LABORATORYREPORTFORMATS

DepartmentofElectricalandComputerEngineering
BaylorUniversity

Introduction

Eachlaboratoryexerciserequiresareportofsomesort.Thisdocumentprovidesguidelines
forwritinglaboratoryreports.Specificinstructionsforthereportshouldbegivenwitheach
exercise.Checkwithyourinstructorifanyinstructionsarenotclear.

LaboratoryReports

Thereportisanaccountofyourworkinthelaboratory.Therearetwotargetaudiencesfor
reports:
Thefirstaudienceconsistsofpeoplewithabackgroundsimilartoyours(e.g.other
engineers,technicians,etc)whowanttobeabletoduplicateyourresults.Forthis
purpose,wewilluseaformalreport.
Thesecondaudienceconsistsofpeoplewhohavesomeunderstandingofthe
process/problemandwantaclear,concisepresentationoftheresults(e.g.
managers,othersemiinterestedengineers,etc.).Forthisaudience,aninformal
reportisappropriate.

FormalReport
Aformalreportshouldcontainthefollowingitems:

TitlePage.TheTitlePageshouldcontainthecoursenameandnumber,the
experimentnameandnumber,thenamesofalllaboratoryteammembers,the
instructorsname,andthedate.Allofthisinformationshouldbecentered,nearthe
topofthepage.TheAbstractshouldappearatthebottom(seenextpoint).

Abstract.TheAbstractisashort(oneparagraph)descriptionoftheobjectiveofthe
laboratoryexercise,theresultsobtained,andyourconclusions.Itisbriefyet
descriptiveenoughthataninterestedpersonconductingresearchcouldreadthe
abstractandmakeaninformeddecisionaboutlookingfurtherintothereport.The
Abstractshouldappearatthebottomofthetitlepage.

Introduction.TheIntroductionsectionprovidesashortdescriptionoftheproblem
beingaddressedinthelaboratoryexercise.Itisanexplanationofhowtheobjective
ofthelaboratoryisachievedandprovidesenoughbackgroundforthereadertofully
understandtherestofthereport.
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Laboratory Report Formats

Procedure.TheProceduresectiondescribestheprocessesandstepsintheconduct
oftheexercise.Itcontainssystemdiagrams,equationsasappropriate,andan
explanationofanyequipmentormeasurementtechniquesemployed.Remember,
thisshouldbedetailedenoughthatsomeonecouldduplicateyourresults.

Results.TheResultssectiondisplayswhatyoufound.Itmayusetablesofdata,
graphsofdata,screencapturesofoscilloscopedisplays,andnarrativediscussions.
Besurethatyourdata/informationareclearandunambiguous.

DiscussionandConclusions.TheDiscussionandConclusionssectionshould
interpretyourresults.Ifthereisaparticularconceptualinsightrevealedinthe
exercise,itshouldbediscussed.Ifthereweredifficultorunusualaspectsofsystem
constructionormeasurement,theyshouldbediscussed.Besuretowritethis
sectioninthecontextoftheobjectiveoftheexercise.

References/Appendices(ifneeded).Thissectionisincludedifyouneedto
referencebooks,articles,websites,etc.orincludeadditionaldocumentation.All
listedreferencesmustbecitedsomewhereinthereport.

InformalReport
Aninformal(ormemo)reportshouldbepreparedasaninterofficememorandumwiththe
followingitemsatthetopofthefirstpage.Thereisnotitlepage.

Date:

To:

From:

Subject:

TheFrom:lineshouldcontainthenamesofalllaboratoryteammemberswiththefirst
namebeingthepersonwhoissubmittingthereport.

Therestofthememorandumshouldbeorganizedasfollows:

Summary.Similartotheabstractoftheformalreport,thesummaryshould
summarizeyourworkinthelab.IncludethesameinformationasintheAbstract.

Results(andProcedures,ifneeded).Sinceyouraudienceisfamiliarwiththework
youaredoing,typically,youonlyneedtoexplainwhatyoufound.Theexceptionto
thisisifyouuseanunusualorunfamiliarprocedure.Then,youwillneedtoexplain
thistoyourreader(s).

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Laboratory Report Formats

Conclusions.Again,thisissimilartotheformalreportandiswhereyoudiscuss
whatyourresultsmeanandhowtheyaffectthereader.Thinkofyourinstructoras
yoursupervisor.He/shewillwanttoknowwhyyourresultsmatterandwhatit
meanstothecompany.

Refereces/Attachments(ifneeded).Sameasformalreport.

Equations,Graphs,andGraphics

Equations
ThereportmustbepreparedwithwordprocessingsoftwaresuchasMicrosoftWord,and
allequationsshouldbepreparedusingMicrosoftEquationEditororsimilarsoftware.There
isacomprehensivesetofstandardsusedtopreparetypewrittentextcontainingequations,
andtheyaredescribedinvariouspublications.Someofthemajorelementsofthe
standardsare

Allvariablesarewritteninitalics.Forexample, v = Ri .
AllunitsarewritteninRoman(upright)textwithaspacebetweenthenumberand
theunitsymbol.Forexample,10V.
WellknownfunctionssuchassineandcosinearewritteninRoman(upright)text.
Forexample, sin(t ) .
MatricesandvectorsarewritteninboldRoman(upright)text.Forexample, v = Ri .

MicrosoftEquationEditormakesadherencetothesestandardsverystraightforward.Ifnot
usingEquationEditor,besuretostillfollowthesestandards.

Graphs
Graphsalsohavewidelyacceptedstandardsthatinclude

Allgraphsmusthaveaxislabelsandatitle.
Iftherearemultipleplotsonthesamegraph,alegendisessential.

MicrosoftExcelmakesadherencetotheseandotheracceptedgraphpreparation
proceduresverystraightforward,andallgraphsmustbepreparedusingMicrosoftExcelor
similarsoftware.

Note:Whenagraphoranyinformationispreparedinlandscapeformat,thepagemustbe
orientedinthereportsothatthebottomofthepageistothereadersright.

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Laboratory Report Formats

Graphics
Graphicsinyourreport,suchassystemdiagrams,shouldbepreparedusingsoftwarewith
graphicscapabilities.ExamplesofsuchsoftwarearePSpice,MicrosoftWord,Adobe
Photoshop,AutoCAD,andSolidWorks.Figuresshouldbeproperlysizedandeasilyreadable.
Avoidscannedimagesorimagescopiedfromanotherdocument,unlessabsolutely
necessary.

Note:UsetheMicrosoftWordCroptooltoeliminateunnecessarypartsoffigurestomake
themfitbetterandcleanupthedocument.

Whenusingapicturefromanotherdocument,youMUSTcitewhereitcamefrom!Failure
todothisisplagiarism.SeethewebsitefortheBaylorOfficeofAcademicIntegrity:
http://www.baylor.edu/honorcode/index.php?id=44008.

References

Eisenberg,Anne,ABeginnersGuidetoTechnicalCommunication,McGrawHill,1998.

IEEEStandards,Various

Nardizzi,LouisJ.,BasicCircuitsandElectronicsExperiments,D.VanNostrand,1973.

Slutsky,ElliotB.andDavidW.Messaros,IntroductiontoElectricalEngineeringLaboratories,
PrenticeHall,1992.

Wolf,Stanley,GuidetoElectronicMeasurementsandLaboratoryPractice,PrenticeHall,
1973.

Alley,Michael,Ed.WritingGuidelinesforEngineeringandScienceStudents,PennState,
2008,http://www.writing.engr.psu.edu/.

ElectricalEngineeringDepartment:ReportFormats,UniversityofWisconsinPlatteville,
2009,http://www.uwplatt.edu/ee/TechDoc/rpt_formats.pdf.

Originallypreparedby:Dr.DonFarris

Lastmodifiedby:Mr.JohnMiller,8/24/10