Specific Advice on Lab Reports
David Frank
Mathematics 2374: IT Multivariable Calculus and Vector Analysis
Labs
Here are some suggestions that should help you to write better labs.
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We've been asked to explain the difference between a lab report and a homework
assignment. Your TA sees your lab report not as another homework assignment, but as a
chance to talk with you about a math problem. Think of each problem as a puzzle: your
job in the lab report is to explain (say, to one of your classmates) how to solve it. Think
as you write -- would your explanation help someone else understand the problem? In a
certain sense, the "no work, no credit" principle applies even more to labs than to
homework: not only do you need to include your work, but you need to explain why it is
relevant and why it solves the problem. This is the type of thing we're looking for when
we grade!
One way to improve your explanations is to include only pictures or plots which help you
to explain your answers -- extra plots just distract us from your message. Similarly, if
you're asked to combine five small pictures into a large picture using the Show command,
you generally shouldn't show us the smaller pictures. [If you read, "We don't need to
see..." in a lab, it probably means, "We don't want to see...."]
More generally, if you write your lab report in Mathematica, we don't need to see
everything you've done. In fact, taking out unnecessary information clarifies your work.
[We definitely don't need to see technical commands to load packages, turn off the blue
error messages from ParametricPlot3D, and so on -- even though you need to do those
things to solve the problems.] If you're going to print out your report, you can and should
"clean it up" first -- click on the blue cell bracket containing the undesirable stuff, and hit
the delete key.
Remember: quality, not quantity. Your TAs are also students, and they've tried to bluff
their way through problems by writing on and on about things they didn't understand. It's
pretty easy for them to spot now. If something you've written makes absolutely no sense,
we'll usually assume you don't understand the problem, and grade accordingly.
Yes, we know it's difficult to balance "too much" and "not enough" in your writing. In
fact, your ability to do this is part of what we're grading! Please do your best and, if in
doubt, feel free to ask. You should probably try to err on the side of "too much," so we
can get a better idea of what you're thinking.
center for writing | UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
This material is intended to give ideas for teaching and learning activities.
Posted with permission. Copyright belongs to the creator.
© 2003 David Frank
page 1
Here are some more specific instructions. Some of them may seem to be nothing but common
sense, but all of them are important.
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Please be sure you're answering the entire question. If it's in a red box in the lab, it had
better be on your lab report. We expect that lab work will always take 2 hours to finish
each week, and sometimes more. If you're leaving labs early, you should realize that your
TA will hold your work to a high standard....
"Explain your reasoning" does not simply mean, "Show the Mathematica commands you
used to solve the problem." It means you should explain your thinking process from the
beginning to the end. Mathematica commands can help with certain steps of the process,
but they do not make up the process by themselves.
"Explain your reasoning" also does not mean "Show your Mathematica work for two
pages, and then include five lines of explanation afterwards." Your explanations should
not come after your work; if anything, they should come before it. The best option,
however, would be during! Look at the examples below of scanned-in pages from good
reports.
We do expect your explanations to be written in complete, coherent sentences, using
correct spelling and grammar. Nearly every word processor has a spelling checker; so
does Mathematica. (It's under the Edit menu.)
You should not send your lab report on its final, lonely journey until the two of you have
shared the satisfying ker-chunk of the stapler, binding your magnificent folia to one
another for all time. Don't deny yourself this visceral pleasure!
Don't forget -- by themselves, pictures don't prove anything. To prove a function
describes an elliptic paraboloid, it's not sufficient to produce a plot and say, "It looks like
an elliptic paraboloid." Pictures enhance your intuition and help you to check answers,
but they're usually not answers by themselves. [The only exception here would be the
exercises where you're told to replicate a picture as closely as possible.]
We understand that there will be some computer glitches at the beginning of the semester
as you're first figuring out how to do your lab reports. As the semester goes on, however,
you should be able to hand in your lab reports on time. You should work on them early
enough so that even if the [printer / computer / network] [at home / in Lab X] breaks
down, you'll still be able to hand it in.
Finally, don't forget that your TA and professor are here to help you! If you're not sure what's
expected, or want individual help improving your labs (or homework, or understanding, or...), all
you have to do is ask. (Please ask. We get bored during our office hours with nobody to talk to!)
Frank, David. Specific Advice on Lab Reports, Mathematics 2374. Department of Mathematics,
University of Minnesota. 30 Jan 2003.
center for writing | UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
This material is intended to give ideas for teaching and learning activities.
Posted with permission. Copyright belongs to the creator.
© 2003 David Frank
page 2