LAB REPORT FORMAT AND GRADING

LAB REPORT FORMAT AND GRADING

You must attend, complete, and submit reports for all experiments. Unless otherwise stated by your professor or TA, the lab report is due one week after the completion of the lab exercise. YOU MUST CONFIRM WITH YOUR PROFESSOR HOW HE OR SHE WANTS THE LAB REPORTS SUBMITTED (e.g. Blackboard, handed in to TA, placed in mailbox, in-class submission).

Reports shall be submitted for each experiment. Reports will be graded for completeness, organization, quality of data generated, accuracy of answers to questions and overall quality of the lab report (messy reports will be penalized). Complete sentences must be used throughout. Late lab reports will be penalized.

Although you will be working in groups, YOUR LAB REPORT MUST BE YOUR OWN! Turning in duplicate lab reports is PLAGIARISM and will result in failing grades for all individuals involved. Additionally, the lab manual may not be copied verbatim!

Your lab report should include the following sections with headings:

a. Cover Page (2.5%) with:

Your name

Course Name

Section No.

TA’s Name

Lecture Professor’s name

Lab Title

Date of Lab

Date Report submitted

b. Purpose (10%): What was the purpose of the experiment? What were you trying to achieve?

c. Materials (5%): What equipment and materials did you use? How did you use them?

d. Method (5%): Provide a step-by-step description of the experiment process.

e. Results (15%): Present and describe your data and your calculations. Do not simply provide a table. There must be text describing your data and calculations.

f. Discussion (15%): Insights are provided into the wider implications of the results. Possible reasons for significant discrepancies are suggested and specific, practical ways to improve or extend the experiment are identified.

g. Conclusions (10%): Includes a summary of the experiment, possible sources of error, and what was learned from the experiment

h. Questions (20%): Provide answers to the five specific questions with enough detail to demonstrate your level of understanding. This is a lab report and it requires more involved analysis than a homework assignment. The questions should be re-typed and your answer should follow after.

i. Original Data Sheet (10%): You must include your in-lab calculations, drawings, observations and measurements. Your original data sheet must be initialed by the lab TA at the end of the session!

j. Mechanics (2.5%): Your work should be proofread and spell-checked so that it is free of all spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. Complete sentences are required throughout the entire lab report.

k. Format (5%): The lab report must be typed and all sections should have proper headings.