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Advanced Technical Writing

Lecture 8

Laboratory Report

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Cover Page• Course Title

• Experiment Number

• The Experiment Title

• By: (name of performer)

• The title and address of the performer

• The name of the supervisor

• Title and address of the supervisor

• Date: (month day, year)

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Example

Circuit Theory I

Experiment number 1

Verification of Ohms’ Law

By

Ahmed Ali Sami Adel

Submitted to

Eng. Ali Afana

Islamic University

Gaza

March 4, 2008

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Title

Reflect the factual content with less than ten words in

a straightforward manner

Use keywords that researchers and search engines on

the Internet will recognize

Avoid abbreviations, acronyms, and initials.

See text pages: 692-694

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The format of the report

AIMRAD

Abstract

Introduction

Methods

Results

Analysis

Discussion

+Conclusion

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Abstract (informative)

One short paragraph

Aims

Methods

Results

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Aims

Concise but informative

موجزة لكن مفيدة

One or two sentences should be sufficient

Example:

To determine the relative molecular

mass of an unknown dibasic acid

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Methods and Results

Explain in short the method or methods you used

to get the results.

Write down your results

Examples: Text pages 8-10

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Introduction

A few paragraphs or a few pages.

Includes:

Background

Theories, equations, and rules used in calculations

Brief about the work (hypotheses) الفرضياتand

expectations

Remember to quote your sources (you should include a

bibliography فهرس of your references after the

conclusions section).

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Method

Concise but sufficient for someone to

repeat the work.

List materials used, how were they

used.

Describe special pieces of equipment.

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Method - continue

Use third person past tense

Example: A solution of barium chloride

(0.05 mg in 100 cm3) was prepared in water

and titrated against silver nitrate.

Avoid starting a sentence with a

number

Example: 0.05 mg of barium chloride was

mixed with 100 cm3 water

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Results

Tabulate the numerical data when possible

Make sure that you divide tables by measurements units such that you write only number inside the table

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Results: Avoid

ResistanceCurrentVoltage

6.02.012.0 (V)

5.91.710.0 (V)

6.11.37.9 (V)

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Results: do not avoid

Resistance (kΩ)Current (mA)Voltage (V)

6.02.012.0

5.91.710.0

6.11.37.9

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Results - continue

Title all figures and tables; include a legend

explaining symbols, abbreviations, or special

methods

Number figures and tables separately and refer

to them in the text by their number, i.e.

Figure 1 shows that the activity....

The activity decreases after five minutes (Figure 1)

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Analysis

Calculations and graphing

Interpretation of results go into this section

Remember to layout your calculations clearly,

showing each step

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Discussion

How relevant are your results ?

ما مدى مالءمة نتائجك؟

What errors are there ?

Did something go wrong ?

Try to be positive

Write your ideas to improve the experiment

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Conclusion

Did you meet the aims of the experiment ?

Example: The relative molecular mass of the

unknown was determined to be 146.5.

The conclusion should echo the Abstract and be

as short as possible.

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References

All references should be listed

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Margins

Left and right 2.5 cm

Top and bottom 3.5 cm

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Font Types

Use proportional font -- Arial, Times New Roman, Courier New, … --must use at least 12-point font.

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Font Size

Text must be a minimum of 12-point.

Fonts 10-point not acceptable for bodyof report.

Fonts 8-,9-,or 10-point may be used fortables

Font size and style are the same for textand page number.

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Page Number

Pages should be numberedconsecutively, with numbers locatedin the upper right, lower right, orlower middle of the page.

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Reference should include

• author

• title of work

• title of journal or text

• volume number

• date

• page number

• publisher

• publisher’s city

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Bibliography Examples

[1] Samir S. Soliman and Mandyam D. Srinath. ContinuousAnd Discrete Signals And Systems,2nd ed. New Jersey:Prentice Hall, 1998

[2] Khotandzal A. and et al, “ Neural Networks--GenerationThree,” IEEE Trans. Neural Networks, Vol. 8, No. 4, July1997

[3] Alhanjouri, M., Hamdy, N., and Abou-Chadi, F., “Feature Analysis and Classification of the Human Chromosome Images”, Second International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Information Systems, 5-7 March 2005, Cairo, pp. 175-163.

[4] The International Engineering Consortium, "Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)", Nov. 2007. available at (http://www.iec.orgonlinetutorialsacrobattdma.pdf), last visit 12 Feb. 2008.