Notes prepared by Ömer Tarık Banuş (Department of Mechanical Engineering) to help students write reports of the on-line simulative experiments.
Since many students had problems when writing the report of the first on-line simulative experiment, I would like to clarify a few things hoping that it will be helpful in writing a proper report. Please read carefully.
You are given a template in the freshman physics website and the moodle page of the course. It is very important that you strictly follow this format. Which means, Your report should include all the details provided in this report in the same order.
You should write your report using Microsoft Office, Libre Office, Google Docs, Latex or a similar software. Each of these programs can:
- Add subscripts.
- Write mathematical equations
- Add drawings
- Import tables and graphs from .xlsx files
And you are expected to use these. A simple Google query such as “How to add subscripts in Microsoft Word” , “How to import tables from excel in Google docs” , “ How to write a mathematical equation in Libre Office” should give you very useful resources. All these programs have their own help sites which include manuals for each of them.
Adding drawings might be a little trickier, Google Docs and some others have drawing packs integrated. I use draw.io’s blank diagram for my reports. There are many options available including Paint as long as it does not look too amateur.
A scientific report is always preferred to be written in passive voice. Such as rather than “ I have set velocity to 3 m/s” using “ The velocity was set to 3 m/s.”
For the theory and preliminary research part, most of you wrote “ I solved 3.14 and 3.15 from the book.” This does not include anything about the experiment we are doing. This part is very important in a report. It demonstrates how much you learned from the experiment.
In theory you should include:
- The basic physics concepts one need to know in order to understand this experiment.
- A brief summary of the topic you are interested in.
- Which formulas you are going to use to calculate your result and why?
- What dependent and independent variables you have?
- Under which circumstances you are performing this experiment?
- Preliminary research you have done to understand this experiment (such as “From Young and Fredman Physics for Engineers Page 22-46, It is seen that vector addition can be done…..”)
OR
In question 3.14 of the book Young and Fredman’s Physics for Engineers, the vector addition principle was used. From here it can be said that adding two vectors can be done by ….”
It is very important to calculate theoretical results as well in an experiment. For example, for a boat to travel across a 30 m wide river with 3 m/s vertical velocity, it needs 10 seconds. (since x=v/t). Thus in your theory part include the knowledge you are required to calculate the result of the experiment without actually performing it.
In procedure and data, going to website ophysics.com is an unimportant detail. For your procedure you need to clearly explain every independent and dependent variable in the experiment and how did you arange them.
- When velocity of the river wrt earth is constant at 4 m/s and velocity of the boat wrt earth is 4 m/s…..
Many of you found that when aim is 0 degrees it takes the shortest time to reach the opposite side. However, only a few explained why. Velocity vector’s component that is in the same direction with the road that is going to traveled needs to be taken into account in this example. Thus, time (t) required to reach to the other side of the river with width (x) is:
t = x/(V cos theta) (Eq. 1)
Take the derrivative of this with respect to theta. When t is minimum derivative should be equal to zero.
This can be an example of what you should put in your procedure section. Furthermore, I recommend you to pay atention to equation presented above. It is oriented at the middle of the page. All equations, tables, graphs and images you put in your report should be given a number. All plots need to have a title.
Plot 1: Velocity vs. Time
When you obtain results from an experiment and create a table, you should also create a second table where you calculate the same data theoretically and compare the results. Also don’t forget to calculate error percentage. (Google it)
A conclusion should be a paragraph. In this part you should include detailed commentary on the experiment. Starting with the aim of the experiment, what you have learned, commentary on results, error rate and reasons of this error should be given in this experiment. Also do not forget to include answers to the questions in the same paragraph.
DO NOT FORGET THAT main source for your report is freshman physics laboratory website and this document’s purpose is only to give you some insight.
In your document please use proper formatting. Too large text fonts are not acceptable. Also use a proper font (Such as Times New Roman, Comic Sans is not acceptable.) For further reference you can visit https://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/22/Documentation/format-rules.html to give an idea. Similar formatting options are available for APA, Chicago and etc.
Many of these skills will help you in your academic life. Please try to learn them.