EE2112 Circuit II Lab

Experiment 5: Exercises for Technical Writing

1 Introduction and Objectives

Reports should be prepared as if addressed to a client from an engineering consulting firm. As

such, all reports (even Short Form) will be examined for a professional writing style and proper
grammar. For the prelab assignment you will be be familiar with basic materials in report prepa-
ration and you will have an class exercise which you should submit it end of your session time on
canvas demonstrating your new found skills.

Note 1: No hand written assignments submission will be accepted. Create a tem-

plate inside a Microsoft word document (or other word processing software) like the
sample template provided for you for Lab 01 and answer questions in this document.

Note 2: Laboratory TA’s have primary responsibility to check your final results. You
must get your laboratory instructor(TA)’s signature for any part of lab’s short form
report during lab/open lab time if it is required. If your lab has “Laboratory Helper”,
do not ask Lab helper to give you laboratory instructor approval.

2 Pre-lab Assignment

Pre lab assignment due is BEFORE your appropriate lab section starts. Read lab technical writing
word file (EE2112 TechincalWritingTemplate.doc) and watch the following videos. You will need
to be ready to apply the same process in class for lab practical report quiz.

2.1 Background and Instructional Video

Watch and understand the below videos regarding very useful features that will aid you in writing
techincal documentation. You apply all of these features to an actual work document that you
create.

1. How to create reference in Microsoft word:

• Creating a references and works cited page:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQyQl0lCEyo
• Word research paper tricks footnotes, citations, bibliographies, styles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAYzj5ASElU
EE2112 Circuit II Lab Experiment 5: Exercises for Technical Writing

2. How to table of content:

• Table of contents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LNOppjWloc

3. How to justify text, mange paragraph in Microsoft word:

• Paragraph formatting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWT6kUtZqKc

4. How to set a cross-reference (hyper-link) for a figure and table in Microsoft word:

• Creating cross references: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtC8liqxOyU

• Tables and figures lists and captions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpBNw86N-Og

5. How to insert equation:

• Insert and edit an equation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p06yw7_oR5c

• How to Insert Equations Numbers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YGTH4WrY_8

2.2 Practice Document

Open a new Microsoft word file, perform the following, and submit your Microsoft word file in
pre-lab assignment on Canvas:

1. Create a cover page based on information which laboratory manual provides for you in Section
3. The document title should be ’Laboratory Pre Lab Exercise’.

2. Insert below paragraph text in second page of your document and use title ’Definition of time
constant in RC circuit’. Note: Style of title should be Heading 1.
“In RC (resistive & capacitive) circuits, time constant is the time in seconds required to
charge a capacitor to 63.2% of the applied voltage. This period is referred to as one time
constant. After two time constants, the capacitor will be charged to 86.5% of the applied
voltage. The same time constant applies for discharging a capacitor through a resistor. After
one time constant, a capacitor will have discharged to (100−63.2)×36.8% of the initial stored
charge.”

3. Create the a proper ciation for the online website below at the end of the paragraph:
http://www.hamstudy.com/freeadvanced/a-001-1.html

4. Insert the image shown in for Fig. 1 and refer to your inserted figure end of paragraph. Use
the cross reference tool in word for hyper-linking. The reference needs to be hyper-linked and
must not be typed with static text.

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EE2112 Circuit II Lab Experiment 5: Exercises for Technical Writing

Figure 1: Display RC Circuit

5. Write the following description for your time constant and insert Equation with (#) after
that just as shown below.
“This RC time constant τ only specifies a rate of charge where, R is in ohms and C in farads
as shown in (1).”
τ = RC (1)

6. Add the text below and create a reference for the online web site with a reference:
“A resistor and capacitor circuit (RC circuit), or RC filter or RC network, is an electric circuit
composed of resistors and capacitors driven by a voltage or current source. A first order RC
circuit is composed of one resistor and one capacitor and is the simplest type of RC circuit
[1].”
In this case [1] will be the website https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RC_circuit. Be sure
to observe the proper IEEE formating for the citation.

7. Add a reference to the current course textbook, somewhere in the above item paragraph. Be
sure it is an IEEE formatted ciation for a textbook.

8. Create Table 1 after equation (1) and create a hyperlink for Table 1 after following line:

Table 1: Hardware requirements

Description Notation and Symbols Value,Unit

Source voltage Vdc 5V
Resistor R1 47 kΩ
Capacitor C1 1000 µF

9. Submit your Word document via the canvas assignment.

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EE2112 Circuit II Lab Experiment 5: Exercises for Technical Writing

3 Concept

In the technical writing files inside the lab auxiliary files on Canvas, we introduce a commonly used
organization for laboratory reports and example document. Figures or tables are needed to present
numerical data and serve as a basis for discussion. Both the visual (Table, Graph) and written
text shall be clear and easily readable. Rows, columns, axes, and legends must be labeled in fonts
that are easily read from a printout. In general, tables are better for presenting a small amount
of numerical data, while graphs are better for showing trends or relationships between large sets
of data. Each figure or table must have a short, numbered caption, and must be referenced by
number in the text. Each figure shall be located as close as practicable after the point where it is
first referenced in the text. Ideally, the figure should be on the same page as the reference, however
is not a necessity. Even LATEX occasionally creates a separate page floating bodies.

Paragraphs are a good thing so use them appropriately. If a lengthy section is presented without
any paragraph breaks, it makes the flow much harder for the reader to follow. To delineate a new
paragraph, you may use either a blank line or indentation of the first line; however you do not need
to do both. The organization of your future long form reports should include the following:

• Include cover Title page: Each Report shall have a cover sheet containing the following
information: title of the lab assignment, authors names, date the lab was completed, date the
report is submitted, course number and lab section number and Lab TA name.

• Include table of content.

• Include abstract: The abstract is a very short summary of what the question is, what you
found, and why it may be important.

• Include introduction and objective: This section is your interruption of what the Purpose of
the Lab experiment is. In this section, you describe what you are trying to find and why you
are investigating this topic. Background and motivation are used to provide the reader with
a reason to read the report. Report key information regarding lab and what the objectives
are. The introduction should be included:

– Background on the problem and why it needs to solved

– Goal and purpose of experiment
– Details of equations, existing methods, i.e.

• Include procedures: This section presents a concise summary of the procedures actually fol-
lowed. This should not be a regurgitation of the detailed steps laid out in the Lab Assignment.
Rather, it should list the major operations and/or milestones in the procedure. (Big Hint:
items requiring a TA Sign-off are major milestones.) In addition, it should expand upon any
steps that were exceptionally tricky or confusing, where it was necessary to deviate from the
procedure, or where the procedure was not completely specified (i.e., where you were asked to
get creative and/or invent your own steps). In the procedure you should explain, and answer,
the questions that are posed in the lab document. Clearly explain your work and report all
circuit schematics, equipment list, and any other information relevant to the procedure. In
general, the procedure should contain:

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EE2112 Circuit II Lab Experiment 5: Exercises for Technical Writing

– Include a table of equipment which show all values of source power, components, mea-
surement instruments,....
– Defines experiment in a general sense and gives an overview of expected result.
– Demonstrates schematic of circuit you build or software you used.

• Include results and Discussion: In this section, you provide the results of your experiment.
Graphs, tables and equations are used to demonstrate the results. Set hyper link for all
figures, tables and equations. You should explain your results in quantitative terms. Insert
your opinion based on theoretical expectation and results. Discuss issues you had and how
you made corrections to these issues. The Results and discussion section should be included:

– Include Graphs and tables. Make sure you should provide at least a short paragraph
to discuss each graph or table presented in your report. Do not leave tables or figures
without any text and discussion around it. All figures and tables should have numbers,
titles and legends that are easy for the reader to follow. Show all completed calculations,
tables and\or figures for all generated results, and schematic diagrams or block diagrams
for all custom circuits constructed.
– Write equations related to experimental results.
– Always reports measured values with proper units and compare them with the theoretical
expectation.
– Answer all items posed in the Considerations section of the Lab Assignment.. Report
error and discuss the validity of your recorded data.
– Describe any extra investigations beyond the suggested procedure that you performed.

• Include your conclusions: Conclusion should provide a summary of your results and discussion.
Provide at least one paragraph and conclude your work which show you understand the
purpose of lab experiment. Discuss the outcomes of the lab in terms of what was accomplished
and what you learned. Whereas the Results section tends to be more quantitative, this section
tends to be more qualitative, demonstrating a higher-level of understanding than mere tables
of data. As such it should focus on generalizations, abstractions, and the significance of the
details presented in the Results section.
• Include references: Cite all sources(papers, online web sites, books,...) you used to support
the theoretical part of your data collection. You should provide at least four sources for your
report.
• Appendices: Appendices are the place to put large data items which are so voluminous and \
or peripheral as to disrupt the flow of the main body text. Usually these are items that present
the detailed evidence but do not contribute much to the big picture, such as long source-code
listings, long tables of raw data, or large detailed diagrams too big to fit neatly in less than
one page. Each appendix shall contain one major item (.i.e. one source listing, one big table,
etc). In normal technical writing, each appendix is lettered (.i.e. Appendix A, Appendix B,
etc.). However, this may involve rather advanced arm-twisting of the word processor (again,
unless you’re using LATEX). Therefore, for this course, Appendices may also be numbered as
subsections of Section 5 (e.g., 5.1, 5.2, etc). Each appendix must be referenced by number at
least once in the main text. Do not forgot to attach all codes (MATLAB, LabVIEW, etc...),
data(include excel file,...) as part of appendices. Also attach the original of the completed
Data collection Sign-off file as the final page of the report.

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EE2112 Circuit II Lab Experiment 5: Exercises for Technical Writing

Read the lab and understand the information contained in lab technical writing files carefully and
apply important skills you learn in your submission for this lab. Do not copy from the laboratory.
Write your own concise report.

4 Laboratory Practical Exercise

You will now perform the following tasks inside technical writing Word document file, EE2112 -
TechincalWritingTemplate.doc, available in your canvas page. After successfully completing, submit
your final version of word file via the Canvas assignment at the end of your laboratory class time.

1. Set font 12 (Times Roman or Arial) and 1.5 space between lines.

2. Place page numbers on the bottome right of all pages.

3. In the Techincal Writing Template document delete equation 1 and replace it with (2) below.
Make sure that the equation number is right justified. Note that the equation number is
placed in parentheses ( ), as per the IEEE style. Besure to properly add this so that it
hyperlinks with the equation.

R2
VR2 = VIN (2)
RT OT AL
4. Delete all references and then create a new reference in page 3. Make sure that use the
method described in the video in the prelab and update the reference list. Add a work cited
list below in section 5 References.

• David F. Beer, ”Write a Good Technical Report,” in Writing and Speaking in the
Technology Professions:A Practical Guide , 1, Wiley-IEEE Press, 2003, pp.340-doi:
10.1002/9781119134633.ch10

5. Add a reference to the current course textbook, somewhere in the Section 2 of the template
document. Be sure it is an IEEE formatted citation for a textbook.

6. Insert Fig. 2 (from this document) in page 9 and set caption and create a hyperlink of Fig.
2 somewhere in the text of on page 9.

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EE2112 Circuit II Lab Experiment 5: Exercises for Technical Writing

Figure 2: Display Voltage Divider Circuit

7. Create Table 2 in page 4th after Table 3.1 and create a hyperlink for Table 2 somewhere in
the text of the file.

Table 2: Parameter description for Fig. 2

Description Notation and Symbols Value,Unit

Source voltage Vac Amp. : 3.8 V
DC offset : 0 V
Freq. : 2000 HZ
Resistor R1 5.6 kΩ
Resistor R2 4.7 kΩ

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EE2112 Circuit II Lab Experiment 5: Exercises for Technical Writing

5 Laboratory Short Form Report Requirements

• Each person writes and submits an individual and unique short form report. Include the
following in your written report:

– The lab title.

– Student full name
– Lab TA name
– Student section number

• Include your exam Microsoft word file which addresses all questions presented in Section 4.

• Get your TA’s initials when you finalize your exam tasks and submit your doc file on created
mtu canvas assignment page at the end of your lab section time.

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