Wri$ng Lab Reports

Wri$ngLabReports

RCELCommunica$onProgramGayleMoran,Ph.D.

JobDescrip$ons•  Abilitytocommunicateeffec$vely,bothorallyandinwri$ng

•  Excellentcommunica$onskills,bothwri(enandverbal

•  Demonstratedgoodwri(enandoralcommunica$onskills

•  Effec$veverbalandwri(enEnglishcommunica$onskills

•  CorrectEnglishusageandgrammar•  Engineeringreportwri$ngandpresenta$onskills

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Os#natoRigore

(ConstantRigor)

LeonardodaVinci’sMoKo

Thisisyourbrainonwri$ng

Wri$ng–•  Developscri$calthinkingskills

•  Improveshowyoulearn

•  Bringsyouclosertoasubject

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Agenda

•  Thinkbeforeyoucommunicate•  Improveyourwri$ngwiththese$ps•  Formataprofessionaldocument

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Thinkbeforeyoucommunicate

•  Knowyouraudience•  Clarifyyourpurpose

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Labreportassessmentrubric

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Useac$vevoiceandpersonalpronouns

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Thefunc$ongeneratorwasresettoa100Hzsinewaveandtheamplitudewasdecreased.

Weresetthefunc$ongeneratortoa100Hzsinewaveanddecreasedtheamplitude.

Usepasttenseforprocedures

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Increasetheinputamplitudeun$lthereappearstobeoutputclipping.

Weincreasedtheinputamplitudeun$lwesawoutputclipping.

Usespecificwording

Themaximumdistancewecouldgetwasequaltotheen$relengthoftheBNCcord.

Wethenincreasedtheresistanceinintervalsun$litworked.

Thisisveryclosetothevaluesmeasuredin4.1.

HowlongwastheBNCcord?

Whatsizeintervals?Howmanyintervals?Whatdoes“worked”mean?

Howcloseis“veryclose”? 4.1?What’sthat?Whatwerethosevalues?

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Ac$ve

Weak

Weperformedananalysisonthedata.

Weanalyzedthedata.

Useac$veverbs

Reducewordiness

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AnotherveryimportantconsequenceofEinstein’stheoryofspecialrela$vitythatdoesnotfollowfromclassicalmechanicsisthepredic$onthatevenwhenabodyhavingmassisatrest,andhencehasnokine$cenergy,theres$llremainsafixedandconstantquan$tyofenergywithinthisbody.

Accordingtothetheoryofspecialrela$vity,evenabodyatrestcontainsenergy.

GaryBlakeandRobertW.Bly.TheElementsofTechnicalWri#ng.

Themicroscoperevealedagroupoforganismsthatwereroundinshapeandpeculiarinnature.

Themicroscoperevealedagroupofpeculiar,roundorganisms.

Usecorrectgrammarandspelling

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Procedure

•  Makeyourdescrip$onpersonal•  Usepasttense•  Makeitsoundlikeanarra$ve.Weavein– Expecta$ons– Observa$ons

•  Includesome“why”and“how”informa$on•  Explainandanalyzeyourcomments•  Includeanytrouble-shoo$ngstepsyoutook

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InExperiment4.1,wecompletedtwobasicsteps:Wepowereduptheop-ampandtestedtheopen-loopresponse.Weexpectedthatthecircuitwewiredwouldproduce…Theteambeganthefirststepbycolor-coordina$ngthewiresonthebreadboardaswewiredthebusstripstoprovideposi$vepower,nega$vepower,andgroundbuses.Thenwepluggedintheop-amp.Exactplacementwasimportant,andwemadesuretheop-ampstraddledthetopandboKomsocketstrip.

Bemindfulofwordchoice.Doesvoltageshrink?

Makingyournarra$veflowsmoothlycanbeachallengewhenyou’rewri$ngaboutaprocess.Thecon$nuoususeoftheword“then”becomesboring.Thinkofotherwordsandphrasesyoucanuse:First,second;next;amerweremovedtheresistor,we…;

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Showyourinstructor,yourlabbies,and,inthefuture,yourmanager,thatyouarethinkingratherthanjustgoingthroughthemo$onsoftheexperiment.Whenyousayit“waslessdistortedthanitwasinLab2,explainwhyyouthinkthathappened.Wasitwhatyouexpectedtosee?

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Makefigurecap$onsdescrip$veandspecific.Usingthephrase“theotherone”doesn’tprovidereaderswithenoughinforma$ontounderstandwhatyouaretalkingabout.

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Formataprofessionaldocument

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“Youcan’tbeagoodengineerifyoucan’tcommunicatewhatyoudidandwhatitmeans.Yourengineeringisonlyasgoodasyourcommunica$onofit.”

PortlandStateUniversity,CivilEngineeringWri$ngProject,2015.

UsingTablesandFiguresinWriKenDocuments

BeataKrupa,Ph.D.bkrupa@rice.edu

Selectedslidescourtesyof:BethO’SullivanandGayleMoran

BasicRules

•  Usetablesandfigurespurposefully– Addinforma$on–mostofthe$me–  Illustratesomething

•  Useonlynecessarytablesandfigures

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Tablesvs.Figures

•  UseTablesto–  Presentandcomparelargequan$$esofdataorinforma$on

–  Sortdataorinforma$on–alpha,size,$meofoccurrence

–  Comparedata

•  UseFigures–charts,graphs,diagrams,drawings,screenshots,illustra$ons/imagestotalkabout–  Trends–  PaKerns–  Rela$onships–  Processes

Makeitsimple

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YouMust!

•  Reference(talkabout)yourtablesandfiguresinthetextbeforetheyappearonapage:

…Table1summarizesresults…

...Figure1illustrates...

•  Inthetext,verballyexplainhowtointerpretyourtablesorfigures

Visualinforma$onneedscontext

Obviousbutimportant

•  Alwaysnumberfiguresandtables•  FiguresandtablesarenumberedINDEPENDENTLY,inorderinwhichyourefertotheminthetext.

– Figure1.…Figure2.…Figure3.

– Table1.…Table2.…Table3.

•  Bold“Table1.”and“Figure1:”

Table$tlesandcap$onsarealwaysplacedABOVEatable

Useinforma$ve$tlesandcap$ons

Table2.

Table2.Comparisonofsolar-energystoragetechnologies

Thebest$tlesareconclusions

General:Table1.Three-yearprognosisamertreatmentSpecific:Table1.Survivalratedoubles3yearsamertreatment

Figure$tlesandcap$onsarealwaysplacedBELOWthefigure

Informa$vecap$ons

Variouslevelsofcap$oning

Cap$onscanrangefromasentencetoseveralparagraphs:

Figure2.Comparisonofthecostsofthethreemajortypesofcoalgasifica$onplants.

Figure2.Ahigh-sulfurcoalgasifica$onplantismoreexpensivethaneitheralow-sulfuroranthraciteplant,butmorethanhalfofitscostiscleanupequipment.Iftheseexpensescouldbeeliminated,high-sulfurbituminousplantwouldbetheleastexpensiveofthethreetypesofplants.

Veryimportant!

Makesurethat•  Allinforma$onisaccurate

•  Axesarelabeled•  Unitsarecorrectandclearlydisplayed•  Fontsizes,linethickness,spacingofelements,andpropor$onshelpreadability,clarity,andinterpreta$on

•  Allfigureshaveconsistentlook

Figuresdesign

Figuresshouldbe(mostofthe$me)

•  Centeredonthepage•  Reasonablysized(nomorethan½page)

•  Setapartfromthetextbyatleastoneblankline;textshouldnotflowaroundfigures

•  Displayingwellincolororgrayscale.

Equa$ons

Centerequa$ons.Numberequa$onsonthefarrightofthepage.

Labelallelementsofillustra$onsanddrawings

Placelegendsasclosetoyourdataaspossible

0

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30

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0 5 10 15 20 25

Time (days)

Seed

lin

g h

eig

ht

(mm

)

Seedlings grew most rapidly at 30oC

20oC

30oC

25oC

From Cain Project

Figure1:Seedlingsgrewmostrapidlyat30oC

Citeallyoursources!

Evenifyourecreatedoradaptedafigureortablefromanotherauthor,includethewords“Adaptedfrom”or“Amer”followedbytheauthor’snameandacita$onattheendofthecap$on.

Principlesofgooddatavisualiza$on

•  Designforyouraudience– Usethebesttypeofgraphicforyourmessage– Referencevisualsintext-verballyexplainkeypoints– Useinforma$ve$tles,cap$ons,anduselabels

•  Follownumberingconven$ons

•  Showdatawithoutdistor$on

Handout

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AskingforHelpinaLab

Don’tjustsay“Itdoesnotwork!!!”

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Preparingtoaskques$onsisanexerciseinanalyzing

problems.

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WhenyouaskforLabbieshelp

•  Providedetailsoftheproblem.Whatdosenotwork?Whatishappeningornothappening?

•  Explainwhatyouhavedone,andwhydidyoudoit.Chronologicalexplana$onsworkwell.

•  Comeupwithalistofpossibleexplana$onsofwhatyouthinkhappened.

Templateforaskingquesions

1.  Whatishappeningornothappening-details2.  Whathaveyoudoneandwhy3.  Possibleanswers

Showyourthinking.Learnhowtoexplainyourthinkinginanorganizedway.

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Nottoprovideanswerstooreadily

Giveaclueor

Helpstudentstocomeupwiththeirownanswer

WeaskedLabbies

Fromawebsitewherehackersanswerques$ons

We'vefoundbyexperiencethatpeoplewhoarecarelessandsloppyinhowtheyaskques$onsareusuallyalsocarelessandsloppyatthinkingandcoding.Answeringques$onsforcarelessandsloppythinkersisnotrewarding;we'dratherspendour$meelsewhere.

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