reports
written
reports
Your written laboratory
reports should be aimed at an audience that has had a similar background
to you. In other words they have been trained as a chemical engineer but
probably do not specifically remember the theory and mathematical models
relevant to your experiment. They have not seen the apparatus or the laboratory
nor have they observed the experiment being done. Therefore, when you
are writing your report and you are unsure as whether to include a detail
or not, try to put yourself in the position of your reader and anticipate
whether they would need the information or ask about that detail. Your
written laboratory reports must follow these guidelines:
- Reports are to
be typed on 8 1/2 x 11 inch white paper.
- All pages must
be numbered.
- Only one side of
the sheet is to be used.
- Oversized items
such as printouts etc. should be fastened to the back of the report.
- Margins should
be a minimum of one inch on each side.
- Each section should
begin on a new page.
- Past tense should
be used when describing what you did during the experiment and
its analysis.
- You should not
use personal pronouns in the text.
- You must use correct,
grammatical English. Remember using the spell checker and grammar checker
on word processing software is usually not adequate.
- All information
used in your report obtained from sources other than your own work must
be referenced.
The report must have
the following sections:
1. Title Page
The Title Page must
have the name of the experiment, the date of completion of the experiment,
the actual date of submission of the report, the names of the group
members, an indication of the group leader for the experiment, and the
name of the professor to whom the report is addressed.
2. Abstract
The Abstract is one
of the most important sections of the report. Often high ranking members
of a company will look only at the Abstract and if you have failed to
convey the key aspects of your work in the Abstract your message will
not come across. It should give the reader an idea of what you were doing
and why; some sense of the equipment and its scale; key chemicals, operating
flowrates, pressures, temperatures and other conditions; primary results
and their relationship to theory and/or literature values; key conclusions
and recommendations. The reader must get a sense of the significance and
extent of the work you have done. BUT this should be summarized
making the Abstract no more than about two-thirds of a page.
3. Table of Contents
Each section of the
report should be listed in the Table of Contents by title and by page
number.
4. List of Tables
Each Table should
be listed by title and by page number.
5. List of Figures
Each Figure should
be listed by title and by page number.
6. Introduction
This section introduces
the background to the experiment. It explains the problem or phenomena
being investigated; provides a description of the relevant theory behind
the experiments including the mathematical models and their key assumptions;
and it describes the significance of experiments explaining why they are
being done (objectives) and how the experiments should address the objectives.
All sources of information must be referenced and all equations should
be numbered sequentially. Although much of this information will be culled
from external sources you should use your own words to present the material.
Any information taken directly from an external source must be identified
somehow such as using quotation marks or italics. A reproduction of the
theory section from the experiment description is not acceptable.
7. Experimental Procedure
The Experimental Procedure
should describe exactly what you did in your experiments. Your
procedure should be described in appropriate detail and include all the
different conditions you investigated; the measurements you made must
be noted and any specific safety precautions you made. This section must
include a diagram of the experimental apparatus.
Additional, specific
instructions about experimental procedures are given in the general instructions
for the experiments and in the individual experiment descriptions. These
instructions are you starting point for what you did during your experiment
- reproduction of these instructions as your experimental procedure is
not acceptable.
8. Results
The Results section
consists of three main parts. It should begin with the data you collected
during the experiment. All the measurements made during the two experimental
sessions should be tabulated and numbered appropriately for identification.
(The original data sheets used during the experiment should be included
in the report as the final Appendix) A series of Sample Calculations demonstrating
each and every calculation done in the analysis of the experimental data
should follow the original data. This should be followed by a series of
tables and figures that present all the results of the analysis. Any
trends, key results and points of interest must be described (but not
discussed) in the text of the results section. Also, you may include
additional figures or tables in this section that illustrate the points
you are describing. You must include statistical analysis of the data
where appropriate. For example, average values must be accompanied
by standard deviations, you must present correlation coefficients for
any equations fitted to the data and, where possible, estimates of the
error range of key results should be calculated and given.
If you incorporate
figures into your text that are not full size then you must include a
full-sized version in an appendix. This is particularly important for
graphs.
9. Discussion
The results presented
in the previous section should be thoroughly discussed in this section.
The data should be compared with theoretical and/or literature values.
You should present your interpretation of the data and results in the
context of the experiments significance and objectives as outlined in
the Introduction. This usually means discussing each table and figure
in the Results section. Also, the statistical information must be included
to provide the reader with an idea of the reliability of your results.
The Discussion section should finish with a paragraph or two summarizing
the main results and their interpretation by way of concluding the section.
10. Recommendations
Any recommendations
as to further work, repeated work, safety issues, procedural issues, equipment
modifications, new experimental objectives etc. should be listed in this
section.
11. References
All the external sources
of information referenced in the report should be listed here. Each reference
should be assigned a number and the reference should include a title of
the work, author(s), publication name, and date of origin.
e.g.
1. Bennett, C. O.,
and J. E. Myers. Momentum, Heat, and Mass Transfer; McGraw-Hill,
1982.
2. Treybal, Robert
E. Mass-Transfer Operations; McGraw-Hill, 1987.
When referring to
these texts/papers in your report, follow the specific information from
that source with a set of parentheses containing that reference's number
e.g. (2) - would refer the reader to Treybal.
When referring to
information from the internet, if the information is technical (e.g.,
theory, mathematical model) you must use peer-reviewed material.
For example, if you want to use material from this website, you should
go to the original source referenced in the website and refer your
reader to that source - this website has not been peer-reviewed.
Information such as
the diagrams of the apparatus or the experimental procedures may be referenced
to this site as that is material that is specific to this laboratory.
12. Appendices
In the Appendices
you should attach detailed calculations such as spreadsheets that have
been summarized in the Results section, figures such as a series of graphs
that would be inappropriate for the main text, output from experimental
equipment such as GC output, original data sheets from the experiments,
etc.
13. Nomenclature
If you have used
a significant number of symbols, abbreviations, subscripts, superscripts,
etc. you should list them alphabetically in a Nomenclature section so
the reader has one point of reference for them.
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oral
report
The final
experiment of the Fall semester will be reported as a presentation to
the class. Each group will be given 15 minutes in total to present the
experiment, their results, interpretation and conclusions in a formal
setting. The presentation will last a maximum of 12 minutes with a 3 minute
question period.
All group
members must participate equally in the presentation. Credit is given
to the group as a whole and to individual efforts.
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"slide"
report
The methods
and formats for communicating technical material are growing and changing
from year to year. A format for communication appearing more and more
is a report in the format of presentation slides. For example, an engineer
may request information on a topic or process and receive a reply that
consists of a covering memo summarizing some important points and a copy
of the slides from a presentation about the material. These are delivered
in a binder and cover the main items of information that would otherwise
be covered in an oral presentation.
Therefore,
rather than a formal laboratory report or an oral presentation, the final
"report" for the laboratory class will follow the following format.
- PowerPoint slides
printed in the format option of 2 slides per page held in a binder.
- No more than 20
slides.
- The slides should
cover the experimental objectives, key theory, experimental procedure.
key results and their interpretation and discussion, followed by conclusions
and recommendations.
- Prepare the slides
as if they were to be presented in an oral presentation. That is, the
font size, layout, graphic design etc. should be acceptable for presentation
in a large room to an audience of about 30 engineers.
- The slides should
have a covering memo summarizing the information, similar to an abstract,
that also refers the reader to important information in the slides if
appropriate.
This
way of presenting this kind of information is valuable for several reasons
and exercises a number of skills. It helps develop experience in concisely
presenting technical material in graphically acceptable formats. It helps
develop abilities to focus on the really important issues. Also, being
able to develop "slidesŐ that are technically substantial enough for a
summary report yet appropriate for an oral presentation is a very productive
skill to develop.
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