within your
estimated uncertainty. In most labs, you will be required to answer specific lab questions.
You should incorporate the answers to the specific questions into this section. Make your
answers as clear as possible and try to discuss them in the order listed in the
handout/rubric to facilitate grading. Reporting erroneous results causes you to lose points.
There is no excuse for not having the proper results. Lack of preparation for the lab is
the most common reason for not finishing the lab by the end of the lab session.
Make sure to read the lab handout before going to the lab. You should know exactly
what you need to do, how you are going to do it, and what your results should look
like so that you can quickly identity any problematic results. Take advantage of the
sample calculation to help you determine if you are on the right track. Your lab
session is the only time you have to conduct the lab. Use it wisely. If you do not
collect the data needed by the end of the lab session, this is an indication that more
preparation should be done before the lab. The TA will assist if there is a problem
with the equipment or if you have legitimate technical questions. He/she may not
answer questions that you would have known by reading the lab handout. In the
rare event of unforeseen problems (such as serious equipment failure, etc.), the TA
can make special arrangements.

7.Conclusions. (Length: to page approximately)

The Conclusions section is similar but different from the Summary section. In this
section you will concisely describe the conclusions which you had arrived in the
discussion of results section. Avoid vague language which has little or no scientific
connection with the theory. Try to link your results with the theory behind them. For
example; do the results agree with the theory? Why or why not? Try to provide
quantitative values and reasoning on the agreement/disagreement of the results rather
than qualitative descriptions such as large error or consistent results. Provide
numerical values for your errors. If your results contradict with theoretical facts, try to
explain the possible source of deviation or error (calibration, human error, software error,
etc.). Comments and recommendations for improving the experiment should be provided
at the end of this section.

8.Appendices

In this section, when applicable, include your LabVIEW screenshots, Mathcad (or
similar) worksheet, and other detailed calculations. The Labview screenshots should be
labeled as a figure and cited in the report text. Your uncertainty analysis as well as
computer programs, mathematical derivations, or any material relevant to the experiment
should be placed here. You must include a complete uncertainty analysis in this
section in order to receive full credit. This section should also include detailed
calculations that would be too lengthy to be presented in the report body. Items in the
appendix have to be properly organized and formatted. All items (e.g., Figures and
tables) should be cited in the body of the report.

9.References

In this section, list all the papers, textbooks, and/or notes that were used to
prepare the report (a minimum of 2 are needed exclusive of lecture notes and the lab
handouts). If you use any equations, cite the text from which you obtained them. Use
only ASME or AIAA format for this section. All references must be cited in the text.
Refer to the sample journal article posted on Webcourses as an example of properly
citing references in your report. This section is part of the appendices.

10.List of Nomenclature

Include this list if requested in the rubric. This section should be placed in the
appendix after the Reference(s) Section.

Group Performance Evaluation

When applicable, all peer evaluations will be submitted on Webcourses for each
lab. Failure to submit a peer evaluation will affect your grade.

Lab Report Submission Agreement, and Group Member Responsibility

A lab report submission agreement and group member responsibility page must
be turned in with every lab report. That agreement can be found on the last page of this
document. Every student must sign the page with a pen. No pencil or electronic
signatures will be accepted. Also, the group member responsibility table should be filled
showing the contribution by each group member to the report. If this page is not turned
in with the report, the ungraded report will be returned to the students and must be turned
in again (with the completed agreement page) to the TA within one week. A 15 point
deduction will be applied in this case.

Page limits

The page limits will be specified in the lab report grading rubric. These refer to the
maximum page limit. Unless otherwise indicated by the instructor or TA, these pages
should include all sections detailed above.

Single-page Reports
Single page reports do not adhere to the report formatting mentioned above. Instead, this
report type will present brief calculations, relevant requested figures, results, and
discussion/conclusion. More details on this format will be provided in the handout for
these labs. This type of report may, at the end, look like a homework submission.
 Lab Report Submission Agreement, and Group Member
Responsibility

By writing your name and signing this form, you agree that you
accept all information in this report as your own and you will receive a grade
as a group. You agree with the table below and attest that you have not used
an old report written by another student in a previous semester. You also
agree that the data presented in this report is a result of conducting the lab on
your own or as part of a group and were not obtained from any other means.
Clear evidence of plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the class.

Group Member Responsibility

Report Section Group Member(s)

Abstract
Introduction
Experiment
Results & Discussion
Conclusion
References
Appendix
Other

Group Member #1: __________________________________________________

Print Signature

Group Member #2: ________________________________________________

Print Signature

Group Member #3:________________________________________________

Print Signature