Writing a Technical Lab Report - Telemark University...
Transcript of Writing a Technical Lab Report - Telemark University...
UniversityCollegeofSoutheastNorway
http://home.hit.no/~hansha
HowToWriteaTechnicalLabReport–withPracticalExamples
2016.02.29–Hans-PetterHalvorsen
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TipsandTricksThisdocumentdescribestipsandtricksforcreatingawell-writtentechnicalLabWorkReport.Suchareportshouldatleastinclude:Titlepage(Title,Name,StudentNumber),TableofContents,Introduction,ProblemDescription,Results,DiscussionsandaConclusion(+Appendicesifnecessary).
Whenyouareworkingwithlabwork,youhaveallresourcesavailable,books,tutorials,otherstudents,examplecode,theteacher,etc.Sobeabletodoallthetasksandgetthe“correct”answersistobe“expected”.ThenyoucannotexpecttogetagradebetterthanC.ButCisactuallyagoodgrade,somanyshouldbesatisfiedwiththat.ThegradeCistheaveragegradethatmoststudentsget.
Tomakethelittleextratostandoutisimportant.Sohowdoyoudothat?Youmustmakeanextraeffortwhenyouareworkingwiththereport.Inadditionyourapplication/sourcecode(ifthat’spartofthelabwork)shouldhaveagoodstructureand“dothelittleextra”thatmakesitoutstanding.TheUserInterface/HMIshouldofcoursebeclearandintuitive.Abadwrittenprogramislikeareportwithlotsofspellingmistakes,i.e.,itdoesnotlookgood!Neitherdoesittakelongertimetostructureyourcodeproperly,probablyyouwillsavetimebecauseitwillleadtofewererrors,easiertomaintain,findbugs,etc.
WritingaTechnicalLabReportislikewritingajobapplication!Itshouldbeinterestingandappealtothereader.Inadditionthetechnicalcontentsinthereportshouldbeofhighqualityofcourse.Itisthesamehere,evenifyouhavethetechnicalqualitiestogetthejob,itdoesnothelpifyoudon’tgettothejobinterviewbecauseofabadjobapplication.
GradesHereisashortdescriptionofthedifferentgradesused.
Symbol Description General,qualitativedescriptionofvaluationcriteriaA
Excellent
Anexcellentperformance,clearlyoutstanding.Thecandidatedemonstratesexcellentjudgmentandahighdegreeofindependentthinking.
Averygoodperformance.Thecandidatedemonstratessoundjudgmentandaverygood
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B Verygood degreeofindependentthinking.C
Good
Agoodperformanceinmostareas.Thecandidatedemonstratesareasonabledegreeofjudgmentandindependentthinkinginthemostimportantareas.
D
Satisfactory
Asatisfactoryperformance,butwithsignificantshortcomings.Thecandidatedemonstratesalimiteddegreeofjudgmentandindependentthinking.
E
Sufficient
Aperformancethatmeetstheminimumcriteria,butnomore.Thecandidatedemonstratesaverylimiteddegreeofjudgmentandindependentthinking.
F
Fail
Aperformancethatdoesnotmeettheminimumacademiccriteria.Thecandidatedemonstratesanabsenceofbothjudgmentandindependentthinking.
Thewholescaleisused(A-F).ThegradeCisgivenforanaveragestudentperformance.ThismeansCisagoodgrade!Thiswillbetheguidelineforusingthescale.ThegradeAshouldbeanexcellentperformancethatisclearlyoutstanding.ThegradeAisusedtoseparatetheperformancesthatstandsout,anditwillweusedrelativelyseldom.
ChecklistHereisashortchecklistyoucanusewhenwritingaTechnicalLabReport:
• Thereportisclearlyandlogicallystructuredandorganized• Introduction–describestheaimsoftheworktogetherwithlimitations
andassumptions.• Results-TheResultsarediscussed• Conclusion-TheConclusionsarewellgrounded• LiteratureReferencesarecitiedinthereport+correctsyntax(2different
standards;HarvardorVancouver,selectoneandsticktoit!)+ReferenceList
• Fewspellingmistakes• AllFiguresandTablesarenumberedandhavedescriptivecaptions.It’s
alsolooksnicerifyoucentertheFigures• Youneedtorefertosourceswhentakingfigures/picturesfromother
sources(Referencing)• UseUnitswhendealingwithnumbersandcalculations.Unitsshouldalso
beshowninplots,etc.• Figurenumbering:BelowFigure,Tablenumbering:AboveTable!• EquationNumbering.Allequationsneedanequationnumber.Equation
numbersshallberightaligned.• AllFiguresandTablesarereferencedinthetext
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• Allcurves(lines)ofplots(diagrams)arelabeledandaxisandscalingareshown
• Screenshotsshouldbegood.Totakeascreenshotofaspecificregionisoftenbetterthatalargeimagewithlotsofunnecessaryinformation.Usingagoodtoolforscreencaptureisimportant(e.g.SnagIt,etc.)!
• SourceCode:Justshowingsmallpartsofthecode(whichyouexplaininthetext)areoftenbetterthanalongcodelist.Cut-outwhatisimportant–youdon’talwaysneedtoshowthewholeprogramwithasmallcodepartinside
• Figures/Plotsshouldbeclearandeasy• Software/SourceCodeiswelldocumented,well-structuredandlook
nice.Usestraightlines,etc.• HardwareandEquipmentthatareusedintheLabWorkiswell
documented• Print-out–Thereportshouldalsobereadableinblackandwhiteprint-
out,i.e.,don’trefertoyellow,purple,etc.inthereport.Makesureyoureadthroughthereportafteryouprintit!Generatedtextlike“Referenceismissing”doesnotlookgood!
• Thereportisdeliveredwithinthedeadline
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LiteratureReferencesWhyshouldyounameyoursources?
• Givecredittotheoriginalauthor• Allowotherstoreadwhatyouhaveread
– Followup–thereadercangetmoreinformation– Qualitycontrol–haveyouusedtheinformationcorrectly?
• Placeyourworkinawidercontext• Plagiarism-Publishingotherpeople’sworkasyourownis
illegal/cheatingandyoudon’tlearnanything!
Quotations
Quotationsaredoneasfollows:
• Shortquotes(upto3lines):usequotationmarks””• Longerquotes(morethan3lines):newparagraph,indented
HowtoCiteSources
HerearesomeExamples:
• Refertotheminthetext• CreateaReferencelist(literaturelist)attheendofyourdocument
Examples:
• AccordingtoMurray(2002)…• Otherstudieshavefoundsimilarresults(SmithandJones,2000,Lieetal.,
2003)
2differentstandards;HarvardorVancouver,selectoneandsticktoit!
Harvard
• Authorandyearofpublicationinthetext
Example:
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AccordingtoMurray(2002)
Alphabeticalreferencelist
• Alphabeticalbyauthor(orbytitleifnoauthor)
Example:
Murray,R.(2002)HowtoWriteaThesis.Maidenhead:OpenUniversityPress.
Vancouver
• Referencesnumberedinthetext
Example:
Noteverythesishasaliteraturereview[1]
• Numericalreferencelistinthesameorderasinthetext
Example:
[1]MurrayR.Howtowriteathesis.Maidenhead:OpenUniversityPress,2002;p.101.
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ScreenShotsScreenshotsshouldbegood.Totakeascreenshotofaspecificregionisoftenbetterthatalargeimagewithlotsofunnecessaryinformation.
Usingagoodtoolforscreencaptureisalsoveryimportant(e.g.SnagIt,etc.)!Don’tusethebuiltin“PrintScreen”functionalityinwindows.Therearelotsoffreeware/shareware/opensourcetoolsavailableforthispurpose.
Examples:
Inthisexampleyoushallexplainwhereyoufindacertaintool:
Probablythisisabetterway:
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Orthisway?
IfyouuseaScreenShoottooltheyhavefunctionalityforcreatingcircles,etc.onyourscreenshots.
BadeExample:
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Better:
Evenbetter?
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Sometimesitisbesttocut-offjustyourcode-orpartofyourcode.
SourceCodeJustshowingsmallpartsofthecode(whichyouexplaininthetext)areoftenbetterthanalongcodelisting.Cutoutwhatisimportant–youdon’talwaysneedtoshowthewholeprogramwithasmallcodepartinside.Youcanputsourcecodeinyourreport,butnottoomuch.
Software/SourceCodeshouldbewelldocumented,wellstructuredandlooknice.Usestraightlines,indents,etc.
Examples:
Thisexampleisprobablynotsogoodifthepurposeistoshowyourcode:
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ThisExampleisprobablybetterifyouwanttoshowyourcode:
Thisexamplekeepsthefocusonthecodeandnotalltheotherinformation.Inthiscaseitiseasytoexplainandreferthecodeinthetextusingthelinenumbers.Thetextalsohascolorcodeswhichmakeiteasiertoread.
Another(good)example:
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% This is my code … K = 1, T = 3; H = sys_order(K,T) Figure(1) bode(H) …
Thecodeiswritteninsidea“box”withadifferentbackgroundcolorandFont.“CourierNew”isagoodfonttouseincodelisting.
Rememberwhat’smaylookgoodonacomputerscreen,maynotlookgoodonapieceofpaper.
Clean-upyourCode
Makesureyouclean-upandstructureyourcode.Makestraightlines,indents,etc.
BadExample:
Better:
Itdoesnottakemuchtimetoclean-upandstructureyourcodeanditlooksmuchbetter,itiseasiertoreadandunderstand.InLabVIEWthecodeshouldflowfromlefttoright.
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SpellingMakesureyourreporthasfewspellingmistakes.Usethebuilt-incapabilitiesinyourWordProcessor.
Makesureyouspellrightwhenwritingcompanynames,Softwarenames,etc.
Example:
TheLabVIEWsoftwareisspelledLabVIEW–notlabview,Labview,LABview,LabView,etc.
SubmissionIfyouhand-inthereportelectronically,youshouldalwayscreateaPDFfile!Ifyouhand-inaPDFfileyoucanbesureeverybodycanopenandreadit.Theformatting,layout,etc.inthedocumentwillalsobeexactlythesame.TherearelotsoffreetoolsthatcancreatePDFfilesandMSWordhavebuilt-infunctionalityforcreatingPDFfiles.
PitfallsSometasksaremoreimportantthanothersintheassignment.Thetasksinthebeginningareusuallyintroductiontasktomakeyougettingstarted.Normallyyouwillindirectlyusetheresultsfromthesetasksinlatertasks.Themostimportanttasksareusuallyintheend.
Usetheadvantagethatyouworkinagroupinagoodway,onecodingandtwowatchingoneachsideisnotagoodlearningprocess.Everybodyshoulddosomecodingtogetitintoyourfingertips!Youallneedmorepracticeinprogramming.
Everybodyneedstoinstallthenecessarysoftwareontheirownpersonalcomputers!
BelowIwillusedifferentexamplesfrompreviousstudentreportsasexamplesinordertoexplainwhatyoushoulddoornot.
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Report
Hereisalistwithpitfallsanaveragestudentdoeswhenwritingastandardtechnicallabreport.
→Thereportshouldbeappealingtothereader!Goodstructureandlayout.Correctuseoffonts,Nospellingmistakes,etc.Makeyourreportspecialandinterestingtoread–remembertheteachershallperhapsreadthrough20-30reports!(Itisthesamewhenyouaregoingtoapplyforjobs!)
→MakesuretoaddyourstudentnumberontheFrontpage/titlepage(togetherwithyournameofcourse)
→Makesureyoureadthroughthereportafteryouprintit!Generatedtextlike“Referenceismissing”or“Error!Bookmarknotdefined”doesnotlookgood!
→Spelling!Howdowetype“LabVIEW”?“LabView”,“LABVIEW”,“LabVIEW”,“..”?–Atleasttypeitinthesamewayintheentirereport!
→Youcannotjustshowafigureoranequationwithoutsometextexplainingit!
→Itisnotnormaltouseadotattheendofasentenceinheaders
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Andwhyhastheheader1.1moreindentingthan1.1.1?
→Equations.Equationsshouldbecentered.Ifyoudecidetouseequationnumbering,useitproperly!MakealsosurethattheFontlooknice.
Theformulasshouldbecentered.Ifyoudecidetouseequationnumbering,itshouldbeintherightmargin(andnodots…).
→Formulas.Makesuretheylooknice!Formulasusuallyhaveaspecialfont.UsetheEquationEditorinWord,etc.Formulas/Equationsshouldbecentered
BadExample(Matricesshouldbeinsquarebrackets,notnormaltouse*,etc.inequations…):
BadExample2(whatkindoffonthavebeenusedhere???):
AndusethesameFont,fontsize,etc.foralloftheformulasinthereport!
Anotherbadexample:
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Thisdoesn’tlooknice!DifferentkindsofFontshavebeenused.Theequationshouldalsohavebeenonanewline(centered).Andinaddition,makesurethespellingiscorrect(“watertank”not“watertang”).
AnotherexampleBadexample:
Whatkindsoftoolshavebeenusedtocreatethis?IfyouuseMSWord,ithasbuiltintoolsforcreatingsuchequations.
→Keepgoodstructureandacleanlayoutinthereport.Thisisabadexample:
→Makesureheadersandfootersarecorrectaccordingtowhichchapteryouarein
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→AConclusionisalwaysneededinaTechnicalReport.Hereyoushallsummarizeyourresultsanddrawconclusions–nothowmuchyouhavelearned,etc.Badexamples:
“Ihavelearnedmuchdoingthisassignment”
“Thiswasveryuseful,andIwillneedthiswhenIgetajob”
Anotherbadexample:
“FromthisLab,weunderstandtheKalmanFiltermuchmoreandhowtoimplementitinLabVIEWwhichalsomakeusmuchbettertouseLabVIEW.WealsolearnedhowtodesignafeedforwardcontrollertocombinewithatraditionalPIDcontrollerandbycomparison,wehavebetterunderstandingthattheusageofKalmanFilterandfeedforwardcontroller.”
→Focusonyourresults,notjustlistupwhatyouhavedoneorhowmuchyouhavelearnedbydoingthis,etc.-becausethisisnotrelevant!!
→TableText:Figuretextshouldbebelowthefigure,buttabletextshallbeabovethetable!!
Thisshouldbeknown!Itdoesnotlookgoodwhendoingthesebasicmistakes!
MakealsosurethatthewholereportisshowninthePDFversion:
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Thecolumntotherightisnotshowncorrectly.
→Figures.Makesurethefiguresareclear.
Thisishardtoread:
Makethefigurelarger!Orfocusonlyonaspecialpartofit.Totakeascreenshotofaspecificregionisoftenbetterthatalargeimagewithlotsofunnecessaryinformation.Makealsosuretouseapropertoolforthejob!Alotsofgoodscreencapturetoolsexists!
→ListofFigureshasnointerest–shouldbeomitted(especiallyforashortreport).
→Fontsize-usethesamefontsize(forthebodytext)intheentirelyreport
→Referencingshouldbedoneproperly.
→“Apicturesaysmorethanathousandword”theysay–stillyoucanjustshowapicturewithoutnotext,explanations,discussion,etc.!!
→CreategoodFigures.
BadExample:Thisfigureissupposedtoshowtheresultsfromsomesimulations:
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Itisalmostimpossibletogetinformationaboutthesimulationresultsinthisfigure.Itisindistinct,andyoucanhardlyseethetextintheplots,etc.Itisalsoinblack&white.Thefigurealsotriestogivetoomuchinformationinonefigure.Focusonwhat’simportant,andshowonlythat.
→Colorsvs.Black&WhiteinFigures,Plots,etc.Plotscanlookgreatonthescreeninbeautifulcolors,butifyouprintitoutinblack&white,itmightnotlooksogood!Itishardtoseethedifferencebetweentwolinesinablack&whitefigureifyouusethesamelinewidthandsametypeofline(theonlydifferenceisthecolor).
AnotherBadexample:
Thispictureisonlyblack&white(ontheprintedcopy)–itishardtoseewhatitis.Theplotisalsoindistinct,youcannotreadthetext!Thescalingshouldalsobechanged,tomakeitmoreeasiertoseewhat’simportant.
→Showfiguresofwhat’simportant
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BadExample:
Isthisfigureimportanttohaveinthereport?Itgivesmenothing!Inadditionyoucan’tseethetext,etc.
→MakesuretouseaproperScreenCapturetool!!Thefigures/plotsshouldbeclearandreadable!!Focusonwhat’simportantinthefigure!
SourceCode
Hereisalistwithpitfallsanaveragestudentdoeswhencreatingtheapplicationsandhand-inthesourcecode.
→Youdon’tlearnprogrammingbywatchingothersdoit!Youneedtodoityourselfinordertogetitintothefingertips!Lotsofpracticeisthebestwaytolearn!
→Goodstructureofthefilesisimportant!Itshouldbeeasyformetofindtheproperfile
→Goodstructureinthecodeisimportant.
Badexample(“Spaghetti”code):
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Itdoesnottakelongtimetokeepthecodecleanandneat!Thismakesitmucheasiertounderstandanditlooksmuchbettertoo!Note!InLabVIEWtheflowshouldalwaysbefromlefttoright.
Hereisanotherbadexample(“Spaghetti”code):
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Isiteasytounderstandthispieceofcode??(Wiresinalldirections,SubVIwithoutlabeloricons,notusingSubVIs,variablesandconstantswithoutnames,etc.)Debuggingthispieceofcodeisalsoalmostimpossible!
ASubVIhasbeenmade.That’sgreat!–butwhatdoesthissubVIreallydo??Ithasnonamenoranyicon,etc.
→Itisallowedtouse/createSubVIs(functions)!!Thismakesyourcodemorestructured,easiertomaintainandreuse.Itisalsoeasiertodebugthecode.
→Alwaysnameyourvariables
BadExample:
Usealsogooddescriptivenameforyourvariables,andalwaysuseEnglish!
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→Makesurethattheteachercanopenthesourcecode!
Example:
HereItrytoopenaVIthatuseaSubVIcalled“LowPassFilter”–butthefiledoesnotexists!!
→Keepgoodstructureinthecodefiles.GoodandreasonablenamesoftheFilesarealsoimportant!
HerearesomeBadexamples:
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Hans-PetterHalvorsen,M.Sc.
E-mail:[email protected]
Blog:http://home.hit.no/~hansha/
UniversityCollegeofSoutheastNorway
www.usn.no