General Report Guidelines[1]
The following
report format guidelines are meant to be used as guidelines for developing
clear, concise, and universally accepted format reports. Some topics listed are
categories for format, such as “Fonts”. Other topics are actual sections of
which the lab report is composed, and are denoted by underlining.
General
Information.
The lab report must be computer-generated and be subject to professional
standards. All figures, tables, and/or graphics must be computer-generated. Please
see the instructor if this will be a problem. Obtain help as soon as possible –
do not wait until a day before the lab report is due!!
Fonts. Standard font type and style (e.g. Times New Roman
12-pt.) should be used throughout the report, with the exception of a 14-pt.
Title, if so desired.
Spelling and Grammar. Document should contain no
spelling or grammatical errors. Word processor spelling and grammar checking
should be utilized. First person and personal pronouns should be avoided in
technical reports.
Title. The title should state as
much as possible about the content of the paper, in as few words as possible.
Introduction. The introduction should
inform the reader as to what the problem is, what question will be answered,
and why it is important.
Method. This section provides a
synopsis with some detail, of how the experiment was performed.
Results. This is a summary of what
was actually discovered in terms of data, readings, measurements, etc. It is
not a dump of unanalyzed data. Make sure to do and report just those tests that
are relevant to the question that relates to your experiment. If a large amount
of raw data must be included (and sometimes there is good reason to do this),
place the data in an appendix.
Graphs,
charts, and tables are often useful in this section (and elsewhere, but less
often). They should be labeled consecutively either as Figures or Tables,
depending on whether a reader could be expected to set them, e.g., Figure 1,
Figure 2, Table 1, etc. Each one should have a caption explaining clearly what
it is, if possible without relying on anything in the text. The text should
tell the reader when to look at the figures and tables (``As shown in Figure 1.
...''), and it should point out the important points, but it should not simply
repeat in writing what they state. Figures and tables are may go at the end of
the paper, but most readers prefer the tables and figures close to where they
are needed, immediately following the declaration. Refer also to the Figure
check list at the end of this guide.
Discussion
& Conclusions. Discussion does not necessarily include conclusions about the
experiment. It is a good idea to begin the discussion with a summary of the
results. In other words, after the experimenter performs the experiment,
collects and analyzes data, they must step back and intellectually ponder the
meaning of their results. Discussion could then include a comparison of what
was discovered versus what was technically or theoretically predicted.
Your conclusion should restate the key points in the
paper, it should NOT state: “I learned what I was supposed to
learn, and saw what I was supposed to see and learned a lot from the experience.”
Figure/ Check
List (Also applicable to tables)
1.
All
figures should be computer-generated.
2.
All
figures included in a paper should be necessary for understanding the results.
3.
All
figures necessary for understanding the results should be included in the paper
(different from 2.).
4.
All
figures should be simple, clean, and free of elaborate detail.
5.
All
figures should be mentioned in the text (see Figure 1) before the figure.
6.
Figures
should large enough to easily read all details, and be centered both vertically
and horizontally.
7.
All
figure labels are numbered consecutively (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.).
8.
All
figures should be followed by a caption, which is written below each figure and
ended with a period.
[1] Majority of this document was taken from “477 Control System – Laboratory Report Format” R. Buchanan and then modified by D. Kohn