LABORATORY GUIDELINES

Organization

Attendance and active participation in the laboratory experiments are expected. There will be an attendance sheet at each lab session and it is your responsibility to sign-in. Students who do not participate in an experiment lab session will not receive full credit for the lab.  For any of you who have thought we don't do enough "hands-on" work here - this is "hands-on".

Laboratory reports will be due at the beginning of lab sessions. Late laboratory reports must be turned-in to your Teaching Assistant. A daily penalty will be assigned. Reports will not be accepted more than one week after the due date (unless excused by illness or special circumstances).

Most of the laboratory reports will be in "short form".  The last experiment will be submitted as a "full form" report.  Some experiments may also contain "check-off" tasks.  These should be shown to your Teaching Assistant in the laboratory before your group completes its laboratory work.

Please notice that several of the lab experiments have a "computation week" which follows the actual lab experiment.  During a computation week, your lab teaching assistant will be in the lab during your scheduled laboratory time and will be available to discuss your lab and lab data with you.  The lab computers and printers will also be available for use.  In case you would like to repeat a part of the experiment for that week, the lab set-ups will also be kept intact.
 

The SHORT FORM report should contain:

Experiment Summary (10%) - a brief description of what you did and how you did it (should fit on one printed page).  This should be to-the-point and in your own words, not a paraphrasing of the laboratory handout.

Calculation Sheets (15%) - clearly labeled example calculations which you used in obtaining your results. Include transducer calibration calculations.  Pay special attention to units and be sure that your quantitative results are sensible and of reasonable magnitude.

Required graphs (40%) - as specifically defined for the experiment, clearly labeled and with appropriate units.

Discussion of Results (15%) - discuss the nature of your results and any difficulties you had. Give particular attention to the agreement of your results with theory. Can you explain any disagreement?

Answers to Specific Questions (20%) - as asked for individual experiments.  Read your answers before turning them in to be sure they are complete and make sense to you.
 

The FULL REPORT form is as follows:

Introduction (5%): Describe the general nature of the experiment and its purpose.

Theory (10%): Discuss the background theory pertaining to the experiment. Present derivations of the most important equations used or applied in the experiment. It is not necessary to derive every equation and direct repetition from the text or class notes should be avoided.

Procedure (5%): List the equipment used in the experiment and describe the key components in detail. Include a well labeled sketch of the apparatus and refer to the sketch in your discussion.

Results (30%): Present the experimental data here. Include graphs and spreadsheets as appropriate as well as samples of your calculations. Provide a brief summary of the nature of the results.

Discussion (15%): Compare your results with theory. Discuss any disagreement between your results and the expected results. Describe any contributing factors to this disagreement including any difficulties encountered during the experiment.

Conclusions (10%): Summarize your results and discussion here. Was the experiment successful? What major theoretical concepts were verified or shown to be limited? Explain.

Questions (20%): Respond here to any specific questions assigned in the experiment.

References (3%): This section should contain a list of any reference material used in preparing your report.

Appendix (2%): Any raw data or extensive supporting material that may be of interest should be added in an appendix and simply referenced in the text of your report.

Text, graphs and tables should be machine printed. Calculations, equations, equipment figures and schematic diagrams may be neatly presented by hand.