Follow the guidelines stated in the Survival Guide (SG).
The SG should be your next "best friend" (after the Lab. Manual)... :-)

Anyway,  just in case,  find bellow some more hints:-)

    As a general rule, try to write your report in such a way that someone later on (that 'someone' might be you, after a couple of months, while preparing for the lab. test) will be able to repeat the experiment based only on the description you provide in the notebook!

You don't have to teach (too much of) the physics in your report; just explain shortly what's all that about and what you're going to do and why. Make sure someone can repeat your steps and understand the purpose of the experiment.

What do I need to include in the laboratory report?

The report must be written in pen (NOT  in pencil!)

Follow a logical development. Explain:

What you intend to do (a few phrases on this, at the beginning of each new task)

Which is the method and the experimental setup to be used

Provide a diagram of the setup, pointing out (e.g. fig.5 from DC-1) clearly, right on the dia. which are the quantities to be measured   (e.g.  the voltage drop across a bulb, the current flowing through a wire, the length of the tube etc.).

Use letters & figures to outline the relevant nodes, sides etc. of the setup.
Do not overwhelm the picture.

Present the data you took in a properly labeled table ( if you feel that the table is the best way to organize them).

Don't forget to quote the units, everywhere they have to be!

Calculations are to be made and shown on the 'rough work' side in the notebook.
REMEMBER: you should always put the right units and the (reading) errors for each measured or/and calculated value (even on the rough work side - it helps a lot later!).

If a graph is required, you may draw a 'draft' one just to check that you get the right pattern. Do it on the "rough work" side. Then, using pencil (NOT pen) draw a 'nice' one on the graph paper provided. Or use the fit program on Faraday.
An example of a hand-made graph is displayed in the room MP126 (near the ice container). It refers to the experiment "Mechanical Equivalent of Heat" - but the look of the graph and the way it is done are good guidelines for the general case.

Provide a conclusion for the results that you got.

You may, at this point, write down the 'strange' things which happened during the setup or data taking. Try to find an explanation for them.

Don't "sweep the garbage under the carpet" by  ONLY saying that "the errors are in charge" for the deviation of your result from the expected value, or for some other effects or mismatches. 
If you wish to explain this kind of phenomena (and you are encouraged to do so if you want an A !), then provide a numerical estimate  to demonstrate that the deviation can be made up by what you think is the source.

Discussion on the method of and possible extensions to the experiment probably looks better at the end of the report (but is not mandatory to write them at the end; you may as well do that as you go, at each step :-) ).

At the end of each completed task read again what you wrote. Are you happy with the content and the way of presentation? Would it be clear enough for someone else ?

 

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Last revised: May 13, 2003.
© Sorin Codoban, 2003