First of all, although there are no certain rules or predefined software packages you must use, you need to know very well how to use

Transcription

1 Guidelines for Writing Reports for Basic Electrical Engineering (EE213) and Basic Electronics (EE214) Laboratory Courses under METU Electrical and Electronics Engineering As prospective engineers, you will usually document your design, results of your research, field work, a project proposal or other activities under your responsibility. The report is often the only concrete evidence of your work and you will be required to write well either in industry or academia. Our main aim is to train you to write well by the time you have passed these courses and eventually you have graduated. EE213 EE214 courses provide several occasions to gain experience on writing reports. There will be three types of reports you are required to write during these courses: - Pre-reports will present how well you are prepared for an experiment. You will be asked to answer some background questions that are given in the experiment manual. In addition, you will simulate some circuits that you will build during that experiment and present your results. The preliminary work aims to ease your work during laboratory hours and reinforce what you are expected to learn from that experiment. How you present your preliminary work is as important as how much effort you put on it, so we expect your preliminary report to meet certain criteria that will be given in the following sections of this guideline. - Laboratory reports will be written during experiments and must be submitted to your own assistant at the end of that specific experiment. You are expected to present the results of the steps you complete and interpret them and compare with the expected results. Reporting your results is also as important as conducting the experiment and a sloppy report significantly deducts from the value of the results. The format of the lab report and especially the rules you must obey for graphical results will also be given in the following sections. - Project reports have a broad scope where you should explain your design for the course project with background information, simulation and experimental results as well as the power and cost analysis. As several figures, equations and tables will be included in project reports, knowing the general rules for writing an engineering report is extremely important and useful. This document is divided into four parts. The first part provides fundamental guidelines and tips for writing reports, which apply to all three report formats. The second through fourth parts provide detailed formatting and guidelines for each of the report types listed above. A. FUNDAMENTALS 1. Tools First of all, although there are no certain rules or predefined software packages you must use, you need to know very well how to use - a word processor - an equation editor - a drawing editor - some computer simulation packages. You must become proficient at using you word processor so that you are able prepare a report with proper page layout, page numbering, well-placed graphs, images and tables. In addition, you must be able to use Greek symbols and superscripts/subscripts whenever necessary. Microsoft Office tools are available for 1

2 METU members so that you can use Microsoft Word as your word processor (Please check this link to see the licensed software that are available to METU members). On the other hand, you are also highly encouraged to learn and use Latex, which is a document preparation system for high-quality typesetting and very useful for scientific document preparation. You must use an equation editor to insert any formula into your report. Equations or formulas in the form of included images are inacceptable. You may use the built-in equation editor in Word by using the insert option. When you need to include a circuit diagram or a flow chart, please use a drawing editor rather than using the screenshot of the diagram in simulation software. You may use any drawing editor you are used to or Microsoft Visio, which is also available in the given link. You may use any simulation software for your preliminary works or project. We recommended LTSpice IV in EE213 course since it is not only available for free on their website, but also used for the EE313 Analog Electronics Laboratory course. The way you should present your simulation results will be covered in the following sections. 2. Format Every report should include an informative title, the name(s) and ID number(s) of the student(s) who submit the report, name of the instructor and submission date. Staple your reports in the upper left corner whenever applicable. Reports will be written on A4 size papers with proper margins. The text should be evenly distributed between the margins. If the report is supposed to be typed, use a sans-serif font (Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri) with point size 11. Although the documents are sometimes prepared single-sided and double-spaced in order to leave enough space to get feedback, we expect double-sided and single spaced reports. Page numbers should be placed at the bottom of the page on all pages except the cover page, whenever applicable. Equations should be centered and all of the equations in your report should be numbered. Equation numbers should be placed in ( ) and right justified. All the variables used in the equation should be explained in the text. Do the either of followings when referring to equations: Equation (1) represents the Fourier transform, or Fourier Transform of (1) is a complex-valued function of frequency. X(jω) = + x(t)e jωt dt Tables should be generated using the word processor and centered on the page. There must be a heading and caption for each table with appropriate table number and they should be placed above each table; for example, Table 2: Quantity and cost of components used in the project. All tables in the document must be discussed inside the text including the observations and comments. When referring to a table, do the following: According to the Table 2, overall cost Figures should also be accompanied by proper number and captions that are centered beneath the figure. Similar to tables, you should also comment on the figures inside the text and referring to figures may be achieved in the same way you do for tables. Do not forget to capitalize Table and Figure when they are used with a specific table or figure number. (1) 2

3 Use a spreadsheet software or Matlab in order to plot graphs for your report. Do not forget to put labels and units on the axes and, if appropriate, place the origin. Left justify the origin if the graph represents the some measurements vs. time. If you graph discrete measurement data, use markers for the real measurements onto the estimated lines. Include a legend and use different markers when plotting more than one set of data. If you need to insert a full page plot/graph/image/table, orient it so that they are read from the right side of the page. Use your word processor to insert subscripts, superscripts and Greek symbols for common engineering quantities such as α, β, γ, θ, μ, ρ, τ, ω. Spell out one digit numbers except when they are accompanied by units of measure or refer to tables/figures/page numbers. Use numeral for numbers greater than 10 provided that they do not begin a sentence. Do not forget to include a leading zero when number s magnitude is less than 1, i.e., use 0.78 instead of.78 and throw away the insignificant digits. Put a space between numbers and associated units. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard abbreviations for some units are given in Table 1. Table 1: Some abbreviations and unit symbols according to IEEE standards 3. Writing Style and Grammar Parameter Abbreviation volt V ampere A second (time) s farad F henry H pico (10-12 ) p nano (10-9 ) n micro (10-6 ) µ mili (10-3 ) m kilo (10 3 ) k mega (10 6 ) M You should write in complete, grammatically correct sentences. Note that long sentences with a lot of clauses confuse the reader; therefore, try to be concise. Do not be colloquial and do not use jargon. Avoid emotionally loaded words such as wonderful, useless and lovely. Since sentences in active voice are more concise, try to use active voice; however limit the use of personal pronouns (I, you, we) and be objective. Use past tense to describe a procedure/process that was implemented and use present tense for analyzing the results and making conclusions. Use technical terms correctly. Learn what they mean, how to use them and how to spell them. Do not use contractions, such as it s, isn t, don t, can t and use a spell checker. 4. IEEE Reference Guideline You must cite all the sources of your information in your report. The list of references should be included at the end of your report according to IEEE standard. The list is supposed to be arranged in the order they appear in the text. The number of the reference is put in square brackets when referring to a reference 3

4 in the text. In the reference list at the end of your document, the title of an article should be given in quotation marks and the title of a journal or book in italics. Basic formats and examples are provided below for some kind of sources and readers are referred to IEEE Citation Reference for further examples. Books Basic Format: [1] J. K. Author, Title of chapter in the book, in Title of His Published Book, xth ed. City of Publisher, Country if not USA: Abbrev. of Publisher, year, ch. x, sec. x, pp. xxx xxx. Examples: [1] B. Klaus and P. Horn, Robot Vision. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, [2] G. O. Young, Synthetic structure of industrial plastics, in Plastics, vol. 3, Polymers of Hexadromicon, J. Peters, Ed., 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964, pp Conference Technical Articles Basic Format: [1] J. K. Author, Title of paper, in Unabbreviated Name of Conf., City of Conf., Abbrev. State (if given), year, pp.xxx-xxx. Resources on web Basic Format: [1] J. K. Author. (year, month day). Title (edition) [Type of medium]. Available: Example: [1] J. Jones. (1991, May 10). Networks (2nd ed.) [Online]. Available: B. PRELIMINARY REPORTS Each experiment in both laboratory courses require preliminary work which consists of two parts: background questions and simulation results. You are required to submit a preliminary report when you come to the laboratory in order to be eligible to attend the experiment. As stated in laboratory regulations, the part that presents your simulation results is mandatory and you will be given bonus points for the answers of background questions and the way you present your work. Each student must do the preliminary work on his/her own. Please note that studying together with your partner and/or any other student taking this course does not mean submitting the same preliminary report. You only deceive yourself by submitting the results of the simulation that is not realized by yourself. In addition, any indication of cheating, such as the exactly same circuit schematics in simulation work, will be severely punished. The preliminary report must include - The student name and ID on the upper left corner - The section and the submission date of the report, in other words, when the experiment will be done, on the upper right corner, - The name of the teaching assistant on the upper left corner, beneath the student name, 4

5 - The number and the title of the experiment in the center. Whether you submit answers to background questions or not, your report must obey these rules. If there will be any answers to background questions, it is not mandatory but strongly recommended that you type your report, in which case you should definitely obey the rules given in the first part of the guideline. Moreover, simulation results in your preliminary report must meet certain criteria: - Every simulation result must be accompanied by corresponding circuit schematic. - There must be no background color for both figures. You may use Tools Color Preferences for changing background, grid or track colors in LTSpice IV. - The axes on the figure where the simulation result is presented must be clearly visible. - You must add labels to the nodes from which you take measurements. In LTSpice IV, use Label Net option to label the nodes as Vin or Vout or any other appropriate label. - Include your name, ID, experiment and question number on circuit schematic by the help of Add Text button. - In LTSpice IV, you may export the selected window using Tools Copy bitmap to Clipboard option. Whether you include a screenshot or exported bitmap image, do not forget to number the figure(s) with proper heading(s) and refer to the figures within the text. Figure 1: Example preliminary report format 5

6 The illustrations for these options may be found in LTSpice tutorial available on EE213 website. An example preliminary report is illustrated in Figure 1. C. LABORATORY REPORTS At the end of each experiment, each group of two students must submit one report that presents the results of experimental procedure. The experiment reports must include - Name and ID numbers of the students on the upper left corner, - The section and the date when the experiment is done on the upper right corner, - The name of the teaching assistant on the upper left corner, beneath the names of the students, - The number and the title of the experiment in the center. The format of the experiment reports is illustrated in Figure 2. Figure 2: Example experiment report format There should be three main sections in experiment reports: - Objectives should represent your understanding of the experiment with your own words in complete sentences. Please do not directly copy the objective section of the experiment manual. - Results section should present the outcomes of the experiment in a way enhanced by plots and tabulated data. You are expected to state principal results, compare the measured results with what is expected form preliminary report and simulations and discuss any differences. It is strongly recommended that you enrich your results with your comments. 6

7 When the results are supposed to be given as plots, suppose that you present them to someone who do not know the experimental procedure and do not have the manual. Therefore, plots should be explanatory as much as possible. Please, Put an explanatory title. Note that Input and output voltage waveforms of half-wave rectifier circuit explains a lot more than Vin and Vout vs t. Name the horizontal and vertical axes, put indicators corresponding to each unit on the axes and write the proper units. Indicate the origin clearly. Indicate the critical values. A good and a bad example for plots of the same data are given in Figure 3. Note that the plot in Figure 3.b does not have title, axes units and the values corresponding to the units on axes. 0 (a) (b) Figure 3:Two different representation of the same data Another thing to note is that you do not have to center the origin on all your plots, rather, left justified vertical axis is more appropriate to plot the measurements taken with respect to time. If you are given a report template as in the most EE 214 experiment manuals, use the spaces provided for your plots; otherwise, use graphical paper. When you use graphical paper, do not forget to label figures in order to refer them within the text. - Conclusion is the section where you should write what you observed and learned during that experiment. Instead of only summarizing the experiment, compare the measured results with expected one and discuss any difference. Comment on the applications areas of the components or circuitry which is the focus of the experiment. 7

8 D. PROJECT REPORTS For both EE213 and EE214 courses, a project work must be completed in order to pass these courses. Project will cover what you are expected to learn throughout the semester and you will propose a solution to the given engineering problem. Once you have a conceptual design, you are expected to realize simulations in order to validate your design. Then you will build your design, realize tests and go for small revisions if needed. You will document all this process and submit two reports. First report should include your conceptual design with the background information it relies on and the simulation results. After realizing your design and demonstrating your work, you are expected to submit a final report which presents your final design and analyses of cost and power consumption. Both of the reports should include - A cover page with university and department name, course code and name, term, the name of the project, name and ID number of students who submit the report, name of the teaching assistant to whom the report is submitted and the submission date of the report, - A table of contents, - An introduction that provides the necessary background and motivations, - An overall block diagram which summarizes and visualizes your design at a glance, - Description of circuit operation where you explain the duty of each sub-circuit and support them with theory, basic formulations and circuit schematics, - Simulation results, - Selection of equipment with a clear reasoning, - A conclusion that restates your main objectives, summarizes the laws/theory that your design relies on and describes some applications of your design and - References if needed. In addition to these, the final report of the project should also include - A cost analysis where you tabulate the number of each different component used for the project with their unit price, - A power analysis where you state the total power consumption by your design and - Illustrations of the finalized project. In final report, you are expected to make a complete analysis and justify your design by proper reasoning of each sub-block and the components used for it. Final report should include the actual values/behaviors and the target ones so that you can comment on the possible differences. Either staple your reports in the upper left corner or place them in a plastic binder. There is no need to file each sheet of the reports separately by using sheet protectors. 8