Laboratory Technical Report Requirements

Technical Report Requirements

Introduction
Reports serve two main functions: they communicate new information, and they provide a
permanent record for future reference. Most reports contain not only a factual account of the
information to be conveyed but also an interpretation and evaluation of this information. Good reports
satisfy the general requirements of effective communication, but they can vary in objective, length,
style, and intended audience. In the context of your laboratory course, reports serve to document the
purpose, procedures, and results of a specific experiment. The reports are to be written for a general
technical audience and not just to the class instructors. Thus, the presentation should be self-contained
and should not assume extensive specific knowledge on the part of the reader. Information concerning
the organization, contents, and style requirements of the written technical reports is presented in the
following sections.
Technical Report
A technical report presents the background and underlying theory of an experiment as well as
the results. The technical report may present several related results separately, followed by an
integrated discussion of the results taken as a whole. The level of detail presented in a technical report
should be sufficient to convey the essentials of the objectives, procedures, results, and conclusions of a
given experiment. However, the report should not contain elaborate discussions of laboratory or data
reduction procedures. Moreover, only the final results of data reduction need be presented.
Organization and Contents
For the purposes of your laboratory course, technical reports are organized as follows:
(1) Title Page
(2) Introduction
(3) Methods
(4) Results and Discussion
(5) Conclusions and Recommendations
(1) Title Page
The first page of the report should be a title page containing the following information:
- a descriptive title of the experiment;
- the author's name;
- the course number and laboratory period (e.g., "Section T06, Monday 3-5 PM");
- the name of the laboratory instructor; and
- the date of report submission.
(2) Introduction (length = approximately one-two pages, weight = 20%)
The introduction discusses the importance of the subject in a specific manner, provides the
background for the study, and gives a clear statement of the objectives of the work. The objectives may
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include such items as testing a theory, determining the numerical value of some parameter, or better
understanding a certain phenomenon. The reader should obtain a clear picture of the motivation
underlying the experiment and a concise statement of what was to be accomplished. Students should
avoid copying the objectives directly from the lab manual; rather they should be stated in your own
words.
In addition, this section should briefly discuss the theory underlying the experiment. The
assumptions used in developing the theory should be identified and the validity of these assumptions
assessed. All assumptions should be viewed with skepticism in order to lay the groundwork for later
understanding and explaining discrepancies between theory and experiment. The governing equations
derived from the stated assumptions and application of the basic conservation laws should be given.
Each variable and parameter must be defined unless previously defined in the discussion of
assumptions. If appropriate, nondimensional variables should be introduced, and their significance
outlined. The solution of the governing equations should be presented, if available. If required by its
length, the discussion of theory may be placed in a separate section.
(3) Methods (length = approximately one-two pages, weight = 15%)
This section of the report should contain an overview of the experimental facility and procedure.
Typically, schematic diagrams are used to illustrate the important features of the experimental
apparatus such as key dimensions, placement of transducers, etc. High quality photographs,
appropriately labeled, may also be used if the photo captures the important physical elements of the
apparatus. The experimental procedure should be outlined, giving only enough information for another
person to repeat the experiment. Step-by-step procedures, especially those copied or paraphrased
from the laboratory write-ups, should not be given. Rather, a discussion should be presented only for
those steps which are particularly difficult, which require a special technique, or which are relevant to
understanding specific advantages or disadvantages of the approach. In addition, any problems or
sources of experimental error that could influence the results should be noted.
(4) Results and Discussion (length = approximately two pages, weight = 35%)
This is the most important section of technical reports. It should summarize the results of the
experiment in the form of figures and tables, blending naturally with the discussion given in preceding
sections. Figures and tables should be prepared so as to provide the most compact yet complete
presentation possible. To this end, each figure and table should conform to the accepted practices of
data presentation. Axes should be clearly labeled to indicate the axis parameter, its numerical scale,
and the appropriate units. Data points should be clearly designated by easily recognizable symbols such
as circles, squares, triangles, etc. Theoretical results should be presented as lines (or curves). Labels
should be employed to delineate between the various symbols and lines used. Multiple figures and
tables (generally not more than two) may be included on a single page provided that they clearly
communicate the intended information.
A discussion should accompany the figures and tables. This discussion should make clear the
purpose of each figure and should serve to unify and supplement the information contained in the
figures and tables. The discussion should also describe the techniques and procedures used to reduce
the data to final graphical form and assess the accuracy and reliability of the data.
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This section should be the most thought-provoking part of the report; you should therefore
spend a majority of your time preparing this section. Here, the experimental data should be interpreted
in the context of the underlying theory. Model/data discrepancies should be fully discussed in the
context of the uncertainty in the experimental results and the validity of the theory. Weak assumptions
or experimental inaccuracies should be identified and the relationship to the model/data discrepancies
delineated. Sources of error should be logical and technically substantiated; avoid attributing all
discrepancies to vague concepts such as "human error" or "equipment inaccuracies." The plausibility of
the explanations should be demonstrated to a potentially skeptical reader by convincing arguments.
Conjectures, if included at all, should be identified as such.
(5) Conclusions and Recommendations (length = one-two paragraphs, weight = 10%)
This section should contain a clear, concise statement of the significant findings of the work,
generally in order of importance. The conclusions are taken from the major points of the discussion.
Conclusions are frequently followed by recommendations for improving the experimental procedure or
for future work, building on the results of the study. Recommendations should be specific and justified
technically by the results and discussion of the experiment.
80% of your report grade is based on the technical content, as outlined above. The remaining
20% of the grade is based on format, clarity of technical writing, etc. Requirements are delineated
below.
Requirements
Typography
Technical reports are to be prepared using typical word processing software, adhering to the
following specifications:
- at least 1 space (18 point) line spacing;
- font no smaller than 12 point;
- 8 x 11 inch paper;
- 1 inch margins all four sides;
- printed using good quality printer;
- use of color is not required, but it is encouraged, as color can very effectively enhance the
quality of reports, particularly graphs and figures;
- stapled in upper left corner, with title page first.
Penalties for failure to adhere to the above specifications will be imposed.
Length of Text
The technical report should consist of approximately five pages of text, not including tables,
figures and equations. Reports must be concisely written, and points will be deducted for additional
material that is not germane. As described above, the relative length of each section in a report will
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vary, but you should remember that the "Results and Discussion" section is the most important and
should not be shortchanged. Also, no bulky "filler" material, such as class handouts, should be included.
Headings
Headings should be utilized to break the text into logical units, generally using the major
headings presented earlier in this handout. A consistent format for the headings should be followed.
Grammar and Style
Reports must not only be technically correct but also well written. Clear, concise organization,
proper spelling and punctuation, correct grammatical usage, logical sentence construction, and careful
attention to detail are essential to a good report. Spelling and grammar checking software can aid in
locating errors, but are not a complete substitute for carefully organized and composed text. You
should proofread your reports at least once before submitting them, and may wish to ask a colleague to
read it for you, as well. Allowances will not be made for non-native English speakers/writers.
If you are not confident in your writing skills or simply wish to improve, you should seek an
appointment with a consultant in the Writers Workshop program. You may find more information at
http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/. This is a free service to students at the University of Illinois.
Figures and Tables
All figures and tables must be referred to in the text and numbered sequentially within each
type using Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.). Each figure and table must have a number and a caption;
figure captions should be placed under the figure, and table captions should be placed above the table.
In addition, figures and tables should appear in the same sequence as they are referenced in the text.
Style variations are permitted among reports, but all figures and tables must fall within the range of
accepted engineering practice. Students are strongly encouraged to examine recent journal volumes
and books in the Grainger Engineering Library with an eye toward the style of presentation. In so doing,
one will discover that, although a wide variety of methods is employed, each figure and table is carefully
prepared to convey specific information in a compact and yet readily understood form. Tables and
figures may either be appended to the text, in the order in which they are referenced, or inserted within
the text following the point where they are discussed or referenced.
Equations
Equations should be typed using standard symbols and subscripts/superscripts for clarity.
Equations should be numbered sequentially with the number placed at the right margin (i.e., right-
justified). An example is shown below.
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References
Since the text of these reports is required to be brief, and since large numbers of references are
not expected, a separate references section is unwarranted. Instead, references, if required, may be
included parenthetically within the text or as footnotes.
Example
"This curve was developed using standard friction factor data from a Moody chart (R. W. Fox
and A. T. McDonald, Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, 4th ed., Wiley, 1992, p. 350).
or
"This curve was developed using standard friction factor data from a Moody chart
1
." (Where footnote 1
appears at the bottom of the page and contains the same information as above.)
This format for references is definitely not the preferred one for longer reports or journal
articles where a separate references section is used. The form of the references should be consistent
throughout the report and should be complete enough for the reader to readily locate the material.
References to class lectures and handouts may be used sparingly, although it is preferable to cite only
published material. References to class notes must not be substituted for major discussion items within
the report.
Appendices
Since the technical reports prepared for your laboratory course are purposely meant to be brief,
the inclusion of appendices is unacceptable. Do not attach them to your report!
Page Numbering
Pages should be numbered sequentially beginning with page 2. Page 1, which should not be
numbered, is the page on which the abstract/introduction begins, i.e. not the title page. The pages at
the end of reports containing tables and figures should also be numbered. The preferred location for
page numbers is at the bottom of each page in the center.