Materials Science Laboratory Component:

Guidelines for the Laboratory:

Laboratory reports are to be typed. No exceptions will be allowed. Reports will be due one week after the completion of the lab at the beginning of the next laboratory session (unless otherwise stated). With no exceptions, late reports will not be accepted unless you have a documented, acceptable excuse. Lab reports will be considered late if they are not handed in during lab class one week after the completion of the lab. In addition to the questions listed in the lab manual, the TA's will provide additional questions during the lab. These questions must also be answered in the lab reports.

Each lab will be weighted equally as outlined in the class syllabus. No laboratory scores will be dropped. Laboratory notebooks will also be graded.

Attendance is mandatory at all scheduled laboratory sessions. If you know ahead of time that you will need to miss lab for an acceptable reason, reschedule the lab with your teaching assistant prior to your absence. Make every effort to contact your teaching assistant prior to your absence. If you do not attend a lab session, you will not be able to hand in a report.

Safety procedures must be followed. Violations of safety protocol will not be allowed. If you violate the rules of the lab, you will be asked to leave. If you are asked to leave, you will take a zero on the laboratory report for that experiment.

Lab experiments are usually group oriented. This does not mean the lab reports are group oriented. Anyone found to be copying lab reports (either from the present class or from previous semesters) will be given a zero in the laboratory portion of the final grade. The one allowing the copying will also be disciplined. This is academic misconduct and will not be tolerated.

Instructions for writing lab reports and engineering proposals:

The aspects of major importance in writing these items are:

A. Follow the format

B. Keep it short

By following the format, your report or proposal in presented in a logical structure. You know what to write and your reader knows what to expect, section by section.

By keeping it short, you are taking into account the limited time available for most people. Your boss will usually have many reports to read. TERSE REPORTS WHICH CONVEY ALL OF THE NECESSARY INFORMATION WITH NO FLUFF OR UNNEEDED VERBIAGE WILL BE WELL RECEIVED. However, be sure your report contains the key information and conclusions. It is not always easy to write a short report. As Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) once wrote in a letter to a friend, “I am sorry to have written you such a long letter, but I did not have the time to write you a shorter one.” Good, concise writing takes time. A key objective of this course is to enhance your writing skills.

Listed below are two very common mistakes made in technical writing. Watch out for these mistakes as they are very noticeable and greatly detract from the quality of the writing.

Subject-verb agreement: The subject (noun) and verb of a sentence should agree in number.

INCORRECT: A penny, a quarter, and a dollar is a form of currency.

CORRECT: A penny, a quarter, and a dollar are forms of currency.

Verb tense agreement: Do not switch the tense of your verbs in a sentence.

INCORRECT: It was a cold night and things are going fine.

CORRECT: It was a cold night and things went fine.

CORRECT: It is a cold night and things are going fine.

For those of you who have trouble with writing reports, there is a writing workshop sponsored by the Rhetoric department for undergraduate students. The number for the writing lab is: 335-0188. They can provide you with assistance in improving your writing skills there.

All laboratory reports should consist of the following eight sections:

1. An abstract

2. Introduction

3. Background

4. Experimental Procedure

5. Results and Discussion

6. Conclusions

7. Recommendations

8. Appendices

General Comments:

On the first page, only include:

· your name

· section Number

· Title of the Report

· Abstract

Start the body of the report on a new page. The body of the report will include sections two through seven. Start each section with the name of that section in bold text.

Finish the report with the appendices. Start the appendices on a new page, separate from the body.

Reports are to be written using only the passive third person. THAT MEANS I, WE, AND US SHOULD NOT APPEAR IN YOUR REPORTS.

Descriptions of Components of the Report:

Abstract:

Write eight to twelve sentences summarizing the complete experiment. This should include:

· objective of the experiment

· experimental procedure

· overview of the results (including order of magnitude)

· important conclusions and recommendations

This section should be written after finishing with the other seven sections of the report.

Introduction:

· who did the experiment?

· when was the experiment conducted?

· what experiment has been done?

· why was the experiment conducted? (Objective)

Background:

· explain the significance of the experiment being conducted.

· what are the main concepts being considered in the experiment?

· define and explain all important concepts.

· provide key equations utilized in calculations.

· explain the significance of the measurements with respect to material properties.

· what are the practical implications of the experiment?

· answer the given questions thoroughly by discussion in the background.

All equations should be done using an equation editor. The equations should be on their own line in the text and should be numbered consecutively as shown.

(1)

where g is some property and f is another property.

Reference to an equation already written should be done as: According to equation (1) above, ...

Experimental Procedure:

Describe the following:

· Equipment used

· Calibration of the test equipment (if any)

· Standards used to calibrate (if any)

· Specimens/materials tested

· Specimen preparation and procedures followed

· Sequence of steps taken during the experiment

· Steps taken towards improving the accuracy and precision of the measurements

Include a figure showing the experimental apparatus.

Results and Discussion:

· Analyze your results. Explain your graphs, tables, figures, etc. Include one or two graphs/tables with the major results. Other tables or graphs should go in the appendices.

· Discuss the main findings of your data.

· Highlight the results.

· Discuss the statistical analysis of your data, including:

· mean and standard deviation

· number of samples tested and the number of observations of each sample

· deviation of results from standard values

Conclusions:

· Write three to five sentences emphasizing/summarizing the quantitative and qualitative results of the experiment.

· Relate the results to the objective and explain if and how the results obtained the objective.

Recommendations:

· Suggest how to improve the accuracy of the results (and this doesn’t mean you just suggest new equipment be purchased!).

· Suggest improvements in the experimental designs, equipment, methods, and safety.

· If you do not have any recommendations, omit this section from your lab report. However, most of the time, you should have recommendations for improvements.

Appendices:

Include:

· Raw data in a table } Include a copy of your laboratory notebook data

· Results in a table }

· Statistical Analysis

· Graphs / Charts

· Sample Calculations

· Members of your group, if applicable

· References (follow a standard, accepted format)

Notes:

· Labs may be group efforts, but reports are individual efforts

· Copying of lab reports is cheating. It will not be tolerated.

· If you do not attend lab, you will not be able to submit lab reports.

For more details, see the Guidelines for the Laboratory section.

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