ENG1083 lab report guidelines

This document lays out the guidelines and format for the individual report and group report.
There is a maximum limit of 1600 words and maximum of 4 A4 pages for this report, not
including appendices. Each report should also have a signed cover sheet in the front. The
requirement for each section and word limit are given below.

Title

Write a descriptive title that describes the investigation & includes the independent
& dependent variables

Abstract (200 words maximum)

A concise summary of the purpose of the experiment, the methods used to test your hypothesis,
what you discovered and what this means.

Introduction (200 words maximum)

In this section, write the details of the background, justification, aims and objectives of the
investigation and an overview of the contents of the report.

Methodology (400 words maximum)

In this section a detailed account of the experimental methods employed in obtaining the data
should be presented, together with a summary of the number investigations conducted and
the conditions under which they were conducted. It is vitally important that the reader clearly
understands how any measurements were made, the type of apparatus or equipment used
and the type of materials used.

Results (400 words maximum)

Raw data should be presented in a clear and concise manner. The data itself will be in the form of tables,
graphs, sketches or micrographs, but you must provide text to describe the results and refer to the
figures and tables in that text. State the units used, label the axes on graphs and include labels and a
scale bar for sketches or micrographs. Include any calculations or manipulation of the raw data in this
section. In the results it is important to use the correct number of significant figures and to note the
reproducibility or errors involved in the measurements. For more information the presentation on
Figures and graphs, see the information in Appendix.

Discussion (400 words maximum)

In this section a detailed discussion of the findings of the investigation should be presented. This
discussion should consider: i) the methods of obtaining and the quality of the data; ii) the interpretation
and derivation of the data; iii) the meaning of the data with respect to published literature, established
theory and underlying principles; iv) the degree to which the data fulfils the aims and objectives of the
investigation.

Conclusion (100 words maximum)

This section of the report should be brief and should contain ONLY THE MOST IMPORTANT
conclusions of your work; Be very selective and limit yourself to no more than four or five major
points, each described succinctly in a sentence or two

References

In this section you should list all the references you have made use of in your report. Sufficient
information must be given for each reference to allow the reader to find that reference without
undue trouble. If articles are not referenced correctly, you may be found guilty of plagiarism, which is a
serious offence. Please see the University Library website for more information:
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/library/learning/informationskills/referencing.htm

Appendix:
Any additional bulky information, raw data, images, etc, can go here, but must be clearly labelled and referenced
in the lab report
__________________________________________________________________________

Additional information on report Format, Figures and Tables

For this short report (4 Pages) in Year 1, a contents page is not required.

Fonts

All the reports you submit should conform closely to the following ‘house style’. The use of
house styles is common in industry, and benefits multiple authors on a report. A suitable
choice of font size, weight, style and layout helps to clarify the structure of the report and
make it easier to read. The following format is recommended:

Section titles: 16pt Arial bold, left aligned) centred at top of page.
Section heading: 14pt Arial, bold, left justified.
Main text: 12pt Arial, left aligned
Titled paragraphs in text: 12pt, Arial, bold italics, fully justified (for title only).
Page numbers: 10pt Arial, italics, outside justified in footer.

Margins

Left Margin: 3cm Top Margin: 2cm Header: 1.25cm

Right Margin: 2cm Bottom Margin: 2cm Footer: 1.25cm
Figures

Graphs, diagrams, and photographs should always be referred to as “figures”. Titles for all
figures should be placed below the figure and should be centred. Every figure that appears in
the report should be referred to in the text, see for example figure Fig. 1, below. Use legend
in Excel to represent each individual plot.

Height
(cm)

Figure 1: Sample graph with sample data for demonstration purposes

All graphs should be generated in Excel and presented in the format shown in Fig. 1. Graphs
can be copied directly from Excel and inserted into Word documents or they can be
presented separately.

Diagrams: These should be presented in a clear and consistent format. When representing
experimental apparatus, through a schematic diagram, or an engineering rig, through a
process flow diagram (PFD, sometimes referred to as a process flow sheet, PFS), use
approved symbols.

Imported images: If you are using images or photographs from other people’s work you must
cite them appropriately and respect copyright law.

Tables

The same as for figures, titles for all tables should be placed above the table and should be
centred. The caption for a figure appears below the graphic; for a table, above.
Tables should be referred to in the text as follows, Table 1 (see example table, Table 1,
below).

Table 1: This is a table of the sample data used for the above graph
Time Height Error Time Height Error
(mins) (cm) (%) (mins) (cm) (%)
1 0.08 16.6 11 10.90 9.9
2 0.40 0.7 12 13.96 3.0
3 0.95 5.5 13 17.32 2.5
4 1.68 4.7 14 20.17 2.9
5 2.03 18.5 15 18.50 17.8
6 3.05 15.3 16 20.89 18.4
7 4.82 1.7 17 28.82 0.3
8 6.17 3.6 18 29.01 10.5
9 9.62 18.8 19 30.99 14.1
10 10.06 0.6 20 37.83 5.4

Tables may be generated directly in Word or imported from Excel. Ensure that all columns
are headed and that the units are included. Do not include huge tables in the main body of
the report – put them in an appendix if necessary. The following link on technical writing could
be useful:

https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c4_p12.html

and a sample report with comments:

https://www.monash.edu/rlo/assignment-samples/engineering/sample-engineering-lab-report