Lab Report Requirements and Examples

Lab Report Requirements and Examples

Lab Report Requirements and Examples

You must turn in a
lab report for each lab that you do in this course.
  This document provides a brief overview of the two types of lab
reports and what to
include in each report.

Types of Lab Reports

There are two types of lab reports which you will have to
write for this quarter. Most
of the lab reports will be informal reports. A few will be formal
reports. You will be told which labs must be handed in as formal
reports.

Informal Reports

An informal report does not need to typed but
it should be clearly written and follow the guidelines in the section What to Include below.

Formal Reports

A formal report has the same information as an informal
report but there should be an increased emphasis on layout and
presentation. Please read the Formal
Report Guidelines before writing your report.

EXAMPLES: Mock examples
of write-ups.

Sample 2 contains useful tips for writing the lab not
included in Sample 1.

What to Include

All lab reports (formal and informal) must
have the following
components:

  1. Cover sheet
  2. Answers to all the questions in the lab
    except those in the Warm-up section
  3. All relevant plots (labeled)
    and code    .

Cover Sheet

The cover sheet doesn’t need to be anything special. It must
contain your name, lab
section, lab title/number, grader’s name, and the date.

Answers to Questions

You must answer all questions in the lab except those in the
Warm-up section. Please
answer these in the order in which they occur in the lab. Remember, the
easier it is for
the grader to follow what you have done, the easier it is for him to
give you a good
grade.

Note: With MATLAB 7 there is a new
feature in the Matlab editor to create a Word document from M-file. The
generated document can include your M-code (scripts),
comments/descriptions and plots that are generated. For more details on
using this feature use this write-up
or refer to Matlab on-line help (Search
for Publishing Results).

Plots and Code

You should include the following plots with your lab report:

  1. Those which the lab specifically asks you to include.
  2. Those which may be necessary to answer a question.
  3. Those which are needed to demonstrate that you did a
    section in the lab.

Plots should be labeled and placed in your lab report in
order. Do not forget to
show phase, amplitude, and frequency verifications directly on the
plot. (Refer to the
sample informal lab report
for an example.)

Any non-trivial code should be included in your lab report as
well.