Lab Report Guidelines

Note: for students working on Prof. Wilson’s projects, email your lab reports to him instead.

Lab Reports
For each session that you are working on a project you are required to complete a lab report which documents your activities. Lab reports are a kind of formal technical writing. You will be graded not only on what you did, but how well you documented it according to the guidelines for writing a report. Lab reports are to be done as you are working, not written up after the fact. For this class we are using an online lab notebook on openlab. The reports do not have to be long but do have to be complete, with each of the following components:

TITLE:  The title says what you are going to do that day. It should be a brief (ten words max) description  of what you are doing in your own words. Do not just copy my words back. Part of the assignment is to formulate a clear description of the work you are doing. It goes at the top of the page along with the date and time you began.

OBJECTIVE: This a a brief description of what it is you want to accomplish by doing whatever it is you are doing.Write this at the beginning of the lab before you start doing any work.  If you are working on a group project you need to be very clear about what part you are doing. This should be primarily “I” statements, not “We” statements. Example: “My goal is to make python logic bricks that responded to UDP messages from the server.” not “We will work on the network code for the multiplayer game”

MATERIALS: This is a list of all the things you need to do your lab. These can be physical things (wii remote, head mounted display,etc) or software components (python libraries, external tools, rendering engines, etc). Be specific. The goal is that someone who wanted to duplicate your work would be able to find everything they needed to know by reading your report. Don’t say “a computer”, say “a macintosh with dedicated GPU, 8 or more gigs of RAM, running OSX 10.9.1 or later” if that is what you actually need. If it isn’t specifically required, don’t include it. Be specific.

METHODS: This is where you write down what you are doing to try to reach your objective. Write down every technique as you do it, even if it doesn’t work the first time. This is going go to be the largest part of the report. Be specific.

DATA: This is optional. If you are making measurements this is where you would write down all the numbers you are recording from whatever measurement you are doing. If you aren’t making any measurements you can ignore this part. Write all your notes about work in progress here. Don’t write thing down on post it notes or scrap paper. Include any information necessary to duplicate your work. Paste in handouts given to you so all relevant information is in one place.

ANALYSIS: This is also optional. This is where you would do any calculations based on your data. If you aren’t making any measurements you can ignore this part.

RESULTS: This where you write down what happened as a result of your methods. Make certain to clearly indicate if you achieved your objective or not. There needs to be a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer with a brief explanation of what happened.

DISCUSSION: When you have completed your lab write up a brief discussion of what went wrong, what worked, and most importantly what your next steps would be if you were to continue. If you do your job properly with this section you will have written most of your Objective for the next session.

Reviews
It is your responsibility to get a student other than yourself (and who is not actively involved in the same project. Make friends with the other teams.) to read your lab reports (it can be one person or multiple people you take turns with). The goal is that they should be able to understand what you did and could replicate your work solely from your notes. Once they agree they understand it they then “sign off” on it by posting a comment that says “Reviewed”. If they can’t understand something you have to clarify it with notes posted as comments to your original post. Only once they agree they understand your work can they sign off of on it. You have one class session after you make a report to get it reviewed and counter signed or it will be marked late.

The faculty for this class will regularly review your electronic lab notebooks. If we can’t follow what you are doing we will then go to the person who signed off on it (not to you). If they can’t clearly explain to us what you were doing then both of you will be called upon to update your notes and will have one letter grade deducted from your lab notebook grade for that day. So it is in everyone’s best interest to make certain the lab notebooks are clear and informative before you countersign them.

Set the category for your post to “Lab Reports” for each individual project choose a tag to associate with it to identify which team you are on. Use the same tag as the rest of your team mates so we can find the information easily.

“Remember kids, the only difference between Science and screwing around is writing it down.”
-Adam Savage, Mythbusters